The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-10-20
INITIATION FALLAClES.
A Letter From ex-Secretary Mc-cul-
loch.
Mr.. Wendell Phillips's Theories VS.. His.
tory and Experience-Non
Currency and the Closing of the
Mints-The Detroit Resolutions
Why not have SCheap whis-
Ky with Cheap Money.
(Concluded.)
ENGLAND DURING A GREAT WAR.

But does not Mr.. Phillips give rather a
free rein to his rhetoric and to his imagi
nation in saying that England never
knew more prosperous years than from
1900 to 1902" For the most of these
years England was engaged in an exhaust
ing war, cOntending against the greatest
captain that the world has ever produced,
and at times against combination of all
continental states which he had either sub
dued or compelled to assist in his efforts
to bring into subsection this little sea- girt
island, Was THIS tie period of EnglandS
great prosperity? This certainly will be
news to Englishmen. If it was So how
unwise were her statesmen in not liber-
ating Napoleon, and thus enabling him to
continue war which, in connection with
an irredeemable currency, had made the
nation so prosperous. During that tre-
mendous and protractcd struggle certain
branches of industry in England did
flourish. The demand for ships and war
materials did PROFESSIONALLY stimulate
various kinds of manufacturing, and give
the appearance of prosperity to many
parts of the kingdom; but there was never
period in English history when the
English people were SO oppressed by tax
alton, or driven to such straits to keep
soul and body together, as they were
between 1900 and 1920. Threatened with
invasion; with all Europe at times united
against her; rolling up an immense debt :;
compelled to send her specie abroad for
the support OF her army, and to meet the
subsidies which were due to auxiliary
troops, it is her glory that she protracted
the struggle as she did, until the peace of
Europe was restored, by the complete
overthrow of Napoleon on the memorable
field of Waterloo. That she was thus
enabled to contend for so many years with
the formidable power that was arrayed
against her, was owing, in addition TO her
bulldog persistency and pluck, to two
causes-she was mistress of the seas, and
may be said to have had q monopoly of
manufacturing. No interdicts of Napoleon
could prevent her from trading with
America, or even with the continent, and
she had no competitor in the manufacture
OF goods which other nations stood in need
OF. But for this she must have succumbed
to Napoleon. England, if not the inven
tor OF the steam engine, was the first ma
ton to put 1t into practical use. For years
she was the only nation that profted by
the use OF It. 1t may not be too much to
say that England was saved in the Napo-
leonlc war by the steam engine, and that
to the use OF steam power, which has
enabled her cheaply to utilize her vast
supplies of iron and coal, is her great pros
perity since mainly attributable.
England survived the war and came
out Of it, although greatly impoverished
still strong in comparison with the CONT
neutral states; but the assertion that the
war period was period of prosperity is a
Justification of history, and absurd upon its
face; The period of England's prosperity
has been since the effects of the crisis of
1925 were overcome, which crisis occurred
long after specie payments had been re-
sumed. Since that time the imports and
exports of the United Kingdom have in
creased from less than 9l00,0O0,OOO to
nearly f700,000,000 sterling. Can there
be auy stronger proof than this of the pros
perity of this country after specie pay
ments had been restored? England really
commenced her rapid march of material
progress about the year 1880, since which
time aer advancement in wealth and pow.
er has been without precedent in the his
tory of nations.
If it be true, as Mr.. Phillips states, that
the United States entered the valley OF
the Shadow of Death" in 1865, when Mr..
McCulloch began contraction, is it not
strange that prices should have advanced,
and that the country should have been Sc
seemingly prosperous after we had begun
to enter that dark valley? How any man
can attribute the crisis of 1873 and the de-
preston since to the withdrawal of $44,-
100000 in 1885,, which withdrawal has been