The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-09-09
HISTORY REVIEWED
3. +. Stedman Takes Issue With Con-
gresham j. 7. McCleary.

gresham v. !. MCSiSdFy.
To the Editor of The Free Press: In
this chapter l propose to quote ex-
tensively from an ancient American au-
thority and that your readers may
Judge of his weight. | condense as fol-
lows from Allibone's Dictionary of Emf
nent Americans.
Edward Everett was born in 1894
entered Harvard at the age of thirteen
graduating at seventeen. He was in the
divinity school for two years, and at the
early age of nineteen chosen to succeed
the eloquent Buckminster at Brattle
Street church. Judge Story wrote of
him at this time. He was the most elo-
quent of preachers. At the age of eigh-
teen he was appointed Latin tutor at
Harvard. In 1915, at the age of TWEEN
ty-one, he was elected professor of Greek
language and literature at Harvard, he
being permitted to go to Europe to per-
feet himself for the position. He re-
turned and assumed his duties in 1919
and became editor of The North Amer
lean Review for four years. In 1924 he
was elected to congress, remaining there
two years. He was then for four sue
cessive terms elected governor of Massa-
chusetts; from lS4l to 1916 he was min
lister to England; in 1916 he was elect
ed president of Harvard, and on the
death of Daniel Webster, was appointed
secretary of state. In 1853 he was elect
ed to the United States senate, but soon
resigned on account of ill health"
Daniel Webster wrote of Everett: "He
brought to congress such degree of
learning and ability, and eloquence as
few equalled and none surpassed. More
than ALL he had an acquaintance with
the politics of the world, with the laws
of this country and of nations"
In his ''Brief Tariff History" page IL,
Mr.. McCleary gives five reasons why the
low tariff act of 1916 did not bring finan-
cial depression: The Mexican war, the
famine in Ireland, discovery of gold in
California and Australia, revolution in
Europe, the Crimean war. Then adds:
But with the close of the Crimean war
in 1856 this extraordinary chain of
events ended, and then the usual effects
of an inadequate tariff promptly mani
tested themselves. Our prosperity at
once began to wane. As if to tempt the
fates the Democrats, in 1857, enacted a
law still further reducing the tariff
rates. Almost Immediately came a
financial crash, probably the worst in our
history" Mr. McCleary, as a veritable
tariff historian, should have added that
year or two later the house of rep
resentatives, the first house controlled
by the republicans, passed bill max
ing lower rates than the tariff of 1857.
This bill did not pass the senate. But
no matter. Mr.. McCleary attributes the
panic of 1857 to the low tariff. In 1859
many friends of Edward Everett asked
him to write an article giving the cause
of the crash of 1857. Mr. Everett re-
sponded and wrote an article in two
chapters, published in The New York
Ledger. | have preserved those articles
all these years; | wish every voter in
this district could read them, but they
are lengthy and | can only select short
extracts from them.
Strange as it may appear to Mr.. Me-
Cleary, Mr.. Everett does not mention
tariff, free trade or any similar subject
in the course of his article.
Mr.. Everett, after describing the con-
dition of affairs during the 'panic" con-
tinues: "What produced this most ex-
traordinary condition of things? The
country was in profound peace. No hos
tile armies traversed and wasted it, no
embargo or non intercourse sealed our
ports. No untimely frosts, no mys-
FERROUS blight menaced famine or even
scarcity. No pestilence walked in dark
ness nor destruction wasted at MONDAY.
A week before the panic commenced
there was the appearance of universal
prosperity, and while it lasted, the
country possessed, and that in abund-
ance, all the solid elements of substan-
tial well-being. How, then was it pos
sible to at once fall into state of gen
eral embarrassment and profound dis
tress, such as I have rescribed?
If l mistake not, the distress OF the
year 1857 was produced by an enemy
more formidable than hostile armies !;
by pestilence more deadly than fever or
plague; by visitation more destructive
than the frosts of spring or the blights
of summer. / believe that it was caus-
ed by mountain load of DEBT"
Mr.. Everett then speaks of the person
al debts of the white population 1885,
O00,000) which he places at ST SOC, OO0,-
OOO He places the business Indebtedness
at more than five times the business cap
ital, the average term of credit or mer-
camille bills being at that time eight
monahs. He then takes up banking in