Year: 1866

as shown in contrast, is as follows: Ou


national system, as seen in 1910 1925
1872 and 1861. when labor was well paid


money plenty, immigration great an,


prosperity universal.


: 1t is well for US, the people, to look a
the condition Of our country during the


times when we were introducing what cal
the British monopoly system Of free trade
when this system was allowed to operate


IN connection with our use of the paper
money of incorporated state banks.
The consequences, as they appeared In
| 1917, 1884 and 1857 when labor was illy
paid. money scarce, immigration deelin-
ing and bankrupts by thousands.
A system of free trade that leaves such
fruit, although it may look as beautiful
/ as the whited sepulchre Of old, if it is in
| tended to operate in connection with a
| proper circulating medium, should be
! dreaded as we would dread the presence
| of pestilence


! The fathers OF our constitutional gov
| ernment intended to guard their pOsterity
| against the train Of evils that would fol
low all attempts to legislate permanent
| value into paper circulating medium.
| To accomplish this they induced the
| people to yield up to a general govern





| regulate the value thereof. They also
| prevailed on all the states to agree that
they would not issue any bills Of credit or
make anything a legal tender In payment
of debt but gold and silver, hoping there
| by to prevent the individual states from
the folly of Incorporating state banks of
issue, to initiate the currency, and thus
raise the price of everything, and make a
tariff for protection indispensable.


L ri TT 4
ton gave his warning voice in letter to a
member of the Maryland legislature, who
asked his opinion in relation to the pro-
prlety Of an issue of paper money by the
state. To this Washington replied by
saying:


= Had [ voice in your legislature, [
would give it decidedly against the ennis
sion, for the reason that people always
mistake the amount of money necessary
for a circulating medium.


- It Is not the amount of money in a
country that makes it plenty, but it Is the
rapidity and the certainty with which it
passes the round Of circulation" He said
that in exact proportion as you pour
paper money into the volume Of the cir
culating medium, just in that proportion
will every thing in country rise; and
labor will be the last to feel it. 1t will
not benefit the farmer or the mechanic
it will only benefit the debtor, as it will
enable him to pay his debts with shadow
| instead Of a substance. By going con-
trary to the advice of Washington we
have tempted the world to sell US every
thing, and have made everything too dear
with US to sell in return with profit. 1t
is now to be determined whether our
Goals and oars and other raw materials,
| that can be put into forms Of usefulness
with as little expense Of human labor here
| as In any part of the world, shall give en-
| ployment 30 our people, or whether our
| oWn labor is 10 be left unemployed, and
| our own raw materials unused, OF whether
/ our own labor shall receive such reason
able protection as will enable the labOrers
to live until the government can restore
/ the currency to a specie basis, and shall
/ have paid the national debt by duties on
| imports


/ The highest form of duties should be
/ levied on luxuries of every kind, aud the
| lowest form of duties on the necessaries
/ of life and those articles needed to give
| employment to labor.


! I can not forbear to warn my country
against a system of free trade with for
! eign countries, and a reliance on the
| direct taxation of states to maintain the
/ government and pay the national debt.
! The warning of Chancellor Kent should
] not be neglected.. lie ass uIGS Us LudO dS
soon as the cOnfederacy of states was rati-
fed, the states began to fail in a prompt
and faithful obedience to the laws and
as danger receded, instances of neglect
! became more frequent, and by the time Of
the peace of 1913 the delinquencies of one
state became the apology for another, un-
til the idea of supplying the Pecuniary
wants of the nation from requisitiOn on
the states was found to be phantom.


It should be remembered that there is
nothing that we as nation can buy
cheaply from foreign countries but must
be bought by leaving our own labor un-
employed and our raw material unused.


We should never forget that the boast
ed system of free trade, both in France
and England, is complete system OF pro
lection to the labor of those countries,
and that it is only possible to secure na-
tional wealth and general prosperity by
the application of knowledge, economy
and we'll directed labor.


PETER COOPER.