Newspaper Page Text
JBY JAUIES W. JONES.
The Southern Whig,
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING.
TERMS.
Three dollars per annum, payable within six
months after the receipt of the fit st number, 01
four dollars if not paid within the year. Sub
scribers living out of the State, will be expect
ed in all cases, to pay in advance.
No subscription received for less than one year
unless the money is paid in advance; and nc
paper will be discontinued until all arrear
ages are paid, except at the option of the pub
lisher. Persons requesting a discontinuance,
‘of their Papers, are requested to bear in mind,
=a settement of their accounts.
sldtbrtisements will be inserted at the usual
rates; when the number of insertions is not
specified, they will be continued until ordered
out.
All Letters to the Editor or Proprietor, on
thatters connected with the establishment,
must be post paid in order to secure attention
§5- Notice of the sale of Land and Negroes, by
Administrators, Executors, or Guardians,
must be published sixty DAve*previ®us to the
day of sale.
The sale of personal Property, in like manner,
must be published forty days previous to
the day es sale.
Notice to debtors and creditors of an estate must
be published forty days.
Notice that Application will be made to the Cottrt
of Ordinary for Leave to sell Land or Ne
groes, must be published four months.
Notice that Application will be made for Letters
of administration, must be published thirty
bays and Letters of Dismission, six months.
For Advertising—Letters of Citation. 8 2 /5
Notice to Debtors and Creditors, (40 days) 325
Four Months Notices, 4 00
Sales of Personal Property by Executors,
Administrators, or Guardians, 3 25
Sales ofLnnd or Negroes by do. 4 75
Application for Letters of Dismission, 4 50
Other Advertisements will be charged 75 cents
for every thirteen lines of smell type, (or space
equivalent,) firstinsertion, and 50 cents for each
weekly continuance. If published every other
week,62 1-2 vests for each continuance. If
published once a month, it will be charged each
time as a new advertisement. For a single
insertion, 81 00 per square.
MAIL ARRANGEMENTS,
THE Subscriber respectfully announces to
the public, that he has in full operation a
LINE OF FOUR HORSfc COACHES, from
Athens, ria Watkinsville, Madison, to Eatonton,
and back, 3 times a week, leaving and returning
Ms follows :
Leaving Athens on Sundays, Tuesdays, and
Thursdays, at 6 o’clock, A. M., and arriving at
Eatonton, at 6 o’clock 2—AL- on Um same,
davs.
Leaving Eatonton on Mondays Wednesdays,
and Fridays, at 6 o’clock, A. M., and arriving
in Athens, at 6 o’clock P. M., same days.
H. N. WILLSON, Contractor.
March 17—46 —ts.
The Southern Recorder will please pub
lish the above until forbid.
LIVELY BTOLS,
THE Undersigned lias just opened a LIVE
RY STABLE in the Town of Athens,
immediately in the rear of Mr. IK A. Fraser’s
Store, where he will keep on harm
VEHICLES OF
EI’EKI’ DESCRIPTION;
ALSO
31 H'ID SST £3-
And wcIH forcLe
II A K xli ESS HORSES
To Mire.
Persons wishing to travel, can be accommo
dated with Carriages and Horses al all times
His Vehicles have not yet arrived, but are ex
pected by the first of the Spring. He will also
take on Livery the horses of any one wishing to
|>lace their horses under his charge.
P. M. WELLS.
Jan. 27 39 ts.
t
months afterdate, application will be
made to the Inferior Court of Clark county,
'when sitting for ordinary purposes, for leave
to set! the real Estate of John A. Strickland,
eCea e 'MILLINGTON SCOGGINS, Adm’r.
Feb. 10,—41—4m
GEORGIA, HALL COUNTY.
HERE AS, Ambrose Kennedy, Adminis
w ■ trator of the Estate of Ed ward Harrison
deceased, applies to me for Letters of dismission
This is therefore to cite and admonish all. and
singular the kindred and creditors of said de
ceased, to be and appear at my office within tht
time prescribed by law, to shew cause (if any
they have) why Said letters should not be grant
ed.
Given under my hand, this 20lh day of Octo
ber, 1537. , .
E. M. JOHNSON, c. c. o.
Oct. 21, —25—Gm
FOUR months after date, application will b<
made, to the Inferior Court of Gwinnct
county, for leave to sell all the real estate of Join
Turner, late of said county deceased.
MITCHELL BENNETT, ) (J
8. F. ALEXANDER, $
March 21* —47—4 m
'CT it Os 11 F cJi I ■F(r I 11 ITi
©onfirc&caotiaL
SECONBSPEECH OF
MR, WEBSTER,
, r On the Sub-Treasnry Bill, Delivered March
>- 12, 1838.
t_ Mr. President:—Having at an early stage
of the debate expressed, in a general manner,
r> my opposition to this bill, I must find an apol
o ogy for again addressing the Senate, in the
•- acknowledged importance of the measure, the
novelty of its character, and the division of
’■ opinion respecting it which is known to exist
’ in both Houses of Congress.
To be able, in this state ol things, to give a
I preponderance to that side of the question
t which I embrace, is, perhaps, mo'e than I
1 ought to hope ; but I do not feel that I have
done all which my duty demands, until I make
another effort.
1 The functions of thi» Government which,
’ in time of peace, inost materially affect the
happiness of the people, are those which res-
1 pect commeice and revenue. The bill be
, fore us touches both these great interests. It
5 proposes to act dircctlv on the revenue and
expenditure of Government, and it is expect
ed to act, also, indirectly, on commerce and
’ currency; while its friends and supporters al
together abstain from other measures, deemed
by a great portion of Congress and of the
t country* to ba indispensably demanded by the
present exigency.
We have arrived, Mr. President, towards I
1 the close of a half century from the adoption
of the constitution. During the progress of
these years, our population has increaeed from
; three or four millions to thirteen or fourteen
r millions; our commerce, from little er nothing
. to an export ofa hundred and ninety millions,
> and an import of a hundred and twenty-eight
’ and a half millions, in the year 1836. Our
mercantile tonnage approaches near to two
millions. We have a revenue, and an expen
diture, of shirty millions a year. The manu
factures of ’.he country have attained very
gfeat importance, and, up to the commence
ment of the derangement of the currency,
were in a prosperous and growing state. The
produce of the fisheries has become vast; and
the general production of the labour and capi
tal of the country is increasing, far beyond all
example in other countries or other times, and
has already reached an amount which, to those
who have r.ot investigated the subject, would
seem incredible.
The commerce of the United States, sir, is
spread over the globe. It pursues its objects
m all seas* and finds its way into every port
which the laws of trade da not shut against its
approach. With all the disadvantages of
more costly materials, and of higher wages,
and often in despite of unequal and unfavota
ble commercial regulations of other States, the
enterprise, vigor, and economy which distin
guish our navigating interest, enable it to show
' our flag, in competition with the most favoured
’ and the most skilful, in thq various quarters of
the world. In the mean time, internal activi
ty does not lag or loiter. New and useful
modes of intercourse and facilities of trans
portation are established, or are m progress,
everywhere. Public works are projected and
-■ pwjtitii ■■jrri-! J LL ,
high and vast objects, with a bold d> fiance cf
all expense. The aggregate value of the pro
nertv nf the ernntrv i.q niKrmnntc .1 rlallv. A
periy or me country is augmctiitu uuuv.
constant demand for new capital exists, altho’
a debt has already been contracted in Europe,
for sums advanced to Slates, corporations, and
individuals,for purposes Connected with inter
nal improvement; which debt cannot now be
less than a hundred millions of dollars.—
Spreading over a great extent, embracing dif
ferent climates', aiid with vast variety of pro
ducts, we find an intensely excited spirit efin
dustry and enterprise to pervade the whole
country ; while its external commerce, as I
have already said, sweeps overall seas. We
are connected with all commercial countries,
1 and, most of a'.l, with that which has establish
ed and sustained the most stupendous system
of commerce and manufactures, and which
1 collects and disburses an incredible amount of
' annual revenue; and which uses, to this end,
and as means of currency and circulation, a
mixed money of metal and paper.
Such a mixed system, sir, has also prevailed
wiih us, from the beginning. Gold and silver,
and convertible bank paper, have always con
stituted our actual money. The people are
used to this s) stem. It has hitherto comman
ded their confidence, and fulfilled their ex
pectations. We hate had, in succession, two
natioual banks ; each for a period of twenty
years. Local or State Banks have, at the
same time, beet! in operation ; and no man of
intelligence or candor can deny that, during
these forty vears, and w ith the operation of a ’
national and these State institutions, the cur
rency of the country, upon the w hole, has
been safe, cheap; convenient, and satisfactory. t
When the Government was established, it found
convertible bank paper, issued by State Banks, (
already in circulation ; and with this circu
lation it did not interfere* The United States. ‘
indeed, had themselves established a bank, (
i under the old Confederation, with authority to
issue paper. A system of mixed circulation. £
therefore, was exactly that system which this (
constitution, at its adoption, found already in ,
existence. There is not the slightest evidence |
’ of any intention, in establishing the constitu- •
tion, to overthrow or abolish this system, al- <
> though it certainly was the object of the con-
> ‘titution to abolish bills of credit, and all paper |
intended for circulation, issued upon the faith f
of the States alone. Inasmuch as whatever t
then existed, of the nature of money or eurren-
- cy, rested on State legislation ; and as it was ;
6 not possible that uniformity, general credit, '
> and general confidence could result from local '
p and Separate acts cf the States, there is evi- j
’ deuce—l think abundant evidence—that it 1
was the intention of the framers of the consti- J
tution to give to Congress a controlling power (
. over the whole subject, to the end that there '
should be, for the whole country, a currency
of tmifortti value. Congress has heretofore '
b exercised this authority, and fulfilled the cor
i, responding duties. It has maintained, for
d forty years out of forty.nine, a national msti
tution, proceeding from its potter, and respon-
e sible to the General Government. Within- '
V lervals of derangement, brought about by war
and other occurrences, this whole system, ta-
N ken altogether, has been greatly successful in
its actual operation. We have found occasion
to create no difference between Government
and people—between money' fi r revenue, and
money for tho general use hf the country. —
ie Until the commencement of the last session,
Government, had manifested no disposition to
11 lookout for itself cxcluVeiy. What was good
enough for the people, was good enough for
Government. No Condescending anil gracious
preference hud, before tlnd period, ever been
“WHERE POWERS A£E ASSUMED WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN DELEGATED, A NULLIFICATION OF THE ACT IS THE RIGHTFUL REMEDY.” JeffeTSOH.
i tendered to members of Congress, over other
persons having claims upon the public funds.
Such a singular spectacle had never been ex
hibited, as an amicable, disinterested, and pat
riotic understanding, between those who are
. to vote taxes on the people, for the purpose of
replenishing the Treasury, and those who,
from the Trearury, dispense the money back
again among those who have claims on it. In
that respect I think the Secretary stands alone.
He is the first, so far as I know, in our long
list of able heads of Departments, who has
thought it a delicate and skilful touch, in fi
nancial administration, to bo particularly kind
and complaisant to the interest of the law.ma
kers, —those who hold the tax-laying power ;
the first whose great deference and cordial re
gard for members of Congress have led him to
provide, for them, as the medium ol payment
and receipt, something more valuable than is
provided, at the same time, for the army, the
navy, the judges, the revolutionary pensioners,
and the various classes of laborers in the pay
of the Government.
Through our whole history, sir, wo have
found a convertible paper currency, under pro
per control, highly useful, by its pliability to
circumstances, and by its capacity of enlarge
ment, in a reasonable degree, to meet the de
mands of a new and enterprising community.
As I have already said, sir, we owe a perma
nent debt of a hundred millions abroad; and
in the present abundance of money in Eng-
I land, and the state of demand here, this amount
will probably be increased. But it must be
evident to every one, that, so long as, by a safe
use of paper, we give some reasonable expan
sion to our own circulation, or at least do not
unreasonably contract it, wc do, to that extent,
create or maintain an ability for loans among
ourselves, and so far diminish the amount of
annual interest paid aDroad.
But let me now, Mr. President, ask the at
tention* of the Senate to another subject, upon
which, indeed, much has already been said : I
mean that which is usually called the credit
system.
Sir, what is that system? Why is credit, a
word of so much solid importance, and of so
powerful chain?, in the United States ? Why
is it that a shock has been ieit through all clas- j
sea and all interests, the first moment that this
credit has been disturbed ? Does its impor
tance belong, equally, to all commercial States?
' Or are there peculiarities in our ccndition, our
habits, and modes of business, which make
credit more indispensable, and mingle it more
naturally, more intimately, with the life blood
! of our system?
A full and philosophical answer to these in
quiries, Mr. President, would demand that I
. should set forth both the ground work and the
structure of our secial system. It would show
that the wealth and prosperity of the country
have as broad a foundotion as its popular con
stitutions. Undoubtedly there are peculiari
ties in that system, resulting from the nature
ot our political institutions, from our elementa
. ry laws, and from the general character es the
people. These peculiarities most unquestion
ably give to credit, or to those means and
those arrangements, by whatever names we
call them, which are calculated to keep the
1 whole, or by far tho greater part, of the capi
tal qfthe country in a state of constant activity,
.. a degree of impartajae» far exceeding what is
experienced elsewhere.
In the old countries of Europe there is a
clear and well-defined line, between capital
and labor: a line which strikes through soci
ety with a horizontal swe< p, leaving on one
side w'ealth, in masses, holden by few hands,
and those having little participation in the la
borious pursuits of life; on the other, the
thronging multitudes of labor, with here and
there, only, an instance of such accumulation
of earnings as to deserve the name of capital.
This distinction, indeed, is not universal and
absolute in any of the commercial States of
Europe, and it grows less and less definite as
commerce advances; the effect of commerce
and manufactures, as all history shows, being
everywhere, to diffuse wealth, and not to aid
its accumulation m few hands. But still the
line is greatly more broad, marked, and visible
in European nations, than in the United States,
In those nations the gains of capita], and wa
ges, or the earnings of labor, are not only dis
tinct in idea, as elements of the science of
political economy, but, to a great degree also
distinct in fact ; and their respective claims,
and merits, and modes of relative adjustment,
become subjects of discussion and of public
regulation. Now, sir, every body may sec
that, that is a state of things which doesexist
with us. We have no such visible and broad
distinction between capital and labor; and
much of tire geueral happiness of all classes
results from this. With us, labor is every day
augmenting its itieaus by its own industry;
not in all cases, indeed, but in very many. Its
savings of yesterday becomes its capital, there
fore, of to-day. Qn the other hand, vastly'
the greater portion of the property of the coun
try exists in such email quantities that its hold
ers cannot dispense altogether with their own
personal industry; or it, in some instances,
cap.tai be accumulated till it rises to what
may be called affluence, it is usually disinte
grated and broken into particles again, in one
or two generations. The abolition of the
rights of primogeniture ; the descent of pro
petty cf every sort to females as well as males;
the cheap and easy means by which property
is transferred and conveyed ; the high price
of labor, the low price of land ; the genius of
«ur political institutions; in fine, every thing
belonging to us, counteracts large accumula
tion. This is our actual system. Our poli
tics, our constitutions, our elementary laws,
our habits, all centre in this point, or tend to
(his result. Prom where I now stand, to the
extremity of the northeast, vastly the greatest
part of the property of (he country is in the
handsand ownership of those whose personal
industry is employed in some form of produc
tive labor. General competence, general ed
ucation, enterprise, activity and industry, such
as nrver before pervaded any society, are the
characteristics which distinguish the people
who live, and move, and act in this state ol
things, such as 1 have described it.
Now, sir, if (his view be true, as I think it
is, all must perceive that, in the United States,
capital cannot say to labor and industry “Stand
ye yonder, while I come up hither;” but la
bur and industry lay hold on capita’, break it.
into parcels, use it, diffuse it widely, and, in
stead of leaving it. to repose in its own inert
ness, compel it to act at otiCe as their own
stimulus and their own instrument.
But, sir, this is not all. There is another
view still more immediately affecting the oper
ation and use of credit. In every Wealthy
community, how ever equally property may be
divided, (here will always be some property
holders who live, on its income. If. this pro
perty be land, they live on rent ; if it be mo-
ATHENS, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, APRIL *2l, 1838.
ney, they live on its interest. The amount of
real estate held in this country on lease, is
comparatively very small, except in the cities.
But there are individuals and families, trustees
and guardians, and various literary and chari-
I table institutions, who have occasion to invest
funds for the purpose of annual moneyed in
come. Where do they invest? where can
they invest? The answer to these questions
shows at once a mighty difference between
the state of things here, and that in England.
Here, these investments, to produce a moneyed
income, are made in banks, insurance compa
nies, canal and railroad corporations, and oth
er similar institutions. Placed thus immedi
ately in active hands, this capital, it is evident,
becomes at once the basis of business; it gives
occupation, pays labor, excites enterprise, and
performs, in short, all the functions of employ
ed money. But, in England, investments for
such purposes usually take another direction.
There is in England a vast amount of public
stocks, as eight or nine hundred millions ster
ling of public debt actually exists, constituting,
to the amount of its animal interest, a charge
on the active capital and industry of the coun
try. In the hands of individuals, portions of
• this debt are capital; that is, they produce in
come to the proprietorr, and income without
labor; while in a national point of view, it is
mere debt. What was obtained for it, or that
on account of which it was contracted, has ,
been spent in the long and arduous wars which
the country has sustained, from the tithe of
King William the Third, to our own days.—
There are thousands of individuals, therefore,
whose fixed income arises, not from the active
use of property* either in their own hands, or I
the hands of others* but from the interest on
that part of this national charge io which they
are entitled. If, therefore, we use the term !
capital not in the sense of political economy
exactly, but as implying whatever returns in
come to individuals, we find an almost incal.
culable mass so circumstanced as not to be the
basis ofactive operations.
To illustrate this idea further, sir, let us
suppose that, by some occurrence, (such as is
certainly never to be expected,) this debt
should bo paid off; suppose its holders were 1
to receive to morrow their full amounts ; what
would they do with them ? Why, sir, if they
were obliged to loan the one-quarter part into
the hands of (he industrious classes, for the
purposes of employment in active business ;
and if this operation could be accompanied
by the same intelligence and industry among
the people which prevails with us, the result
would do more toward raising the character of
the laboring Classes, than all reforms in Parli
ament, and other general political operations.
It would be as if this debt had never been con
tracted ; as if the money had never been spent,
and now remained part of the active capital of
the country, employed in the business of fife.
But this debt, sir, has created an enormous
amount of private property, upon the income
of which its owners live, which does not re
quire their ovrn active labor and that of others.
We have no »qch debt ; we have no such
mode of inves’meM • an j this circumstance
gives quite a different aspect and a different
reality-to our condition.
Notf? Mr. President, what I understand bv
the credit system is, that which, thiwewmeru
labor and capital, by giving to labor the use of
capital. In other word, intelligence, good
character, and good morals bestow on those
who have not capital, a power, a trust, a con
fidence, which enables them to obtain it, and to
employ it usefully for themselves and others.
These active men of business build their hopes
of success on their atlentiveness, their econo
my, and their integrity. A wider theatre for
useful activity is under their feet, and around
them, than was ever spread before the eyes of
the young and enterprising generations of men,
on any other spot enlightened by the sun. Be
fore them is the ocean. Every thing in that
direction invites them to efforts of enterprise
and industry in the pursuits of commerce and
the fisheries. Around them, on all hands, are
thriving and prosperous manufactures ; an im
proving agriculture, and the daily presentation
of new objects of internal improvement; while
behind them is almost half a continent of the ■
richest land, at the cheapest prices, under
healthful climates, and washed by the most
magnificent rivers that on any part of the
globe pay their homage to the Sea. In the •
midst of all these glowing and glorious pros
pects, they are neither restrained by ignorance,
nor smitten down by the penury of personal ,
circumstances. They are not compelled to j
contemplate, in hopelessness and despair, all ,i
the advantages thus bestowed on their condi-;
tion by Providence. Capital, thoingh they 1
may have little or none, credit supplies its j
place ; not as the refuge of the prodigal and
the reckless ; not as gratifying present wants
with the certainty of future absolute ruin ; but
as the genius of honorable trust & confidence ;
us the blessing, voluntarily offered to good
character and to good conduct; as the benefi
cent agent, w hich assists honesty and enter
prize in obtaining comfort and independence.
Mr. President, take away this credit, and
what remains ? I do not ask what remains to
the few, but to the many ? Take away this
I system of credit, and then tell me what is left
fur labor and industry* but mere manual toil
and daily drudgery 1 If we adopt a system
that withdraws capital from active employ
ment, do we not diminish the rates of wages ?
If we curtail the general business of society,
/ does not every laboring man find his condition
grow daily worse ? L> the politics of the day,
sir, we hear much said about divorces, and
when we abolish credit, we shall divorce la
bor from capital ; and, depend on it, sir, when
we divorce labor from capital, capital is hoar
ded, and labor starves.
The declaration, so often quoted, that “ all
who trade on borrowed capital ought to
break,” is the most aristocratic sentiment ev
er uttered m this country. It is a sentiment,
which, if carried out by political arrangement,
would condemn the great majority of mankind
to the perpetual condition of mere day labo
rers. It goes to take away from them all that
solace and hope w hich arises from possessing
something which they cun call their own. A
man loves his own ; it is fit and natural that
he should do so ; ami he will love his country
and its institutions, ifhehave some stake in it,
although it be but a very small part of the gen
eral mass of property. If it bv but a cottage,
an acre, a garden, its possession raises him,
gives him self-respect, and strengthens his at
tachment to his country. It is our happy
condition, by the blessings of Providence, that
, almost every man of sound health, industrious
habits, and good morals, can ordinarily attain,
, at least, to this degree of comfort and respec
, lability ; mid it is a result devoutly to be
wished, both for its individual and its general
consequences.
But even to this degree of acquisition, thai
f credit, of which I have already said so much
3 (as its general effect is to raise the price o
, wages, aid render industry productive,) i.
3 highly important. There is no condition s<
• low, if it be attended with industry and econo
t my. which this credit does not benefit, as an)
one will find, if he will examine and follow
1 out its operations.
s Such, Mr. President, being the credit sys
i tern in the United States, as I under
stand it, I now add, that ths banks have
been the agents and their circulation the in
strument, by which the general operations ol
this credit have been conducted. Much of the
capital of the country, placed at interest, is
vested in bank stock, and those who borrow,
at tho banks ; and discounts of bills, and
and anticipation of payments, in all its forms,
the regular and appropriate duty of banks, pre
vail universally.
In the North, the banks have enabled the
manufacturers of all classes to realize the pro
ceeds of their industry at an early moment.
Ihe course has been, that the producers es
commodities for Southern consumption, hav
ing despatched their products, draw their
bills. These bills are discounted at the banks,
and with the proceeds other raw material is
bought, and other labor paid ; and thus the
general business is continued in progress. All
this is well known to those who have had
opportunity to be acquainted with such con
cerns.
But bank credit has not been more necessa
ry to the North than to the South. Indeed,
nowhere has interest been higher, or the de
mand tor capital greater, or the full benefit of
■ credit more indispensable, than in the new cot
ton and sugar-growing States. I ask gentle
men from those States if this be not so ? Have
, not the plantations been bought, and the ne
cessary labor procured, to a great extent, on
credit ? Has not this credit been obtained at
the banks ? Eve n now do they not find cred
its, or advances on their crops, important in
enabling them to get those crops to market ?
And if there had been no credit—if a hard mo
ney system had prevailed, let me ask them
what would have been at this moment, the
condition of things in Alabama, Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Arkansas ? These States,
sir, with Tennessee and the Smith Atlantic
States, constitute the great plantation interest.
That there has been a vast demand for capital
to be invested in this interest, is sufficiently
proved, by the high price paid for the use of
money.
In my opinion, str. credit is as essential to
the great export of the South, as to any other
interest. The agriculture of the cotton and
sugar-producing States partakes, in no incon
siderable degree, of the nature of commerce.
The product and sale of one great staple only,
is an operation esawriially different for ordina
ry farming pursuits. The exports of the South,
indeed, may be considered as the aggregate
result of various forms and modes of iu lustry,
carried on by various hands, and in various
places, rather than as the mere product of the
plantation. That product itself is local; but
its indispensable aids and means are drawn
from every part of the Union. What is it,
sir, that enables Southern labor to apply itself
so exclusively to the cultivation of these
irreat !'■.»*
appTiea because its own necessities tor provis
ion and clothing are supplied, mean while,
from other quarters. The South raises to
sell, and not to consume; and with the pro
ceeds of the sales it supplies itself with what
ever its own consumption demands. There are
exceptions ; but this is the general truth. The
hat-makers, shoe makers, furniture-makers,
and carriage-makers of the North, the spinners
at Lowell, and the weavers at Philadelphia,
are all contributors to the general product
both of cotton and sugar, for export abroad;
as are the live-stock raisers of Kentucky, the
grain-growing farmers, and all who produce
and vend provisions in Indiana, Ohio, and Il
linois. The Northern ship owner and the
mariner, who carry the products to market,
are agents acting to the same end ; and so
arc they too who, little thinking of cotton fields,
or sugar estates, arc pursuing their adventur
. ous employment in the whale fisheries, over
the whole surface, and among all the islands,
of the Pacific and the Indian oceans. It’ we
take the annual cotion crop at sixty millions of!
dollars, we may perhaps, find that? the amount !
! of forty-five millions is expended, either for ;
interest on capital advanced, or for the expense
; of clothing and supporting labor, or in the
[ change, which belong to the household, the
i education of families, and to the domestic cX
’ penditure of the proprietor.
! Thus, sir, all laborious classes, are, in truth, ;
> cotton.grower and sugar makers. Each, in '
I its own way, and to the extent of its own pro
i > ductiveness, contributes to swell the magnitude
j of that enormous export, which was nothing
; ! at the commencement of this Government.
I and which now' has run up to so many millions.
Through all these operations the stream of
. credit has constantly flowed, and there is not
one of them that will not be checked and in-
I tempted, embarrassed and thwarted, if this
, stream be now dried up. The connexion of
; the various interests of the country with one
: ! another forms an important and interesting
I i topic. It is one of the natural ties of the!
i) Union.—The variety of production, and mu-I
. I tual wants mutually supplied constitute a
' j strong bond between different States; and
i long may that bond last, growing with their
i ' growth and strengthening with their strength. ! |
, I But. Mr. President, that portion of our pro- j
1 I ductions which takes the form of export, be- j
-' cause distinct and visible ; it is prominent and ‘
i ' striking, and is seen and wondered at by every j
' body. The annual returns all show it, and
! every day’s commercial intelligence speaks of
| it. We gaze at it with admiration, and the
, | world is no less admiring (han ourselves.
With other banches ol industry the case is
, i quite different. The products of these bran
, ' dies, being put in the train of domestic ex
-1 I changes, and consumed in the country, do not
- ! get into statistical tables, are not collected in
t 1 masses, and are seldom presented, in the tig
t gregate, to the public view. I hey are not of
* Che character of a few large and mighty rivers,'
t but of a thousand little streams, meandering
,• through all the fields of business and of lile,
, and refreshing and fertilizing the whole.
Few of US, Mr. President, are aware of what
' would be the amount of the general production
’ j of the country, i( it could be accurately ascer
! tained. The Legislature of .Massachusetts,
: under the recommendation ®f the intelligent
* i Chief Magistrate of that State, has caused to
’ ■ be prepared and published a report on the con
’ j dition and products of certain branches of its
industry, for the year ending in April, 1837.
■j The returns of the authorities of each city and
i town were, apparently, with much care ; and
i the whole has been collected by the Secretary
r j of State; and the result distinctly presented in
h. well arranged stal istical tables. From a sum
tf mary of the statement in these tables, I will take
is the liberty of selecting a few articles, and of
;o adverting to them here, as instances or speci
>- mens, of the annua] product of labor and in
y dustry in that State.
iv And to begin withavery necessary and im
portant article ; I Had, that of boots and shoes,
5. the value of the whole amount manufactured
•- within the year exceeds fourteen millions and
ea half of dollars. If the amount of other ar.
1- tides of the same class or materia! be added,
if viz: leather saddles, trunks, harness, &c.. the
e total will not be far from eighteen millions and
s a half of dollars.
\ I will read the names of some other articles,
j and state the amount of annual product belong
1, ing to each :
■ Cotton fabrics 817,409,000
Woollen fabrics 10,399,000
3 Fisheries 7,592.000
- Books and stationery* and paper 2,592,000
• Soap and candles 1,620.000
f Nails, brads and tanks 2.500,000
■ Machinery of various kinds 1,235.000
r Agricultural implements . 615.000
> Glass * 831,000
' Hats 700.000
! Clothing, neckcloths, &c. 2,013,000
1 Wool ~ 539,000
These, sir, are samples. The grand total
is ninety-one millions seven hundred thousand
dollars; From this, however, deductions arc
to be made for the cost of the raw material
when imported, and for certain articles enu
] merated under different heads. But, then,
the ‘'.-hole statement is confined te some bran
ches of industry only; and to present and en
tire and comprehensive view, there should be
added the gains of commerce within the year,
the earnings of navigation, and almost the
whole agricultuial product of the State.
The result of all, if it could be collated and
exhibited together would show that the annual
product of Massachusetts capital and Massa
chusetts industry exceeds one millions of dol
lars. Now. sir, Massachusetts is a small S'ate,
in extent of territory. You may mark out her
dimensions seven or eight times on the map of 1
Virginia. Yot her population is seven hun
dred thousand souls ; and the annual result of
their laborious industry, economy and kbor,
is as I have stated;
Mr. President, in looking over this result, it
is most gratifying to find, that its great mass
consists in articles equally essential and useful
to all classes. They are not luxuries, but 1
necessaries and comforts. They belong to
food and clothing, to household conveniences
and education. As they are more and more
multiplied, the great majority of society be
comes more elevated, better instructed and
happier in all respects. I have looked through
this whole list, sir, to find what there is in it
that might be fairly classed among the higher
luxuries of life ; and what do I find? In the
whole hundred millions, I find but one such
item ; and that is an item of two or three hun- 1
dred thousand dollars for “jewelry, and silver, !
and silver plate.” This is all that belongs to I
luxury, in her annual product, of a hundred !
millions; and of this, no doubt, the far greater
was sent abroad. And yet we hear daily, sir, !
of the amassing of aristocratic wealth, by the 1
“jTL Wg i 'CS7S T7I nicmm CIY uu rvrj j -OTTQ- Tiro— rrpreTT crtTizorj
of the credit system 1 Aristocracy, it is said, i
is stealing upon us, and, in the aggregate i
wealth, is watching to seize political power |
from the hands of tho people 1 We have been i
more than once gravely admonished that, in !
order to improve the times, and restore a me- ■
tallic currency for the benefit of the poor, the !
rich ought to meltdown their plate! What
ever such a melting process might find to act !
upon elsewhere, Mr. President, I assure you |
that in Massachusetts it would discover little. I
A few spoons, candlesticks, and other similar '
articles, some old family pitchers and tank,
ards, and the silver porringers ol’our nurseries, i
would be about the whole.
Sir, if there be any aristocracy in Massa- ]
chusetts, the people are all aristocrats ; because j
Ido not believe there is on earth, in a highly I
civilized society, a greater equality in the ,
condition of men, than exists there. If there!
be a man in the State who maintains what is .
called an equipage, or drives four horses in ■
i his coach, lam not acquainted with him. Ou ?
] the other hand, there are few who are not |
j able to carry their wives and daughters to !
I church in some decent conveyance. It is no
matter of regret or sorrow to us that we are i
very rich ; but it is our pride and glory that j
few are very poor. It is our still higher pride, I
and our just boast, as I think, that all her citi- ]
i zens possess means of intelligence and educa- i
j lion ; and that, of all her productions, she reck- !
( ons, among the very chiefest, those which I
j spring from the culture of the mind and the 1
I heart. '
Mr. President, one of the most striking
characteristics of this age, is tho extraordinary
progress which it has witnessed in popular
knowledge. A new and powerful impulse
has been acting in the social system of late, •'
producing this effect in a striking degree. i
In morals, in politics, in art, in literature,!
there is a vast accession to the number of;
readers, and to the number of proficients. The
present state of popular knowledge is not the |
result ofa slow and uniform progress, proceed- i
ing through a lapse of years, with the same j
regular degree of motion. It is evidently the,
result of some new causes, brought into pow- i
erful action and producing their consequences i
I rapidly and strikingly. What sir, are these I
! causes?
j This is not an occasion, sir, for discussing ;
> such a question at length ; allow me to say,
i however, that the improved state of popular
knowledge is but the necessary result of the
improved condition of the great mass of the
people. Knowledge is not one of our merely
physical wants. Life may be sustained with- j
out it. But in order to live, men. must be fed, I
i and clothed and sheltered ; and in a state of!
things in which one’s whole labor can do nc !
more than procure clothes, food and shelter,
he can have no time nor means for mental im
provement. Knowledge, therefore, is not at
tained* and cannot be attained, till there is
' some degree of respite from daily manual toil,
‘ and never ending drudgery. But whenever
! a less degree of labor will produce the absolute
i necessaries of file, then there come leisure and
' means* both to teach and to learn.
1 But if this great rtnd wonderful extension
of popular knowledge be the result of an im
, proved condition, it may in the next place
! well be asked what are the causes which have
i ’ thus suddenly produced that great improve
. ) menl? How is it that the means of food, cloth
; * ing and shelter, are now so much more cheap
lv and abundantly procured than formerly?
i Sir, tho main cause I take to be the progress
I of scientific art, or a new extent of the appli
cation of science to art. '1 his it is, which has
1 so much distinguished the last halt eoutiirv in I
Vol. V—Ao. 51.
rm rope and in America ; and its effects are
c every where visible, and especially among us.
i Man has found new allies and auxiliaries- in
■ the powers of nature, and in the inventions of
- mechanism.
The general doctrine cf political efiohbrny
■ is, that wealth consists in whatever is useful
or convenient to man, and that labor is the
■1 producing cause of all this wealth. This is
i very true. Butthen what is labor? In the
• sense of political writei-s, and in common lanx
'» gunge, it rrldane human industry; biit in a
■ philosophical view it may receive a mueh more
1 comprehensive meaning. It is uut in that
view human toil only-the ttiere fiction of thaws
, and muscles; but it is any .active
- which, workiug upon the materials with which
the acrid is supplied, bu.igs forth products
) useful or convenient to man. The materials
l of wealth are in the earth* in the seas, and in
I their natural and unaided productions. Labar
i obtains them, works Ujion them, and fashiana
them to human use. Now, it has been tho
object of scientific art. of of the application o?
science to art, to increase this active ageuev,
to augment its paw er by crealinguiillioua of
laborers in <he form of automotic machines ait
to be the diligently employed and kept at work
by the force of natural powers. To this end
these natural powers, principally those of steam
and falling water, are subsidized and taken in
to human employment." Spinning machines
power looms, and all the mechanical devices*
ac'ing among other operatives in the factories
and workshops, are but so many laborers.—-
They are usually denominated labor saving'
machines, but it would be more just,to call
them labor doing machines. They are made
to be active agenls; to have motion, and tu
produce effect; and though Without intelli
gence they are guided by those laws of science
which are exact and perfect; and they produce
results therefore in general more accurate thaii
than the human hand is capable of producing.
When we look upon one of these we behold a
mule fellow laborer, of immense power, of
mathematical exactness, and of ever during
and unwearied effort. And while he is thus
a most skilful and productive laborer, he is a
non-consumcr—at least beyond the wants of
his mechanical being. He is not clamorous
lor food, raiment, or sheltef, and iftakes no de
mands for tho expenses of education; Thd
eating and drinking, the reading and Writing
and clothes wearing world are benefitted by
the labors of these co-operatives* in the same
way as if Providence had provided for their
: service millions of beings, like onrsclVes in
external appearance, able to labor and to toil*
and yet requiring little or nothing for their own
consumption or subsistence ; or rather, as i.
Providence had created a face of giants, each*
of whom demanding no more for his support
and consumption than a common laborer should
yet be able to perform the work of a hun
dred.
Now, sir, turn back to the Massachusetts!
tables of production, and you will see that it is
these automatic allies and co-opefaiors, and
these powers of nature, thus cniployeid and
placed under human direction* which have
jCorne* with such prodigiourtrtfucl, to man’s aid*
in the great business cf procuring the means
of living, of comfort, and of wealth* and which
(JustryT Look'at 1 these tables once Hioro, sir*
and you will see the effects of labor, united
with and acting upon capital. Look yet again*
and you will see that credit, matuil trust,
prompt and punctual dealings, and commercial
confidence, are all mixed up as indispensable
elements it the general system.
I will ask you to look yet once more, sir,
and you will perceive that general competence*
great equality m human condition, a degree of
popular knowledge ana intelligence-, r.o where
surpassed, if any where equalled, and the pre
valence ofgood moral sentiment, and extraor
dinary geueral prosperity, is the result of tha
whole. Sir, I have done with Massachusetts.
I do not praise the old “ Bay State” of the
Revolution ; I only present her as she is.
Mr. President, such is the state of things
actual!j’ existing in the country, and of which
I have now given you a sample—And yet there
are persons who constantly clamor against this
state of tilings. They call it aristocracy.
! They beseech the poor to make war upon the
rich, while, in truth, they know not who are
either rich or poor. They esmplain us sppres
sion, speculation, and the periiicieus influence
of accumulated wealth. They cry out loudly
against all banks and corporations, and all tha
means by which small capitals become united,
in order to produce important and beneficial
results. They carry oh a mad hostility against
all established institutions.-They would choke
! up the fountains of industry, and dry all its
i streams.
' Ina country of unbounded liberty, they cla
mor against oppression. In a country of per
fect equality, they would move heaven and
earth against privilge and tnonodely. In a
country where property is more equally divid
ed than any where else, they fend tha air with
the shouting of agiarian doctrines, ha coun
try wheic the wages of labor are high beyond
all parallel, and where lands are cheap, and
the means of living low, they would teach the
laborer that he is but an oppressed slave. Sir,
what can such men want? What do they
mean? They can want nothing, sir, but to
enjoy the fruits of other men’s labor. The*
can mean nothing* but disturbance and disor
der ; the diffusion of corrupt principles, and
the destruction of the moral sei.timeuts and
moral habits of society. A licentiousness of
feeling and of action is sometimes produced by
prosperity itself. Man cannot always resist
the temptation to which they are exposed by
the very abundance of the bounties of Provii
dence and the very happiness of their own con
dition ; as tho Steed, fiill of the pasture, will;
sometimes; throw himself against its enclosures!
I break away from its confinement* and feeliqg
I now free from needless restraint, betake hii»!-
i self to the moors and barrens, where vv«»it;
ere long, brings him to his senses, and starva
tion and death close bis career.
Having said so much, sir, on the general
condition of the country, and explained what
I understand by credit; I proceed to consider
the present actual state of the currency.
The most recent Trewery eChmare whicti
I have seen, supposes that there are eighty
millions of metallic money now » n th* 3 country;
This I believe, however, to be g®°d d e, d ®°o
high; I cannot believe it exceeds sixty, at
most; and supposing one half this sum to bo
in the banks, thirty milli*’ llls are circulafion,
or in private hands. sevu ".
banks and branches, wi* capitals, assigned h>r
the security of
to two hundred >mlbo:.s. Ihe
amount of bank "Ctanl ttreultttaon »
stippled to be h"udn d millions; so bar
our whole circid"' 1 ”” ' s about one hundred
and thirty