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THE CRISIS OF THE COUNTRY.
THE CREDIT' .SYSTEM AND THE NO CREDI
SYSTEM.
How the credit system affects the poor.
The poor man’s family is sick, and lie wants
a doctor. The doctor comes, and waits till
the poor man can pay. He wants medicine at
the apothecary’s, and the apothecary does him
the same favor. Suppose he can never pay.
The doctor and the apothecary can both afford
to forgive him the debt; they consented to
the risk; distress has been relieved ; and
society is henefitted by a voluntary tax on those
who could afford it. Besides, the man may
be able to pay; and in nine cases out of ten,
or in nineteen out of twenty, he will. ,
How the ito credit system affects the same case.
The doctor don’t come ; the apothecary re
fuses the medicine; the sick members of the
family may live; but more likely will die.—
There is distress aggravated; there is perhaps
loss of life; on one part, there is a sense of
unkindness and of a want of humanity, de
spair, death.; on the other is hardness of
heart, a consciousness of wrong, at least to
humanity.; society is injured; nobody isbene-
fitted.
How the credit system affects a young man set
ting up in life.
We will suppose he has earned a good
character, is respected, esteemed, and in all
respects qualified for this, that, or the other
kind of business; but he has nothing to begin
with—no capital. He has friends, however,
who are able and willing to supply his wants,
and wait till his success in business may ena
ble him to refund. The parties who help him
know there is some risk, but they can afford it,
and they have a good feeling, a gratification in
the matter. If they lose all, they are not em
barrassed by it; whether they lose or not. they
are better in heart; they are conscious of hav
ing done a good thing; and society is bene-
fitted. It is in no way injured, because the
property is somewhere, in use, though it may
not come back to them. But in most cases of
this kind, the young man succeeds, pays all,
is thereby put forward in life, obtains a stand
ing, has credit of his own, can do the same
favor to others, will be disposed to it from
gratitude, is respected, honored, blessed.—
He is also enabled to do a great deal of good
in the various relations, and for the most im
portant purposes of life, because he has the
means. He may he honored with public
trusts, and discharge them for public good.—
He is a made man, and made by credit; a
blessing to himself, to his family, to society.
How the no credit system affects the same case.
The money lent by these kind friends to
this worthy young man, would perhaps other
wise have been hoarded up as dead capital to
do nobody any good. At least it would have
been retained for selfish ends, instead of being
appropriated for generous objects. The feel
ings of these parties, who have come to the
aid of so worthy a person, and by that means
made a thrifty, useful, happy man, would, in
the case of the no credit system, have failed
of this high gratification, and been bound up
in selfishness. This young man would have
been doomed -to remain where he was, to look
this way, and that way for help., finding none.
He would have failed to get into the business
of the case supposed, which belongs to the
credit system; lie would have encountered
hard-heartedness all around him, grown selfish
himself, perhaps discouraged. The chances
are many that he would never have come to
any importance in society, that lie would have
got into low pursuits, and a low condition,
perhaps been abandoned to vice, or ended liis
days in crime.
What proportion of young men in our coun
try are so favored as to inherit capital ? Pro
bably not one in a hundred. Will they not,
then, be in favor of the credit system ? Will
not fathers, who look with anxious concern on
the sons to whom they can leave nothing but
their blessing, be in favor of this system ?
How the credit system affects mechanics.
Take for example a journeyman printer of
good character, who is offered a chance, with
good prospects, of placing himself at the head
of an establishment in his line of business as
proprietor; hut he has not sufficient capital.
The eredit system, however, comes in, and
enables him to conclude a purchase. He rises
at once to importance, with every prospect of
doing well. The credit system has given him
a place and advantages in one day, which, it
is possible he could not have acquired in all
his lifetime under the no credit system, and
nobody is injured by it. They who have ac
commodated him were perhaps as willing to
do it for their own interest, as he was to accept
it for his.
This maty illustrate the case of ten thousand,
more probably of a hundred thousand me
chanics in our cities and country, who are as
deeply interested in the credit system, as the
individual here supposed. The same may be
said of young men and others engaged in agri
culture, in manufactures, in trade, in any
calling of life, requiring some capital to begin
with. On the no credit system most of them
might give up all hope of being able to estab
lish themselves, within a reasonable period, in
a respectable and advantageous position for
the business they have chosen.
How the credit system affects those who are al
ready established in business, and are worthy
of credit.
It enables them to enlarge their plans on a
prudent basis, as they may judge best; to
attempt and accomplish many things which
active minds prompt to, which are essential to
happiness, possibly to the greatest usefulness.
It is a right which they have earned by their
probity, by their good conduct, by their dili
gence in business, and which is conceded to
them by the respect and good esteem in which
they are held. Their good name is as much
a capital as their money; in acquiring the last
honestly, they have acquired the first, and
with the same pains. They are, therefore,
as fairly entitled to trade upon one, as upon
the other.
How the no credit system affeets the same cases.
It is a libel on good character; it is a libel
on society; it is a quenching of the spirit of
noble and generous confidence; it is crampino-
the expansive powers of sound public moralH
ty; it prevents the accomplishment of great
good; it checks activity and limits useful en
terprise ; it curtails individual and public
wealth; an,d in a thousand ways robs society
of benefits and advantages it would otherwise
realize.
How the credit system affects a poor young man
of promising abilities who lias lost his health
so that he cannot work, and wants to get a
liberal education.
His friends take him by the hand, and help
him, with the understanding, if he should be
able, that he should remunerate them. The
young man gets his education by this assis
tance, enters his profession, is successful, and
returns to his benefactors to redeem his pledge.
Possibly they may be in circumstances not to
want it, or so gratified with the good they
have done, as to say, “No, you are welcome,”
and offer to cancel the obligation. Still, he
may insist upon repayment. Who will deny,
that this is a great blessing to all the parties,
and to society]
But suppose the young man dies in the
course of his education, or is unsuccessful, his
benefactors always had this contingency in
prospect, can generally afford the loss, and
there is no complaint. Who is injured]
Hoio the no credit system affects the same case.
The unfortunate young man is cat off from
all prospects in life, left to want, perhaps to
misery and starvation. His supposed bene
factors must now be supposed hard-hearted
and selfish; kindness and morality are so much
the less : and it is possible, that society is de
prived of one of its brightest ornaments, of a
most useful public character, and the country
of one of its most illustrious men.
How the credit system affects the honest and
strong, though poor man, who goes with no
estate hut his axe and rife on his shoulder
into the western wilderness.
It is possible that even his rifle and axe
were furnished by a kind neighbor, who said,
“Pay for it if you prosper; if not you are
welcome.” In the first place, on the basis of
the credit system, he may avail himself of the
privileges of a squatter, if he choses. That
is credit, and liis creditor is the Government
of his country. He has no money, but he has
a strong arm, and a sound and courageous
heart. The trees fall before him; a “log
cabin” is soon erected; he gets food by his
rifle. Our pioneer of the wilderness, having
cleared away his patch.—made “an opening,”
as they say in the West—and built his cabin,
takes dowD bis rifle, makes bis way through
the forest to the nearest of one of the older
“ settlers,” who bad begun in like manner,
but has now large openings, a bam filled with
grain, cattle, pigs, poultry, &c. He negotiates
with this neighbor, whom perhaps he had
never seen before, for seed, pigs, fowls, a cow,
perhaps a yoke of oxen—all on credit—for
still he has no money. The look and bearing
of the man are a sufficient recommendation,
the bargain is closed, with no other security
than the common, generous faith of the West,
“ Pay when you can.” Not even a scrap of
paper is demanded. The obligation is writ
ten on the heart, the best of all securities in
such a case. “ God bless you, neighbor,”
says the generous creditor, who knows how
to sympathize with such a case, “let us see
you when you can;” and they part. Our
pioneer takes care to assert the pre-emption
right of a squatter, has booked to him at the
Government land office as much land as the
terms of sale will allow, or as he may want.
He works away upon credit, pays for his seed
and first supply of stock, meets his engage
ments at the land office, after two, three, or
four years, is well off, though still in debt, still
living and prospering on credit. ’He revisits
his native place, marries the daughter of the
kind neighbor who gave him the axe and rifle,
who welcomes his return with all the generous
feelings of a benefactor.
We may suppose our pioneer to have squat
ted on the prairies of the West, and by adapt
ing the scene to the circumstances, the result
would be the same.
In the succession of events this man, long
before he dies, is first a justice of the peace
over a surrounding population, whose history
corresponds with his own ; next, perhaps, a
member of Congress; and finally, it maybe,
is Governor of a new Western State. He has
risen from nothing to wealth, to consequence
in society, to dignity, to happiness ; all on the
basis of the credit system.
This brief story is not fiction, but fact. It
is a true copy of the history of our “ Great
West;” it is exactly in accoxdance with the
whole history of our country. Nearly all our
best citizens and greatest men began life with
nothing—started on credit. Credit has been
the spring of our enterprise, the nurse of our
prosperity, the cause of our greatness.
How the no credit system would affect the same
case.
Clearly, this r.oble-hearted man would never
have gone west, for he had not the means to
get there and cut down the trees. Nor could
the Government have allowed him to squat
on the no credit system. Neither could he
have obtained his pre-emption right. Not
one of the results of this interesting narrative
—which would apply equally well to a thou
sand, to ten thousand cases of fact, to the
whole history of our western world—would
have transpired without the credit system.
Without this, the western states would have
remained a wilderness to this day. The pros
perity and greatness of that teemnig, active,
go-ahead portion of the American Union, are
founded on the creative, prolific principle of
credit. The prosperity and greatness of our
who’e country, of this Republic, are founded
upon it. In describing a few of these cases,
we write the history of this nation, so far as
respects the causes of our unprecedented
growth and importance.
How the credit system affected the early history
of the North American Colonies.
Our ancestors came here poor, just as our
pioneer of the West, above described, went
into the wilderness. It is true they had some
patronage from Government, and from other
quarters, but patronage is one of the forms of
credit, in the same manner as our pioneer had
the patronage of the good old man, who af
terwards became his father-in-law. Our an
cestors had almost nothing to begin with. The
whole enterprise of settling this western world
was a credit enterprise, not only in respect
to the hopes entertained, but also in respect
to the foundation on which it was based. The
discovery of America was effected on the
credit system. Was not Columbus a beggar
for credit at the courts of Europe, through
the whole history of his great, sublime, and
glorious undertakings I Are not the whole
of his achievements to be ascribed to the ef
fectiveness .of that principle ? Undeniably.
The grandest conceptions of man that are ex
ecuted, are ordinarily done on the basis of
credit. This vve shall-find to be true in every
department of history, whether we refer to
those who have acted only on mind, or wield
ed empire over the world of nature. The
reasons are, first, because they who conceive
the greatest things are not the most fit for the
prudent calculations of business.; and next,
because they who ate already possessed of
wealth and independence have no motive,
are too sluggish to entertain great enterprises.
It was the poverty of our ancestors, and
other social inconveniences, which drove them
to this new world. Some of them may have
had a little wealth. But what was it all com
pared with the greatness of the undertaking!
It was credit on which they started, in hope
of future income; it was credit on which
they worked and traded, fought and died, the
inheritance of which they bequeathed to their
children ; it was credit on which they achieved
all that gives them honor in our esteem, re
spect among mankind, renown in history.
Our ancestors were always in debt to the
mother country as individuals, and as Colonies.
One of the chief causes of the war of the Rev
olution were the difficulties raised in the man
agement of these accounts.
How the no credit system would have affect€d the
early history of this country.
In the first place, America would not have
been discovered. But passing by that, thege
United States would never have had existence,
because the Colonies would not have been
planted, or if planted, could not have been
reared without credit. But private and pub
lic credit was used on a large scale du£ng the
whole of our Colonial history. The Colonies
were begun, carried forward, and raised to
all their importance, such as it was, by that
means.
How the credit system affected the attainment
of our Independence.
The quarrel of the Revolution was in effect
and in substance a quarrel about credit, com
mercial credit and the claims of royal preroga
tive. The tight of absolute sovereignty was
asserted as a credit account. This right, as to
the manner in which it operated, was denied
and resisted. Hence the war, and hence the
result. The latter we regard as a blessing
and we owe it to this quarrel about credit. ’
But how could we have maintained tha L
struggle, or gone a single step in it, withou
a national credit. A few feeble settlements’
having always been in a state of depend
ence, without money and greatly in debt,
without arms, without troops, without ships
of war, with no government even, except
a hasty provisional one set up for the ex
igency; such a people pitted in a conflict of
arms against one of the oldest, best provided,
and most powerful empires in the world ! But
credit, that spring of enterprize in peace, that
soul and sinew of war, came to our aid.
Funds? ships, armies, flew to our relief. We
issued bills of credit of our own ; and a base
less paper currency Tor our domestic uses,
which answered all the purpose at the time,
though it proved good for nothing afteiwards.
Perhaps it would be true to say, that we owe
our Independence to the credit of that baseless
Continental paper. What could vve have
done without it in such an hour I It is true,
it was never redeemed, but the people were
redeemed, and bore with patience this tax to
their country’s deliverance. They who paid
a hundred dollars for a breakfast, poor as they
were, could point to a nation’s independence
purchased by the sacrifice. In-the enjoyment
of the blessings of freedom, they soon forgot
their losses. Credit was the charm, the potent
agency that carried them through. What
could have been done without it ] Dismay
woqjd have Covered every countenance in
the outset, and the world would have pro
nounced our fathers madmen. But it was the
generous faith of mankind,credit,that saved us.
How the credit system enabled us to carry on the
last war with Great Britain.
We may, perhaps, say in the gross, that
that war cost the nation $200,000,000, if we
include all sacrifices, public and private, and
left us involved to the amount of some $120,-
000,000, more or less. We had nothing but
debt to begin with ; we sustained the burden ;
acquitted ourselves with honor ; and in about
twenty years after the peace cancelled the
debt; all on the basis of credit. Without
this we could have done nothing; without
this a nation might now insult us with im
punity.
How the credit system still affects the Govern
ment of the United States.
It can obtain money whenever it wants, and
to any amount.
How the no credit system would affect the Gov
ernment of the United States.
It could not have issued its $5,000,000 of
Treasury Notes in the spring of this year,
(1810,) nor its $10,000,000 of 1839. The
wheels of Government would have been stop
ped. There would have been a revolution
succeeded by anarchy,, or some new state of
things, we know not what. A Government
without credit is no Government at all. It is
dissolved in the event. The event itself is
the instrument of its dissolution, and no other
could be formed except on the basis of credit.
Can it, indeed, be true, that a Government
seeking to abolish the credit system, is itself
at the same time asking and realizing all its
advantages, by the issue of its own paper,
without a dollar of specie to base it upon !
That it is issuing this paper by millions one
year after another ! We know it is good ; but
we ask for consistency, for the proofs of sin
cerity. Or is this Government prepared to say
to the people, “ You shall not have credit, but
we will!” Will they say, it is good for pub
lic. national purposes, but bad for private use ]
But, the Government is compelled to use
credit—hey ? And may it not also be con
venient to us, the people I
How the credit system affects the British Em
pire.
For a quarter of a century that Government
was able, by the mere force of her credit, to
stand against the most powerful combination for
the destruction of her manufactures, her trade,
and the throne itself, which was ever formed
against any nation, and was victor in the end.
Still she holds on her way, dotting the face of
the globe with her colonies, absorbing old
empires and erecting new ones, covering
all seas with her navy and her commerce,
creating new worlds -in this little world of
ours : all on the basis of her credit. The sun
never sets upon her dominions, and her morn
ing drum keeps pace with each of the twenty-
four hours.
Hoxc the no credit system would affect the Brit
ish Empire.
It could not exist a day, but would fall to
dissolution in ten thousand fragments, present
ing a scene of social devastation, such as the
world never saw.
Hoio the attempt to introduce the no credit sys
tem has forced our Government to resort to
credit.
Nothing but had Government can keep the
American people down. If they are not up
soon after the revulsion of over action, it is on
ly because the Government will not let them
get up: if they are not going ahead it is only
because the Government has knocked them
on the head. The no credit system will not
only destroy a Government, but it will destroy
a people. Can»ied > out, it is the dissolution
of society. This is its true definition, as well
as its effect. An attempt trt introduce it there
fore, from the highest department of society,
from the Government, is just knocking the
people on the head. They cau’t stand it.—
it is governing too much. It is destroying
faith, moiality, the bond of the social state.
Just let the people know that this is what
the Government are about, and that is enough.
They feel the blow and reel under it. The
body politic shakes, trembles, and quivers
thx*ough all its parts to its extremities. Men
are frightened; confidence takes flight; ru
mor with her thousand tongues stalks abroad ;
and society presents a scene of confusion, with
disaster following quick upon the heel of dis
aster.
When a Government, instead of endeavor
ing to repair and reinvigorate a shaken credi\
strikes another and more tremendous blow* by
telling the people, “Since you will abuse
credit, you shant have it,” it is like a bolt from,
heaven that shivers the oak. It is punishing
the whole nation for the sins of a few. It is
like the quack, who, lighting upon a commu
nity visited by an epidemic disease, not only
kills the sick by his want of skill, but forces
down the throat of every well man, woman and
child, a drug which kiUs them all, under pre
tence that it is to save them from the corita-
gion.
No wonder such a mode of treatment re
acts upon the Government, and they find them
selves in a few short months fallen from a sur
plus, to a deficient and rapidly failing revenue.
No wonder they are compelled to resort to
credit to save themselves, as they have des
troyed credit in the ranks of the people by the
threat of doing it. A country thus injured is
so far impoverished.
How the State debts are affected by this alarm
occasioned by the action of the Government.
Take for example the debt of the State of
Pennsylvania, which is $36,000,000. Before
the shock occasioned by the Government at
tempt to abolish credit was felt, the bonds of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were
worth in the market of the world $113 on ev
ery $100. The last sales were at $75 on the
par value of$100, since which there has been
no demand. Suppose, however, that the bonds
of Pennsylvania are now (June 1, 1840) worth
$75 on $100. They cannot be worth more
than this. It will follow, that the entire de
preciation from 113 per cent to 75 per cent,
on a debt of $36,000,000, is $13,680,000!—
Is not this a truly amazing effect ] Is it not
a mortifying position to a sovereign Common
wealth, to be obliged to observe such a falling
off’ in her own fair fame.
Hole the Independent Treasury, is a Government
Bank, and how a Government Bank differs
from a National Bank.
The Independent Treasury is a bank of de-
posite for the revenue of the country ; that is
certain. No one will deny this. If it be call
ed a place of deposite, the change of name
does not alter the thing. The only question
is, whether it is a bank in the proper sense of
the term. What then, is a batik ] Is the
privilege and office of discount essential to a
bank! No one will pretend it is. What
then remains as essential to the proper charac
ter of such an institution! Simply and manifest
ly, the two faculties of deposite and issue, both
of which belongto the Independent Treasury,
and are essential elements of the bill of organ
ization. The Treasurer of the U. S. is empow
ered by this bill to issue drafts on the several
branches or places of deposite at his discretion
without any restriction as to amount or form.—
Here, then is a bank—-a bank of deposite,
and a bank of issue—all that is essential to a
bank. Moreover, these drafts will be an ac
tual currency, so long as they are out; a cur
rency that will be preferred to all others, and
pass at a premium.
It remains to observe how this Independent
Treasury is a Government Bank in distinction
from a National Bank. Simply becanse in
the case of a National Bank, it is under the
control of a directorship responsible to the le
gislative branch of the Government ; where
as, in the case of the Independent Treasury,
it is to be under the soverign control and
directorship of the President of the United
States, in which capacity he is virtually in
vested, by the bill of organization, with the
three several powers of President, sole Direc
tor, and Cashier of the Institution, all which
he can use at pleasure, by proxy, or other
wise ! Is not this a Government Bank with
a witness.
How the constitutional prerogative of the respec
tive Stales to control their own monetary capi
tal may be, and is likely to be usurped by this
Government Bank.
It is true, that the right of the Slates to char
ter banks, if they choose so to do, will remain.
But of what use is the right, so long as this
Government Bank has control over the specie
of the country, and is able to draw all great
monetary transactions within the circle of its
influence! Whenever this institution shall
choose to exert its powers, in these particulars
to the full extent of its possible sway, the con
stitutional control of the States overtheirown
monetary capital, will exist only in name.—
All that power will be wrested from their
hands. We need not say that the sovereign
ty of a State will not be worth a penny, when
this vital element of her political existence is
taken away. What is a political body with
out the control q! ajnonetary capital! A mere
cipher.
How the operation of this Government Bank icill
work a revolution in a ruinous depreciation of
the prices of property and labor.
It is an uncontroverted maxim, that the
prices ofpropeity and labor are graduated by
the amount of the circulating medium. It is
also obvious, that the scheme of the Inde
pendent Treasury is to reduce and confine the
currency of the country to hard money;,and
this is likely to be the effect of its full operation*
“ Study,” says Mr. Benton of the U. States
Senate, “the financial history of Holland,
France, Cuba. Follow their example. Imi
tate them.” This is known to be the doctrine
of our national Administration.
The average prices of labor in some few
hard money countries are as follows:—In
France 5 shillings and S pence sterling per
week. Hours of labor, 12 in the day, or 72
for the week. 'In Switzerland, 4 shillings
and 5 pence per week. Time of work, 82
hours. In Austria, 4 shillings per week.—
Hours, 76. In Tyrol, 3 shillings and 9 pence
per week. Hours 88. In Saxony, S shillings
and 6 pence per week. Hours. 72. In Boon
on the Rhine,2 shillings and 6 pence per week.
Hours, 84. In Egypt 3, to 3J pence per day.
The average price for the above named Eu
ropean countries, is 3 shillings an 11 pence,
and 3 farthings per week; and the average
number of hours, 79. This average price of
labour per week, amounts to about 97 cts of
our currency.
Tn England the prices of labour per week,
range from 15 shillings sterling, (or $3 63,)
to 30 shillings, (or $7 26 cents.) Average, $5
43 cents. In the United States the prices of
labor have heretofore ranged from $3 to $6
per week. Average $4 50.
This comparison will sliowthe difference be
tween the prices of labour in hard money coun
tries and mixed currency countries. Great
Britain and the United crates are known to
have been the most prosperous counties in
the world. The cause is to be found in the
high prices of property and labour. It may
be laid down as a maxim of universal truth,
that the highest state of prosperity in any
country is that condition of things which main
tains as a permanency the highest prices of
property and labour; more .especially of labor
and that the state most remote from prosper
ity, is that which reduces tire prices of pro
perty and labor to the lowest point. In all the
world and in all ages this will be found true,
I other things being equal. The lowest prices
of property and labor will he found under ab
solute ah<3 .despotic governments, and in a
state* of barbarism, where also will be found
the greatest poverty and'the most misery.
It is not .sufficient to say that the depression
of these nominal prices does not depress pros
perity, when other things are equal, because
other things are never equal, as we shall see
in what follows.
Let us then proceed to consider how the
operation of this Government Bank scheme
will affect the property and labor of the coun
try. The amount of a sound mixed currency
of a country is at least three dollars to one of
a hard money currency. This is the smallest
difference, which we are therefore entitled to
assume as giving the greatest advantage to our
opponents. By this rule the following calcu
lations are made for the purposes of illustra
tion, the principle of which may be accommo
dated to any supposable or actual state of
things. It will be seen that the standard we
assume is perfectlyimmatcrial to the argument.
In the assumption of any other, to suit parties
or persons, the grand result Wbuld Le the same
for all our purposes.
Consequently by the principle laid down,
which will not be controverted, viz. that the
amount of currency graduates the prices of
property and labor, it will follow that the in
troduction and full operation of the Govern
ment Bank system will reduce the prices of
property and labor at least tivo-tbirds. flow-
much the reduction will exceed this fraction may
be guessed.sX by a review of the comparative
prices of labor in different countries given
above.
Let us then estimate the amazing change.
The workingman, who, under the old system
received his dollar a day for wages, would find
them reduced to thirty-three cents under
the new. The dollar and a half per day
of the journeyman carpenter, meson, tailor,
jeweller, cabinet-maker, printer, book-binder,
and of numerous other trades which it would
fill a page to mention, would be reduced to
fifty cents. The six pence of the milkman,
who makes his daily round through the streets
of our cities, would be reduced to two pence.
In the same proportion would those market
people suffer who supply the tables of our
towns and cities from the surrounding coun
try. Beef, instead of nine cents a pound,
would be three ; potatoes would fall from 30
to 10 cents a bushel; corn, from 75 cents to
25 ; wheat and flour in the same proportion ;
and so of all kinds of meats, and all kinds of
bread-stuff’s, and all kinds of vegetables. The
saddler’s $18 would dwindle down to $6, and
the boot-maker’s $6 to $2. The man who un
der the old system could lay up $300 a year,
under the new, could lay up only $100, or $50
instead of $150, or $25 instead of 75. The
farm worth $1500 under the old, would bo
wortli only $500 under the new. In the same
manner, and in the same proportion will ev
ery species of property be depressed ; lands,
farms, houses and tenements, city and coun
try estates, horses, cattle, sheep, wool, the
products of the soil, and of labor, labor itself,,
service of every description, andin every ca
pacity of common life, in town and country:
every thing, indeed, except the salary of the.
President of the United States, and those of
the officers and agents of Government, amou nt-
ing perhaps to fifteen thousand ; all which
would be raised in value in proportion to the
increased value of mouey, be it more or le ss.
They say two-thirds. Of course the Presi
dent’s salary would be worth $75,000, and
those of other officers and agents of the
Government in proportion to their nominal a-
mouut.
But debtors who probably constitute nine-
tenths of the population, would he the great
est sufferers of all, inasmuch as they would not
only suffer equally in the depression of their
property, if they have any, but in the same
proportion for all that they owe. In many in
stances a debtor wHio was actually rich under
the old system, may be reduced to nothing by
the substitution of the new. Nay, he will be
as much worse than nothing, as his debts ex
ceed one-third of his property. Forx-xample:
—If a man’s property was worth $60,000
and his debts were $30,000, he will be $10,-
000 worse than nothing by the change. A far
mer possessed of an estate worth $1500, and
being in debt $750, would find himself $250
worse than nothing by the change. A farm
er who could pay a debt of $300 with 300 bu
shels of wheat under the old system, roust part
with 900 bushels to pay it under the new, be
sides sacrificing two-thirds of the former val
ue of his.farm, if he is obliged or wishes to
sell it. In the same two-fold proportion would
all debtors, having property, suffer by the
change.
It has been said by high authority—with
how much truth we know not—that the ag
gregate of private debts in every commercial
country like ours, is ordinarily equal to all tb e-
property of that country; in which case, as
will he seen, such a revolution as will neces
sarily be brought about by reducing the cir
culating medium of this country to a hard
money level, would increase this indebted
ness of individuals to three times the value:
of all the property to be found in the whoh i
country.
Taking the assessment list of the State o f
New-York as a standard of the valuation of iti ;*
property—which, as is well known in sucli
cases, is much below the true value—and ad
ding to that her public works and otherspecies:
of property not taxed, all of which must suffer -
alike in the general wreck of this revolution—
and it would probably be a moderate estimate
to rate her losses in passing from the old to
the hard money system, on the principle estab
lished, at $500,000,000. For our present pur
pose it may be sufficiently accurate to assume,
that all our States and Territories would suf
fer is the same proportions to Nevv-York,
as in the proportion of their respective repre- .
sentations in the House of Representatives
in-Congress—which would show an aggregate
loss to the whole United States uf $2,500,000,-
000.
Besides all this, by withdrawing two-thirds
of the circulating medium, we withdraw t\vo-
lliitds of the active capital of the country, or
which is the same thing, two-thirds of, the
means of public prosperity. 1 he productive
ness of this capital, by the application of skill
and labor would be twice as much to the na
tion as the prosperity based upon the on e-third
retained. Yes, much more than that, on the
principle, that every increase of capital aug
ments the power of acquiring wealth in a man
ifold proportion. We might probably say with
truth, that the failure of fifty banks a year in
the United States, of half a million of capital
each, all falling on the people, would not be
so great a loss to the nation.
It is to be observed, that a dollar under a
sound mixed currency, is as good as a dollar
under an exclusive metallic currency, so far
as respects public faith, because it will al
ways procure hard money. A dollar is a dol
lar in America, in Europe, in Africa, in Asia,
everywhere at all times. Though it may not
procure so much of the necessaries of life un
der a mixed as under a hard money currency,
it counts the same as an acquisition or invest
ment ; and a dollar under the former system
is worth just as much in our relations to all
the worTi as a dollar nnder the latter. Con
sequently, in our social, commercial, and p,*
lilieal standing with all the world, we should
be worth three times as much, and have three
times the strength under the former system
which we should have under the latter. B *
sides, we should be able, and on that system
alone - able, to marqtairr onr rivalship vcith
Great Britain, aud our relative stand in
other nations. ° “
There, too, is our foreign debt of some $200
000,000, standing against some of our State*
and against individuals, and in that way a _
gainst the country, which, by the principle al
ready recognized, would rise to $600,000,000
under the new system, not nominally indeed
but really, without a fraction of that abatement
which is ascribed to onr domestic condition
under such a change. The true reckoning
would be on the other side. For it must a]'
be paid in specie. It would even be more-
difficult to pay $200,000,000 after this chamm
than $600,000,000 befoie it had begun.
All the gain of such a new state of thin es
would be to the rich, and all the loss to tlm
poor. The latter would still have to pav the
same for their tea, coffee, sugar, cloths, and all
foreign productions, j/*they could ever get mo
ney enough to have either. But thisi/'rnakes
a doubtful case. It is the doom of the poor in
all hard money countries to remain forever
poor, with scarcely the means of subsistence
So would it be with us. They would be ground
to the dust.
“ America,” said a distinuished foreimi
statesman, “ is (was vve must say now) the hea
ven of the poor man.” And why? Because
first, of the exceeding facility of getting
enough to live on; and next, because of the
numerous and great facilities of getting rich.
But introduce this new state of things, and it
will be comparatively a hell to him.
We are not aware, that there is any gmr»- 1
for the charge of fallacy, or of error, in u,
calculations we have made, or in the results to
which they have conducted us. Is it not,
then, high time for the people of this country
1 to look this tremendous reckoning in the face!
WITTY JUDGMENTS OF THE DUKE OF OSSUNXA.
> The Duke of Ossunna, Viceroy at Naples
for the King of Spain, to whom the Neapoli
tan territory was then subject, acquired great
celebrity for the tact and wisdom of the judg
ments he delivered. This nobleman, on visit
ing the galleys one festival day for the purpose
of liberating a captive, according to use and
wont, found all the prisoners loud in assertino-
their innocence. One declared that his com
demnation was the work of enemies; another
asserted that lie had been informally and un
justly convicted; a third declared he had been
mistaken for another person and so on. All
declared tlremselve guiltless as cradled babes.
At last the Duke came to one maa who took
a very different tone ; “ I do not believe, my
noble lord,” said he r “that there is a greater
rascal in all Naples than myself. They were
too lenient with me to send me to the galleys.”
The Duke hearing these words, turned imme
diately round to the keeper of the galleys, and
exclaimed, “ Loose this scoundrel’s chain,,
and turn him immediately about his business.
Ifhe is allowed to stay,, he will certainly cor
rupt these honest, innocent men here. Take
him away!” While bis orders were being
obeyed, he wheeled round to the other cap
tives, and said to them with the most civil air
imraaginalde, “ Gentlemen,. I have no doubt
you will thank me for ridding you of this pes
tilent fellow. He might have undermined your
innocence.”
The Duke of Ossunna was somewhat like
Haroun Alraschid, a little despotical even in
his good doings. Fevromelle, a rich merchant
of Naples, whose predominant passion was av
arice, chanced to loose an embroidered purse,
containing fifty golden ducats, fifty Span
ish pistoles, and a ring of the value of
a thousand crowns. This loss vexed him
grievously, and he caused a proclamation
to be made, offering fifty Spanish pistoles
to any one who should restore the missing ar
ticles. An old woman found the purse and
brought it to the owner. Ferromeile, as soon
as he saw his property, could not withstand
the temptation of trying to avo’U payment of
part of the reward. In counting the fifty pis
toles, he dextrously laid aside thirty, and
said to the finder, “ l promised fifty pistoles
to whoever found the purse. Thirty have been
taken out of it already by you; here are the
other twenty, and so you are paid.” The old
woman remonstrated in vain against this treat
ment, but she would probably have remained
content with her twenty pistoles, had not some
one advised her to apply for justice to the
Duke of Ossunna. The Duke knew the man
well, and sent for him. “ Is there any likeli
hood.” said he to Ferromelle, “ that the old
woman, who had the honesty to bring you
the purse when she might have taken all
would be guilty of taking your thirty* pistolesf
k No, no. The truth is, the purse cannot be yours.
Your purse had fifty pistoles, and this had but
thirty. The purse cannot be yours.” TL
merchant stammerrerf out, “ My lord, I knew
the purse, the ducats, the ring ” “Non
sense '’’exclaimed the Duke : “ do you think
there never was a purse, or ducats, or a ring
like yours ? Here, good woman,” continued
he, addressing the old woman, 1 take you the
purse and its contents. It cannot be this good
gentleman’s since lie says his had fifty pis
toles.” This judgment was euforced. The
Duke might have been morally certain of i..e
miser’s attempt to cheat, but, as has been said
this was a very Haroun Alraschid-like kind of
a decision.
The Duke had one day to hear the ca«e of
Betrand de Sols, a proud Spanish gentlemau
who was in the habit of walking in the streets,
with his head elevated like a cameleopard’s.
While thus marching, a porter carrying a
heavy load, had run against him, but not, without
first crying “ beware !” which is the ordinary
mode of giving warning in such casss. The
porters load consisted of fagots, and oneofthem
fell off in the concussion, and tore the Span
iard’s silk mantle. He was mightily enraged,
and sought redress from the viceroy. The
Duke knew that porters usually cry “ Be
ware,” and having seen the porter m this case,
he learned that he had cried the word, though
de Sols avouched the contrary. I he Duke ad
vised the porter to. declare himself dumb when
the cause came lor judgment. The portei
did so through a friend, and the Duke imme
diately said to de Sols, “ Wbat can I do to
this poor fellow ? You see he is dumb.”—
Forgetting himself, the enraged Spaniard
i cr ied out,” Don’t believe the scoundrel, my
lord ; I myself heard him cry “ Beware !”—
« Why, then, did you not beware V’ replied
the Duke, and he madethe mortified Spaniard
pay all expences, and a fine to the poor.
£Chambers' Edingbnrg Journal.
Dying Consolation.—“ I shall die happy,
said an expiring husband to his wife, who was
weeping most dutifully by. the bed-side, i
you will only promise not to marry the object
of my unceasing jealousy, your cousin o n.
“ Make yourself quite easy, love,’ said t e ex
pectant widow, “I am.pngaged tobisbrother
}
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