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 SPEECH OF 3IR. DAVIS 
 
 OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE SUB-TREASURY BILL, 
 
 L\ THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 JANUARY 23, 1840. 
 
 Published by the Whig Republican Association of Boston. 
 Tklrd edition of 10,000 copies. 
 
 The Sub-Treasury bill being under consideration, and the Sen- 
 ate having evinced a determination not to adjourn without takincr the 
 question upon the final passage of the bill — 
 
 Mr. Davis said : I rise, Mr. President, with great reluctance at 
 this late hour to address the Senate, fatigued as it is with an unusu- 
 ally long session, and exhausted by the debate; but, painful as it is 
 I must entreat their indulgence while I make a brief reply to the 
 new doctrines which have been now, for the first time, published 
 here, and come to us through channels that leave no doubt of their 
 being the doctrines of the Administration. They involve and have 
 drawn into this deJKite great and momentous considerations, affect- 
 ing the most cherished interest of the people I represent, as well as 
 of jiearly the whole country. With the exception of a few incident- 
 al remarks made by me a day or two ago, no one from the North 
 and East has addressed you during this discussion ; and as .some 
 part of the debate has been pointed in its character, and directed to 
 me porsonally, as if the position .issumcd were incapal)le of refutation 
 I feel urged by an irresistible sense of duty — nay, 1 cannot recon- 
 cile mysolf to forbear from making some reply. 
 
 Tlif Senator from Mississippi, (Mr. Walker) with his usual ac- 
 knowledged ability, and the distiniriiished Senator from Pennsylva- 
 nia, Mr. Buchanan following in bis track, have advanced the prop- 
 ositions that the embarra.ssments and distress with which the country 
 has been grievously afilicfed for several years past, and wliirh now 
 paraly/e all its energies, are impiitalilc to the jjernicious inlliiencc of 
 bank paper; that this bill contains thf necessary corrective, as it 
 will clifck the im|if»rtations of iorei^n goods, suppress what they call 
 the credit system, and, by restoring a specie currency, reduce the 
 wages of the laborer, once the value of property. 
 
 This is the character given to the measure by its friends; and, 
 
 '')
 
 2 
 
 jilarniing as the doctrines are, I am gratified that they arc frankly 
 avowed. I have been anticipated, to a considerable extent, by the 
 Senator from Mississippi, (Mr. Henderson.) In what I have to say, 1 
 shall, however, confine myself chielly to the speech of the Senator 
 from I'einisvlvania, who lias gone more in detail into the subject, for 
 we all acknowledge his ability on this floor, and his capacity to do 
 ample justice to the subjects which he discusses. 
 
 1 do not propose to follow him through a very large portion of his 
 elaborate argument to prove that Executive power has of late been 
 shunned instead of sought after, or that the present and the old Bank 
 of the United States are identical, and both national banks. Enough 
 has been said on these points. He has, however, asserted that we 
 have abandoned all the arguments which we have before used against 
 the Sub-Treasury, because the progress of events has prore them 
 unsound. Not so ; far from it. With others, I entered into that 
 debate, which is before the public, and the arguments unrefuted 
 stand as firm as ever ; but it would be a profitless task to reiterate 
 them here, and this is the reason why they are passed over in the 
 discussion. 
 
 But, sir, I will not dwell upon any of these matters, but go to that 
 in hand. The Senator says we labor under distressing embarrass- 
 ments, and so we do; no one will have the hardihood to deny it, for 
 all the country in sorrow bears testimony to it. We have, it is true, 
 seen an occasional gleam of light, but it has been soon obscured, 
 and we have been shrouded in a gloomy uncertainty. He says fur- 
 ther, that the cause is the excessive issue of bank paper, speculation, 
 and a bloated (T use his words) credit system. He lodges the guilt 
 on the backs of the banks alone. It is neither just nor fair to hold 
 them alone responsible, and I will make it manifest by showing that 
 they were seduced into their errors by the Administration. 
 
 Before the late President (Jackson) seized the public money and 
 took it into his own custody, in 1833, there was no complaint about 
 the currency ; all the people know this, for all, even the President 
 himself in one of his messages, united in declaring, in substance, it 
 was sound, and equal to that of any nation on earth. There was no 
 complaint, no inconvenience, no embarrassments, from this source, 
 in dfjing business; but contentment and satisfaction everywhere. 
 About this there could be no mistake, nor will any one here attempt 
 to refute the well-known facts. 
 
 But from that act of the President, which was the first movement 
 to reform the currency, to this day, there has been what the Senator 
 has been pleased to call " expansion, contraction, and explosion," in 
 rapid and fearful succession ; crisis upon crisis, pressure upon pres- 
 sure, panic upon panic, have succeeded, till we have reached a state 
 of suspicion and alarm that has deranged and almost suspended busi- 
 ness. The storm in its fury has swept over the country, once and 
 again uprooting the stateliest and firmest trees, and leaving in its 
 track a dreary, desolate waste. Its marks are too deeply engraven, 
 too distinct, too well defined, to leave any thing uncertain — any 
 thing equivocal. It fell upon us with such withering energy, as to 
 leave no doubt when, where and how it began.
 
 Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity, they may task their inven- 
 tions, to discover other causes of distress — they may belabor and hold 
 up to scorn and execration the banks as long as they please — they 
 cannot cliange the facts, for they cannot obliterate history. Things 
 were well, and every body knows it, till 1833. Then began the 
 bank reform by the removal of the deposites — and then began this 
 rapid series of " expansion, contraction and explosion" — then follow- 
 ed crisis after crisis — then came the derangement of the exchancres, 
 and the embarrassments which have overwhelmed the country — then 
 came, too, the nine hundred banks of which the Senator speaks, 
 though he has probably swelled the number beyond historical truth. 
 
 The Senator admits, what cannot be denied, that the Administra- 
 tion proposed and carried into effect the State bank deposite system. 
 It was in this place and by them that State banks were taken into 
 favor, petted, and boastingly held out to the country as affording a 
 better and safer currency. Into them was the revenue put in enor- 
 mous sums, and they were directed to loan freely upon it by the 
 President for the accommodation of the people, and it was his pride 
 and pleasure to make known to us that the public money was thus 
 employed, instead of being locked vp ; a striking commentary upon 
 the present plan of vaults and safes, Mr. President. 
 
 The Senator admits that this was the policy of the Administra- 
 tion, and that the disastrous consequences predicted by the Oppo- 
 sition have been verified. lie micrht have crone further: for it is truth 
 equally undeniable, that this policy sowed the seed of nearly or quite 
 one half of the whole number of banks — between ei^ht and nine hun- 
 dred — and of more than one half of tlie capital ; that it was the parent 
 of tlie paper " expansion, contraction and explosion," of which he has 
 spoken of in terms of just severity ; that it is alike the parent of the 
 bloated credit system, which he affirms has made us all gamblers ; 
 and that the mad specidation which raged over the country, and has 
 furnished the theme for declamation and denunciation in these halls 
 for three years pa.st, was begotten by it. Such are the facts, and on 
 tlie projectors of this policy let the responsibility rest. We had had 
 no " e.xjjansions, contractions, or exj)losions," for a long peri(;d that 
 (lid not fairly belong to the vibrations of trade; none that excited 
 alarm or seriously distiirberl public confidence, till we came to this 
 reforming i>olicy ; hut since then the |)ui)lic mind Ikis scarcely been 
 traiiquilized. Ju 1^34 came the first fell swoo|), which overturned 
 and bankrupted thousands; and it originated here. In '35-(J, came 
 the great era of bank-making and trading upon fiie public money, then 
 accumulated to sixty or seventy millions, as nearly as I rememlier, 
 which threw the country into a feverish excitement, and even firm, 
 well-balanced minds out of their adjusfment. There w;is a rage for 
 fijrtune-making and fortune-hunting such as had never been witness- 
 ed, and which nothing but this policy was capable of generating. 
 The Senator might and ought to have limited the bloated credit sys- 
 tem that made us all, as he affirms, g.amblers, in this jn-riod, and left 
 the offspring to stand beside its parent as a proof of the di.sasters of 
 this policy, and of the fulfilment of the predictions of the (Opposi- 
 tion ; for go together ihey must, and live together they will in his-
 
 4 
 
 tory ; ami no Ropliistry, no inapnuity can ever separate them. 
 Wlnlo tlu> Si'uator admits this policy to belong exclusively to the 
 Administration, and to have been strenuously opposed by us, and its 
 molaiu'lidlv consoiiuenccs predicted, he now repudiates it as errone- 
 ous, and we imist allow to him and his iriend.s whatever credit be- 
 longs to an abandonment of it after it had literally exploded, and the 
 mischief w;is accomi)!isli(>d. But, sir, he and they must be remind- 
 ed that 1 could, if 1 would, read from the messages of the President, 
 and from the successive reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 language of exultation, triumphing in the entire success of the poli- 
 cy, boasting that the currency was on a better footing than ever, 
 lliat the exchanges were greatly improved, and that, too, at the very 
 moment when the bloated credit was most expanded, and speculation 
 was the most rife and rank. Such was the delusion that the madness 
 which had seized multitudes was trumpeted forth as evidence of suc- 
 cess and general prosperity. The Senator clearly reasons from false 
 premises when he makes the banks the origin of our embarrassments, 
 for they were only instruments in the hands of those who projected 
 the measures that have made them what they are. 
 
 But the Senator goes further, and traces the evils of banks and 
 bank paper into England, and alleges, without qualification, that from 
 this cause business there is as badly paralyzed as it is here ; and I 
 am not about to make an issue upon that point, for I must hurry on 
 to other matters. He makes an inference, however, which I must 
 notice, lie says that to this circumstance alone we owe our ability 
 to manufacture goods. If England was a hard money country, our 
 mills and hammers would all be silent; but the paper system so 
 raises the price of wages, and consequently the price of production, 
 that she cannot send forth her goods so cheap as she otherwise 
 could, or so cheap as they are made in hard money countries, where 
 wages are lower. And do we owe our success to this folly ? Do 
 we stand upon such a slippery basis, having no foothold but upon an 
 error of policy, stupidly persisted in ? I desire to be informed how 
 the hard monoy countries, as they are called — Italy, Spain, Holland, 
 Trance and Germany — for they have all been put into that class, 
 though not with strict historical accuracy — stand the competition of 
 Knidand, with her bloated credits? Yes, how, sir, do they figure in 
 the competition? Who has supplied our markets and the markets 
 of the world I If metalic currency makes production cheaper — if it 
 gives vantage ground to a country in the general round of trade, 
 how is it that these nations have not long since run England out of 
 our market with their cheaper goods? How is it that we draw an- 
 nually from Eiifrland two-fold more of imports than from all the residue 
 of Europe? Why is it that they, especially France, shut their ports 
 again.st most kinds of English goods, to protect their own manufac- 
 tures? Why is the same policy pursued elsewhere? In these coun- 
 tries the hard money scheme has had a long, full, and faithful trial, 
 and we know the result. England, without any advantages over 
 them in our ports, has overwhelmed them with her competition ; and 
 HO it is wlienever trade is open to her upon a footing of equality with 
 them.
 
 Is it not, Mr. President, a surprising fact that the Senators who 
 have spoken upon this subject have selected the two most free, most 
 commercial nations — nations which, by their extraordinary enter- 
 prise and their unsurpassed knowledge of business, have carried 
 their trade to the remotest parts of the earth, and excelled all others 
 in the accumulation of wealth, and the enjoyments it brings with it — 
 nations highly civilized, and standing among the most enlightened on 
 the Globe — as the examples of unwise, imprudent and vicious gov- 
 ernment — so destitute of the first principles of political economy as 
 to waste the products of their labor through the unseen and incom- 
 prehensible influence of bank paper ? 
 
 There is no denying that they have outrun all others in prosperity 
 while ii} the use of this paper, and yet, according to the theory of the 
 Senator, they have all the time labored under a most oppressive pol- 
 icy, bloating wages and property, while it has been the happy lot of 
 other countries to live under the auspicious influence of hard mon- 
 ey. Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, on the other hand, 
 have become pattern nations, distinguished for their wisdom, and 
 also for tlie happy condition of their laborers, who, doubtless, failing 
 to realize their condition, escape, whenever they can, to this coun- 
 try or some other part of this continent. 
 
 But, sir, I must leave this topic and go to another. The Senator 
 assures us that this paper brings with it this alarming attribute — as 
 it expands and contracts, so property and wages rise and fill ; thus 
 making it the vital principle of the body politic, giving to it pulsa- 
 tion. In speaking of paper, I once and for all, wish always to be 
 understood as meaning the paper of sound specie-paying banks, re- 
 deemable at sight, unless I otlierwise specify. Is this a sound ax- 
 iom of the Senator ? Is bank paper the sole or chief regulator of 
 the value of wages and property 1 If so, whenever there is a com- 
 mon currency there siiouid i)e a uniform price. Let us see how the 
 position is sustained in the T'liitf-d States, where in all parts of the 
 country, we have banks. The Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Hen- 
 derson) stated that the service of an ordinary laborer, which woidd 
 cost fifteen dollars in his part of the country, he had ascertained 
 could be had at Pittsburg for a quarter, or less, of that sum, and in 
 New England, as I understood liim, for about half. Every body 
 knows tlic vast difference in the expense of living between Boston 
 and New Orleans*, and bftwo(;n New York anfl any remote country 
 town. But how is it with hard money countries '? Expenses of all 
 sorts are urKjuestionably four-fold L'^reatcr in Havana than in Flor- 
 ence; and I might go on nudtipiying cxainplrs, for it is iniicli more 
 ditficult to find two places that correspond iIkim two that are at vari- 
 ance. Does it not follow that currency, while it nn(loul)t((lly has an 
 influence, is not even tlie principal cause of this diversity '. 
 
 But, sir, I caimot dwell on this. The Senator conteiuled, by an 
 ingenious argument, that a reduction of wages would be beneficial 
 to the hiborcr, because property would necessarily fall in the snnie 
 ratio, and, in the fervor of debate, addressing New England tlirfmgh 
 me, he appeals to her to embrace this alternative as a resource to res- 
 cue her manufacturers from the ruin which lays in proi'pect. Embrace
 
 6 
 
 wlint, ]\Ir. President? How will a corresponding fall of wages and 
 property aid the laborer 1 How is his condition to be improved by 
 it 1 The most that can be said is, that his relative condition is un- 
 changed. But can he embrace the degraded condition of by far the 
 larger class of laborers in England and Ireland, where the alms- 
 houses are filled with paupers, and those who support themselves 
 struggle for life? Can he descend a grade lower, to hard money 
 Italy,°whcre, as the authority read by the Senator from Maryland 
 (Mr. Merrick) will prove, but I will not stop to read it, wages are 
 three-pence a day? Is it an invitation to abandon the physical, mor- 
 al, and intellectual comforts and enjoyments which surround the in- 
 dustrious man here, and descend to the deplorable condition of those 
 who fly from their country to this as a place of refuge for the poor, 
 the naked, and the hungry? 
 
 But, sir, as I have more to say of this in a more appropriate con- 
 nexion, I shall pass it for the present, with a single remark — if such 
 are the advantages of other countries, why do the poor emigrate 
 hither, and why do not our citizens emigrate thither ? 
 
 I will now notice the effects upon the public policy which are 
 imputed to this bill. We have always been told that it was a simple 
 proposition to divorce the Government from the banks, so as to ena- 
 ble it to hold its own money, and, therefore, harndess in its charac- 
 ter, as it would affect nothing else. 
 
 But, sir, the Senator from Pennsylvania, while he declares that he 
 is not for an exclusive hard money currency, or, in other words, is 
 not hostile to well-regulated State banks, if they can be well-regulat- 
 ed, as he expresses himself, argues that this bill will diminish impor- 
 tations, suppress credit, and stop speculation, by modifying the cur- 
 rency so far as to work out these extraordinary ends. 
 
 I am by no means satisfied that it is capable of producing all these 
 consequences, but, as such a power is imputed to it by its warmest 
 friends, and those who are in the councils and confidence of the Ad- 
 ministration, who bring it forward, and no doubt bring it forward 
 with this view and expectation, I shall, in this reply, confine myself 
 to the positions assumed. That it will do the country no good I 
 have never doubted ; but I have never allowed myself to believe that 
 it can exert that influence upon its affairs which is ascribed to it. 
 
 If it will diminish importations in the right way, so fiir it has my 
 most hearty concurrence, for they have run into an injurious excess. 
 This again is the result of a false policy, not imputably to paper, as 
 the Senator supposes, even as a principal cause. It comes of en- 
 couraging foreign labor instead of our own ; of stimulating this trade 
 under the persuasion that it is more beneficial to the country than to 
 strengthen and foster our own industry, until it has reached a point 
 of injurious excess, suspending our laborers from employment and 
 taking from them their bread. We buy more than we sell, leaving 
 a balance of many millions now due to Europe, which is to be paid 
 out of the resources of the People ; and it is time to retrace our 
 steps. The President, who has been a promoter of this policy, com- 
 plains in his message of this excess as a serious evil, and I rejoice at 
 it ; but he fails to indicate the remedy. He talks vaguely of econo-
 
 my, but is silent upon our great interests of the North and East. 
 We must, sir, stand by our own laborers, and not suffer them to be 
 overwhelmed by this process, and then appeal to them to lower their 
 wages. Our duty is plain, and we must pursue it with manly firm* 
 ness. The workshops of Europe must not be allowed to super- 
 sede ours. This is the remedy. But the bill will suppress ordit — 
 suppress bloated credit! What, sir, is credit? One would think it 
 some new invention to defraud the Public, by the manner in which 
 it is spoken of; but it is co-existent with business, and wherever 
 there is or has been business, there credit has always existed, and 
 has been and will be abused to a greater or less extent. I cannot 
 comprehend how commerce or trade can be carried on successfully 
 without it ! Abolish credit, and for what? Because the false policy 
 of the Administration in 1835 — '3(5 — stimulated it to excess ! Be- 
 cause, like the freedom of speech and of the press, it may be abused! 
 I know of no other period against which any general and just charge 
 can be brought. 
 
 What would be the condition of the country if men were denied 
 credit ? Nothing more deplorable. The young man born to no in- 
 heritance now goes into the world with his character for honesty and 
 integrity ; this is his great and only resource, and by the faith placed 
 in this he commands the funds necessary to go forward in business. 
 And, Mr. President, it is one of the glorious characteristics of our in- 
 stitutions that this path is open to his enterprise, and the way to wealth, 
 as well as to honor and fame, is clear of obstructions for the most 
 obscure and humble individual. Shall we deny to such the only 
 chance they have of success? Shall we trample on them, and grind 
 them to dust with the iron heel of power ? No, sir, I will espouse 
 no such anti-republican doctrines. I will vote for no law that de- 
 clares to the poor that they shall remain in hopeless poverty, and to 
 the rich that they alone shall have the eiijoymont of property. 
 
 But speculation is to be put down. If the Senator means by spec- 
 ulation, unwise and hazardous traffic, it has always existed, and 
 always will exist, where enterprise exists, unless he can U]>root the 
 desire in the human mind for the sudden ac(|uisition of wealth. He 
 might as well undertake to stop the emotions and passions of the hu- 
 man Ijeart. The only way to make men prudent and sagacious in 
 business — and it is very desirable they should be so — is to make 
 them see far enough into the future to avoid ruinous hazards ; but 
 thf rash, who oflfii have a j)a.ssion for wealth, will indulge illusive 
 liKpfs and makf ruinous bargains, luiless the Senator can enlarge 
 their understandings and increase their sagacity. 
 
 There is but one process by which credit and speculation can be 
 suppressed, ami that is, by denying the means and facilities of busi- 
 ness, not to sj)fculators aloiu-, but to all ; and th.nt is exactly what 
 the argument of the Senator tends to. lie proposes to diininish the 
 circulation, declaring that there is an iiiHation, when we are crippled 
 down by the scarcity of money. Ife wouM (iirninisli to a vast cxleut 
 the resources and ability of lenders, wlu n the I'nblic is in despair for 
 want «)f cirrnlafion. He assumes that (litiiiiiishing the currency will 
 diininish wages and the value of properly, and so it may be; but the
 
 first frrcat nnd abidin<T result will he .1 (liniinulion of business. Ili'^i 
 theory abolishes credit, and leaves nothing but a reduced currency to 
 do business with, and no one can deny that a reduction of business 
 must follow. Is the country prepared for this ? Do we grow too 
 fast? Is our enterprise too great? Do we labor too much? Have 
 we too much to cat, driidc, or wear ? Are our comforts and enjoy- 
 ments so much nudtiplied that a sound policy requires they should 
 be curtailed ? "VVMiat response will the People give to these inquiries ? 
 Let liini who is willing to be pared down first stand forth and pro- 
 claim it. Wages are to be diminished by curtailing the demand for 
 them ; for that is the effect of reducing business. 
 
 The Senator, in his argument, seemed to forget that the evils of 
 a contracting and contracted currency bear as oppressively upon 
 the public, and more so, than those of expansion. The difference is 
 this : in expansion, the weight of loss falls on the creditor portion — 
 in contraction, upon the debtor portion : but in either case it is a 
 grievous calamity. He cannot reduce the currency below what is 
 necessary, without even more suffering than arises from too much. 
 
 The Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Walker) goes for the abolition 
 of paper. The quantity of specie in the country is not supposed to 
 exceed about $85,000,000. This he argues would ensure a great 
 reduction of wages and of the value of property, which he insists will 
 be beneficial. The Senator from Missouri (Mr. Benton) is also for 
 metal alone ; and those gentlemen have bestowed the highest enco- 
 miums upon the policy of the hard money countries. The latter ia 
 enchanted with the fact that the Hollanders have grown rich and be- 
 come great lenders of money, while we are borrowers ; and I will soon 
 solve to him this enigma upon his own principles. He imputes it to 
 gold, and infers that we should be lenders if we had a metalic curren- 
 cy only. Who, Mr. President, are the lenders of Holland ? Those 
 individuals who have amassed millions; who at one time owned most 
 of this city, and who can buy up empires with their boundless wealth, 
 having profited by a state of things which made the privileged few rich 
 while the many are left poor — while the laborer, as I can prove, gets 
 but his 3fZ and id a day. This is the last policy we desire; the last 
 that would be in harmony with the genius of our people or in uni- 
 son with their true interests. It is diffusive wealth that we desire ; 
 a general prosperity among all ; property scattered every where, at- 
 tainable by all that deserve it ; and thus invigorating a successful 
 business, in which all may participate, instead of amassing it in the 
 pockets of a few. We are borrowers ; be it so. It is better, infin- 
 itely better, to borrow and thus diffuse capital, to excite industry 
 and enterprise, than to amass it in heaps and become lenders to na- 
 tions, with a nation of paupers at home. 
 
 But, sir, I fear I have dwelt too long on these matters, and will 
 hasten to notice that for which I chiefly rose. Much has been said 
 of labor, and what is it ? I may say, without offence, it is a com- 
 modity bought and sold like merchandise in the market. A man 
 has his skill and service to sell to whomsoever will buy them, and 
 his anxious desire is to obtain the most liberal renumeration. The 
 Senator says the value of it ia regulated by bank paper. Not so, Mr.
 
 President, not so ; but chiefly by the amount in market, and the de- 
 mand which exists for it ; currency may, hoAvever, at times have its 
 influence. If tlie supply is great and the demand small, then wages 
 are necessarily low; but if the supply be small and the demand great, 
 they are high. When buisness is flourishing, the demand is urgent, 
 and wages rise ; when it is depressed, the demand diminishes, and 
 wages full. Hence, too, in countries densely populated, the supply 
 is necessarily greater, in proportion to the business, than in coun- 
 tries thinly peopled. Thus we see why wages in a great country, 
 new and full of resources, like ours, are in quick demand, while in 
 China, where there is a vast surplus of population, the market is 
 overstocked, and they are low. Hence, too, it is, that in such con- 
 ditions of society we always find the greatest poverty, sulfering, and 
 degradation. Bank paper is obviously not the sole or chief cause 
 which fi.xes the value of wages. 
 
 But, sir, let us pursue the subject a little further, as it is capable 
 of further illustration. 
 
 There are three classes of laborers; those who produce from the 
 earth are agriculturalists ; those who convert the products of the 
 earth into useful forms are manuficturers ; aiid those who are engag- 
 ed in transporting and exchanging the products of the other classes 
 are commercial. These great divisions of mankind are founded on 
 no law but that of civilized, social existence In our country, at 
 least, each and every person may pursue any or all kinds of business. 
 But experience teaches us the necessity of these divisions, for wool, 
 cotton, and flax are of little value till turned into cloth, but the far- 
 mer would find it difficult t(j run a mill to make cloths, or to build 
 and siil a ship to take his jiroduce to market. From this division, 
 too, come our markets. We must have food and clothing, ami we 
 must obtain them by the exchaiiije c)f the products of labor, but we 
 cannot exchange a liorse or a watch Ibr a joint of meat or for a pair 
 of shoes; such property must first be broken into parts, and this is 
 the peculiar office and almost the only use of money. It mensures 
 tiie valu':; of property, and brings it into a ll)rm suit('<l for our con- 
 venience. Thi.s is the relation whirh it bears to business, and no 
 other; and, whih; 1 admit its great importance, I deny that it lies at 
 the foundation, and is the great regulator of the alViir/i of men, as 
 seems here to be supposed. The fricrnN of this bill, I know, a.--- 
 sumc that we have an inflation, and tint money rules, guides, and 
 regulat's business; when, in truth, tlie inquiries ought to be, first, 
 how miicli is necessnrv as a circulating medium, that we may Unow 
 whether there is fui excess ; and, second, does paper noccs."*arily cre- 
 ate an expansion, or unnecessary eidargenient of the riirronry, that 
 we may judge whether it ought to be abandoned ? These matfem 
 which are a.ssiniu'<l, are prci-isely what ought to be proved. The 
 Senators assume im evident truth what is not apparent. 'I'hcy nflirm 
 that priper becomes rediimbnit, excessive, inflated. But lliev do not 
 attempt to establish the fact by any proof Since the lirst ol' J umn- 
 ry, 1H38, our circulation has not much exceeded one hundred niil- 
 lions ; it may, at some periods, have reached one hundred and 
 twMity, iuclnbivu of niMtuI and pipur lu tliiw cxcukgivs? Huu it
 
 10 
 
 ronrhcd n point nbnve the nroont neccspitips of husiiiess for two 
 years past ? J fit has, how inurli is cuoiiffli ? 
 
 Some days ago, I put tiiis inquiry distinctly to the Senate, and it 
 remains, and will remain unanswered. If it can be proved that we 
 have too nnich, it is not dithcult to ascertain, with sufHcient exact- 
 ness, what amount is necessary. I desire Senators to make known 
 the process by which they arrive at their conclusions in so vitally 
 an important matter. They seem to take it for £rranted that there 
 is no evil but expansion to fear, while nothing is more certain than 
 that too small a circulating medium works out as great if not greater 
 injuries than one too large. 
 
 We have heard much declamation about bloated credit, gambling 
 and speculation, but if the existence of all these were establislied at 
 this moment by unquestionable proof, it would have little tendency 
 to establish the fact of excessive circulation, for they have no neces- 
 sary connection, but each may exist independent of the other. 
 
 Will the Senator maintain the proposition that paper cannot and 
 has not circulated witliout indation or excessive credits in trade gen- 
 eridly ? I go further, and ask him if excess is any thing more than 
 an occasional occurrence, growing out of markets quickened into 
 activity by events rather casual than permanent ? Is there any ex- 
 cess of paper in the usual course of business from sotmd banks, who 
 redeem and are able to redeem their paper at sight, dollar for dollar 
 in metal ? It is not easy to see how excess ever exists under such 
 circumstances. I can go to-day into any bank in Boston or New 
 York, and draw out a dollar with the same amount of paper, and 
 that dollar is as good, and will buy as much in France or Germany 
 as any dollar there. The paper, then, is clearly worth as much as 
 the silver, for it buys it. If the paper of banks is maintained at this 
 value, and so redeemed at all times, it is not easy to comprehend 
 how it is inflated, or that more is in circulation than is needed for 
 use. The idea of inflation presupposes some unsoundness. All 
 money, mctalic as well as paper, does and will fluctuate in value, 
 and, if this be inflation, then gold and silver are no more exempt 
 from it than paper. It is by no means easy to determine which fluc- 
 tuates oftentimes — money or property. Cotton is forty dollars to- 
 day, to-morrow it is thirty-five, and next day forty-five; it does not 
 follow that the cotton alone has fluctuated, or that it has fluctuated 
 at all ; for gold and silver may be so abundant as to depress the val- 
 ue of property, or .so scarce as to raise it. It is every day'.s occur- 
 rence to find gold and silver fluctuatinsr in value, commanding atone 
 time a premium, and then none; nay, under some circumstances, 
 falling below good paper. No matter what we have for curren- 
 cy, there will be fluctuations in its value greatly affecting trade, as a 
 circulating medium of uniform amount cannot be maintained any 
 more than you can limit business to an exact amount. 
 
 This all proves what seems not to be well understood, or Senators 
 would reason differently — that there is but one way to determine 
 how much circulation is necessary. It is impossible to ascertain 
 how much money may be necessary for each member of the Senate 
 for ths currant year, and it is equally impossible to anticipate the
 
 II 
 
 wants of the great Public. The question is left, therefore, to be 
 settled by the laws of trade, as all other matters of business. We 
 learn how much flour and corn are required annually by the demand 
 for them. Just so vve learn how much money is required to carry 
 forward business, by the ability of men to buy i-. So much is neces- 
 sary, be the amount great or small ; and, in a growing country, it 
 would be just as wise to limit the amount of produce as the amount 
 of monetary capital. Surely nothing can be more absurd than to 
 attempt to determine the amount, without reference to the exigencies 
 of the country — to say that eighty millions, or any other arbitrary 
 amount, is enough. There is no advantage to be gained by lowering 
 the value of property, -unless the same amount of labor, or the same 
 amount of property, enables us to obtain more of tie necessaries of 
 life. This fact should, therefore, be first clearly estfiblished, for the 
 process is necessarily attended with great sacrifices. The Senator 
 from Pennsylvania seems to understand that reducing the circulation 
 will reduce property and wages in the same ratio. If it does, in what 
 is our condition bettered, even if we could reconcile debtors to 
 it, who would be ruined ? lie seems to believe that our relations 
 ill foreign trade will be improved, but I shall show him his error, and 
 that he ought to arrive at exactly the opposite conclusion, for his 
 theory, if carried into execution, would inflict upon the laborer as 
 well* as the owner of property the most injurious and oppressive con- 
 sequences. He solenndy affirms, and I give him all credit for sin- 
 cerity, that he believes a reduction in wages and property would be 
 beneficial. Let us see. 
 
 Suppose that wages and property will be reduced one-half by the 
 lull — tint is, if wages arc now a dollar a day, they will be half a dol- 
 lar; and if heel" and mutton are now eight cents a pound, they will 
 be four ; and so of all the productions of the United State, i\nd of 
 all property created here. Upon this state of facts, as things are, the 
 laborer, would iia\e, at the expiration of twenty days' labor, twenty 
 «loll?rs, to provide supplies for himself and family. As they will be, 
 he will have ten dollars. Now, sir, be it rcmemberd that we buy 
 and .sell in foreign markets by their .standard of currency, and th;it 
 lowering wages and property here, is to have no etlect there, accord- 
 intr to the rot.soning of the Senator, :'s their currency nuist regulate 
 the price of their wages and products; but cotton is to sell and good.5 
 are to be bought as if no chMi^c had taken place. Goods, thcreforo, 
 will come into this country no rheappr. If then, the lalxircr goes 
 into the market with his money, as his wages are, he will have 
 twenty dollars to expend in tea, colP'o, sugar, and the thousand ne- 
 cessaries which comes from foreirrn countries; hut if he goes into it 
 as they will be — ten dollars under the operation of the new theory — 
 it is jdaiii, therefore, that with the same amount of labor he can pur- 
 <-lnse but half as much foreign merchandise; in other words, it will 
 in elfect be doubled in price, while it is apparrntly the same. 
 
 Hut the Senator did not stoj) here, for he alleged tli.it, while the 
 laborer would be in a better condition, the exporter ()!' |)roducc — 
 that is, cotton, &-c. — would derive a grc.'tcr profit, tlu; meiisure of 
 which would be the amount of reduction of wages and of property,
 
 12 
 
 as he would tliiis bo able to produce ?o much cheaper. To make 
 niyself understood, 1 will proceed witli the same supposition, that 
 w.'ijrcs and property are to be reduced oue half. Then his theory is, 
 that the cotton-planter, for example, would produce his crop at half 
 the present cost, by the saviuff in labor and the support of it, and 
 oonse<iuently derive double profit. That he would produce cheaper 
 is undeniably true ; and if he should sell for the same price he now 
 does, and l)rinir home specie, he would realize double profits, provid- 
 ed his laborers are supported wholly on the products of the United 
 States. This, however, is not the course of trade or of business. 
 But from whence would the profits come ? Not from foreign coun- 
 tries, for no change is to occur there, but from the pockets of every 
 consumer of foreign goods in this country, for the change is wholly 
 in the wages and produce of our own country. The idea is that if 
 wages aiul property sink together one half, the relative positions of 
 the laborer and the owner of property ara. the same, for the laborer 
 can purchase as much with one-half the money, and the same amount 
 of property will purchase as much labor as before. But the laborer 
 will, at the end of any given period, have but half as much money, 
 and the same amount of property will be worth but half as much ; 
 consequently, all the surplus gains of the farmer, mechanic, manu- 
 facturer, and laborer, will be l)ut half what they now are, in nominal 
 amount. If property in foreign countries should descend in the same 
 ratio, the most that could be said of our condition is that it is no 
 worse, for it is oI)viously no better. But if we descend while they 
 rem.'.in stationiry, and a profit is thence gained to the e.xporter, 
 nothing is plainer than that such profit is drawn from the consumer 
 of foreign merchandise, as it will take twice as much of our labor or 
 or products to buy it as is now required. If the theory establishes 
 the fact that the exporter is to reap double profits for cotton, it estab- 
 lishes beyond controversy the fact fdso that that profit will be a tax 
 upon every man that consumes a foreign article, and that it will be 
 wholly drawn from their pockets. The Senator has led himself into 
 an error, by supposing that foreign productions are to come to us 
 cheaper, while our exports are to keep up where they are. He 
 thinks the importer sells in a market inflated by paper, and realizes 
 an extraordinary profit. But he must perceive that the low and de- 
 pressed state of the working classes in Europe is proof enough that 
 no excessive profit is obtained here upon goods — none that can bear 
 essential reduction ; and that while raw cotton maintains its price, 
 foreign goods must also maintain theirs. In the great competition 
 of trade, this idea of excessive profit to the iui])orter is fdlacious; 
 and as the notion of a reduction is founded on it, that is also fallacious. 
 
 To follow out the case 1 have supposed : The income of every 
 man, exce|>t the exporter, is to be reduced one-half in the value of 
 wages and property, while all foreign merchandise will cost the same, 
 which will obviously, in effect, double the price, as it will take twice 
 the amount of labor, or twice the amount of the products of labor, 
 to purchase it. 
 
 I do not ascribe this power to the bill, but it is enough for me 
 that its friends do. What response will the farmers, mechanics.
 
 13 
 
 Tnnmifacturers, and laborers make to such a flagitious proposition ? 
 Can they be reconciled to such a measure of oppression ? One that 
 extorts from the fruits of their industry to professedly enrich the 
 planter who now enjoys a prosperity unequalled in the rest of the 
 country? No, sir, such plans of sectional aggrandizement, and such 
 a disregard of the interest of the greatest and most powerful class of 
 people in our country, can only excite their disgust and indignation. 
 Thus, sir, I have traced the benefits of this bill, if it have any, as in- 
 terpreted by its friends, to the rich and powerful. I have, if I mis- 
 take not, demonstrated that they are to be made richer by a tax upon 
 their less fortunate, but more industrious and more necessitous fellow- 
 citizens — a tax that they never can nor never will submit to, so long 
 as their power can be felt through the ballot-box. 
 
 But, sir, this is not all. While we are thus to have intolerable 
 burdens loaded upon us, to add to the weight of our embarrassments, 
 an<i to increase our suHcrinfrs ; and while the del)tor portion of the 
 Public are to be crushed and ground to dust between the upper 
 and nether millstone of this procei^s, the man of money is not only to 
 escape unharmed, but to have his property doubled. lie who holds 
 cash, or its equivalent in notes, bonds, or stocks, will be able to buy 
 double the amount of property with it, and will therefore have its 
 value doubled on his hand.s ; for, while wages and propert)" are to go 
 down, money is to go up in the same ratio. 
 
 If the friends of this bill have given to it a true construction, it is 
 a bill of privileires to the rich, but a scourcje to all others. 
 
 What is the debtor portion of the Public ? Is it so insignificant 
 ns to be disregarded ? Sir, I will venture to assert that the amount 
 of existing indobfcdness in any conmiercial country is nearly, if not 
 quite, equal to the value of all property in that country, whether it 
 be rich or poor, prosperous or unprosperous, and you cannot change 
 to the extent gentlemen have supposed, the relation of debtor and 
 creditor, or thus diminish the resources of the debtors witlioiit a 
 cra-sli, a wa.ste, ;;nd desolation such as has never been experienced. 
 Suppose a man has purcha.sed .'?!l(t,00<) worth of i)roperty at present 
 prices, and given his bond for it; you reduce its value one-half, an<l 
 it is worth •'r'o.dOi). How is it possibh; that, with resources thus re- 
 duced, most debtors can ever pay ? 
 
 IJut, sir, you caiuiot maintain a state of things such as has been 
 supi)osed. You iriay embarrass and distress us, as you have done, 
 l)Ut this l)ill in the end, works out no such advantai^es as are antici- 
 j)-ifed for the planters. 'I'lie theory contains in itself a |)rinci|)le that 
 will defeat the end in view, (to on, sir, if you pleiise, an<I so legis- 
 late, as to bring to the cotton jdanters the extraordinary profits antici- 
 pated, at tlie expense of the other branches of industry; how long will 
 it be before that pursuit will be overloaded with competitors, till the 
 market will br- inundated \\ifli cottf)ii, and its j)rice fall jur-t in 
 the ratio you have stimulated ils produrti«ui '. Down it will — down 
 it must, by the laws of trade, come to a level with the fall ol' other 
 productions. And wli; t will be gained by the whole process. 
 Nothing; absolutely nothing, except that it will take mori" of our 
 labor and more of our productions to buy foreign merchandize; our
 
 14 
 
 rraiii will turn literally into a loss. This is capable, I think of de- 
 monstration, if it (loos not nlrendy snflicioully appear ; but 1 have no 
 time to iMiiar^ic, intcrc'stin«T and all-important as the subject is. 
 
 What motive can we have, sir, to reduce wages and the value of 
 property ? WIumi did the sun ever shine upon a laboring people so 
 blest as those of our country have been? Whore have ihey ever 
 been able by industry to feed, clothe, and educate themselves so 
 well? The history of the world proves nothing more certainly — 
 nothing with clearer demonstration, than that where wages are low- 
 est there is the greatest poverty and sulTering ; there the condition 
 of the laborer is most forlorn and wretched ; there is the lenst moral 
 and intellectual culture ; and there our race is simk into the depths 
 of political degradation, incapable of raising itself to that lofty eleva- 
 tion attained by a free enlightened People, capable of governing 
 their own alfairs. It tends to the opposite of every thing dearest to 
 us, for the descent will carry with it not only wages, but all the high 
 ([ualities which fit us to be what we are — free and independent. 
 This is a sufficient answer to all that can be said upon the subject. 
 
 Such is the remedy for the disease which alllicts our country ; and, 
 while its advocates shadow forth its evils far beyond any conception 
 of mine, if the bill be carried into effect, as has been proposed here, I 
 m.ust confess that I see in it nothing to soothe or relieve the Public 
 — nothing to restore confidence, which is the great and desirable 
 end — nothing to avert future panics — nothing to stop this scramble 
 after the crold and silver aoing on between us and other countries — 
 nothing that h::s healing power enough to revive and maintain pros- 
 perity. 
 
 But, sir, much as remains to be said, I must draw to a close, as 
 my object was merely to notice some leading remarks of Senatora 
 which have developed the new and extraordinary doctrines of this Ad- 
 ministration. I was anxious to vindicate the rights of the great mass 
 of the People, who acquire their support by labor, and whose interests, 
 as laying at the basis of all pror>peritv, I have at all times and on all 
 fitting occasions, espoused and maintained with whatever of ability I 
 possess. In this, sir, I have taken great and sincere satisfaction, 
 believing it to be the great end of our free Government, and the only 
 sure means of sustainin'j it. In the name and in behalf of that wreat, 
 powerful and enlightened class of my fellow-citizens of Massachu- 
 setts, whom I have the honor to represent, I enter my solemn pro- 
 test against the doctrines here advanced ; and if my voice could 
 reach them in their dwellings, their shops, and on the decks of their 
 vessels, 1 would exhort thorn not to be deluded by false theories 
 leading them on to ruin, but to rouse up their energies, and, at the 
 ballot box, manifest their indignation at all attempts to oppress 
 them by diminishing their business and taxing their labors to enrich 
 others. I would entreat tlicm not to sit still and be made such as 
 they see the distressed and impoverished laborers of Europe and 
 Asia.
 
 15 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 The statistics referred to in the remarks of Mr. Davis, are contained in Porter's 
 Progress of the Nations, and Wade's History of the Middle and Working Classes, 
 two recent and respectable authorities, relying for the correctness of the facts con- 
 tained in the following extracts chiefly upon tlie statistics collected by the Diitish 
 Government. 
 
 These dcvelopements show the farmer and all other working men the condition of 
 the working classes in Europe, and upon what limited means they subsist. It is 
 tliis class of men with whom they are to run the race of cheap production, and con- 
 sequently of coarse and wretched existence: for the same causes which reduce 
 them to hopeless penury, will produce like results here. If a few pence a day will 
 not support men theru, it will fail to do it here. The intelligent working man of 
 the United States, will pause before he precipitates himself into such irretrievable 
 wretchedness to cheapen the products of labor. He will inquire whethur it tends 
 to elevate or depress his race — whether the privileges and hopes of a freeman are 
 utterly delusive, and end in retracing his steps to the degraded condition from which 
 we all believed we had escaped. In his descent from his present coiinnanding 
 position, he may well carry with him these reflections, sit down in despair, and 
 «<purn all the dazzling theories of self-government as illusory, if they leave him to 
 i>ub>ist on the humble diet, and to grapple with the sufierings of the n;ost desolate 
 pOi'tion of mankind. 
 
 Ifages in Fiance. — Calais, common laborers 7.Jd per day with board and with- 
 out dwelling ; Boulogne, 5d per day do. do. ; Nantes Sd per day without board 
 and without dwelling ; .Marseilles, 4d to 7d per day with board and without dwell- 
 ing. The food in some districts " consists in rye bread, soup made of millet, cakes 
 made of Indian corn, now and then pome salt provisions and vegetables, rarely, if 
 e.'cr, butcher's meat." In others, " wheaten bread, soup made with vegetables, 
 and a little grease or lard twice a day, potatoes or oilier vegetables, but seldom 
 butcher's meat." 
 
 Sweden. — "The daily wages of a skilled agriculturist are 7(1 or Sd ; whih; tlio 
 unskilled obtain no more than 3d or 4d, aii<l lioarri themnelves. Agriculturists in 
 the Southern provinceg live upon salt fl>li and potatoes ; in the Northern provin- 
 ces porridge and rye bread form their food." 
 
 Bulgaria. — " I^iborers aro paid at the rate of 8d per day in the country " with- 
 out board. 
 
 Bel'^itnn — '■ A skilled arti/.an may earn in the summer Is 2(1 to Is r<d ; in w in- 
 tiT lOd to Is 2(1 ; unskilled half as much without board, live upon ryo bread, pota- 
 toes and milk." — Agricultural laborers have lens. 
 
 fJc.rinainj. — " Danlzig laborers •I'id to 7d per day without board ; Miilhlmrg, 
 7d per day do ; Ilolstein, 7d per day without board. 
 
 JVelherlnnds. — South Holland laborer^ 3d to Id per day wilh board ; North Hol- 
 land, 20d per day without Iniard ; .Antwerp, 5d per day do ; West I'laiider«, Ofiii 
 to 104s per year with board. 
 
 lliity. — Trieslf laborers 1 2d per day withdut board : do. Cd pt!r day with boaid; 
 litria, 8J to lUd p«r ilay without bourd ; do. 4d tu (d par day with board ; I.oiii-
 
 f 1 o 
 
 barily 4d to Sd per day do. ; Genoa, od to 8d per day do., and willi lodgings ; 
 Tuscany, Cd per day without either. 
 
 Saxony. — " In 1837 a man employed in his own loom working very dilligently 
 fioni .'Nloudav njoniiiig to Saturday night, from 5 o'' clock in tlie morning until dusk, 
 and even at times with a lamp, his wife assisting him in fniishiug and taking liim 
 ti>e work, could not possibly earn niore than 20 groschen [about CO cents] per 
 ''week. Nor could one who had three children aged 12 years and upwards, all 
 working at the loom as well as himself, with his wife employed doing up the work, 
 earn in the whole more than jjjl weekly." 
 
 jyavigation. — Between us and England this is placed upon a footing of equality ; 
 all advantages to our navigators being abrogated. If any interest can bear direct 
 competition, this is the one. But let us see the result as set down by Mr. Porter. 
 " In 1821," says this writer, " the proportion of British vessels which entered the 
 ports of the United States was 7 1-5 per cent, compared with the American ton- 
 nage employed in the foreign trade of the United States ; while, in 1835, that pro- 
 portion was increased to 3f) per cent. The actual numbers in each of the years 
 from 1821 to 1835. have been us follows. 
 
 
 British. 
 
 American. 
 
 
 British. 
 
 American. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Tona. 
 
 H21. 
 
 55,188 
 
 765,098 
 
 1829 
 
 86,837 
 
 872,959 
 
 1822 
 
 70,669 
 
 787,961 
 
 1830 
 
 87,231 
 
 967,227 
 
 1823 
 
 89,553 
 
 775,271 
 
 1831 
 
 215,887 
 
 922,952 
 
 1824 
 
 67,351 
 
 850,033 
 
 1832 
 
 288,84! 
 
 949,622 
 
 1825 
 
 63,036 
 
 880,754 
 
 1833 
 
 383,487 
 
 1,111,441 
 
 1826 
 
 68,295 
 
 942,206 
 
 1834 
 
 453,195 
 
 1,074,670 
 
 1827 
 
 99,114 
 
 918,361 
 
 1835 
 
 529,922 
 
 1,352,653 
 
 1828 
 
 104,167 
 
 868,381 
 
 
 
 
 The British increase i^; 860 per cent ; the .\merican 77 per cent." Tliis is the 
 result of treaties and convtntions called reciprocal. 
 
 J. II Kasthurn, Piinter, 18 i:'!:iti.- Staet, Boston.
 
 3 1205 02446 7977 '% 
 
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