The men, who ought to have been digging gold, had got their corn and potatoes for paper promises without work, and as paper money was easily made, they were enabled to buy finer houses, more costly furniture, and live more expensively, and thereby tempt their neighbors to borrow these paper promises to pay gold, and give mortgages on their property, in order to live in the same style and course of extravagant expenditures as their neighbor the banker.

Finally, peremptory demands would be made for gold, as they were on the old United States Bank, when it had issued $40,000,000 in paper, having but $300,000 in gold to redeem it. A paper currency, when made a mortgage on the whole property of a new country, should never be allowed to exceed the amount of gold and silver, that would circulate, if there was no such thing as paper money allowed, unless it becomes absolutely necessary to increase it to save a nation's life.

In the course of my argument with the counsellor, I endeavored to show the terrible power, that the old and the new United States Bank, with its branches, had exerted in every State. I believe it can be shown, that such a bank, with its branches in all the States, would spread a net of temptations through the community, too great for poor human nature to bear. It would do this even with a good man in the control of the main bank. The good man would see, that as the banks increased their loans, prices would rise, and people increase their expenses of living, until the good president would feel it his duty to contract their accommodations, in order to check their extravagance. Such a president would be tempted to say to himself, "I certainly have a right to buy or sell with the property, that I had before I was made president of the bank." He therefore sells out all he wishes at the high prices, and tells his friends they had better sell, as they will be able to buy everything cheap, as soon as the bank withholds the accommodations, on which their customers depend.

The same temptation to make a fortune out of the ruin of

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their customers was presented to the president of every branch bank in every State. As soon as an order was received from the mother bank, directing branch banks to curtail bank discounts, the presidents of all the branch banks would then be tempted to sell all they could before commencing to refuse discounts, in compliance with the order of the mother bank; as they would be sure that all property would fall in proportion to the extent of the contraction of the discounts, on which the general business was dependent. As soon as it was believed, that property had fallen to the lowest point, all the presidents and the directors of the mother bank and its branches would, not only buy property with the means they had before they were made presidents, but those of them, who were very anxious to make a fortune in a short time, would use their opportunity in buying up property on credit, at the ruinous rates, at which it would have to be sold to settle the claims, held by the bank. The presidents and their friends would feel perfectly safe in buying with money and credit, knowing as they would, that property would again rise rapidly as soon as bank discounts could be freely obtained.

I think you will agree with me in opinion, that Gen. Jackson was right in doing all, that was possible to put an end to an institution, that was building up a moneyed aristocracy on the ruin of the best and most enterprising men of the nation.

This conversation ended as we alighted from the cars, when the counsellor caught me by the arm and said, that he had never seen the subject in that light before. He then agreed with me, that all efforts to get something for nothing are a mistake, if not a species of fraud.

I have, with much hesitation, ventured to address you this letter, as my humble effort to call and fix the attention of the American people on the causes, that have led to the widespread political corruption, that now threatens with destruction all that we hold dear as a nation. I know you will agree with me as to the necessity of finding out the causes

of the evils we deplore, before we can hope for the relief, that all should desire.

The great corrupting sin of our country and the world' has always been an eager effort to get the property of others, without giving an equivalent in any form of useful labor. To accomplish this purpose, our fathers commenced our history by getting the Indians' land without giving them anything of real value, and in the main drove them from their homes by force.

The fact that our General Government failed to prevent the individual States from issuing what were to all intents and purposes "bills of credit," in the shape of pictures called money, and a still further inflation of the currency became necessary to save the nation. Inflation and war have raised the prices of all labor and property, and have made all regular business a game of chance, instead of a sure reward of honest labor.

We may well say with the poet:

"Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours,

And ask them what report they bore,

And how they might have borne more welcome news."

All can now see, how wise it would have been for the United States Government to have insisted on its right and duty to put its stamp on everything in the shape of gold, silver, copper, nickel, or paper, that has ever been allowed to circulate as money. Could this have been done, it would have borne for us more welcome news, than the present state of our currency and country now presents.

I have endeavored to show the train of evils, that have been entailed on our country by the failure of the Government to coin money and control all that has ever been allowed to circulate as money, as everything, so allowed to circulate as money, should have been based on a gold value, and made as secure as a good bond and mortgage on all the property of the country could make it. I will now attempt to show, that paper money has enriched the wealth of the

country, while at the same time it has demoralized the people by having introduced a false balance in trade.

This seeming advantage will continue as long as we are able to induce the people of cheap labor countries to continue to bring us their persons, and give us their gold in exchange for our lots, our land, and our labor at the highest valuation, that we have set on them. The lots and land they have bought at our high prices and now occupy, have more than doubled the value of all the real estate of our country; and this has enabled our people to grow rich more rapidly and live more expensively, than any other people in the world. In proof of the above, I will state, that since I have lived in the upper part of the city, I had the offer of eighteen acres of land, bounded by the Fifth Avenue, Twenty-first Street, and the Eighth Avenue, for eleven thousand dollars-land that would have sold two years ago for some fifteen millions of dollars. Unless our Government act wisely in the future, our fall may be as rapid as our rise has been great. The true object of all good government should be to find out and do those things for a people, which the people, in their individual capacity, cannot do for themselves.

The unfortunately vacillating policy, adopted by the Government in relation to the money of the country, in the course of efforts to arrive at specie payments, has already shrunk the value of all property and labor to an amount equal to all the money, spent in the war of the Rebellion. There is nothing, that will revive the fallen prosperity of our country and enable people to pay their city, town, and National debts but a wisely and well-arranged revenue tariff. It is the only means, that will enable us to pay the nation's debts. This was made clear by events, that took place in our own country between the year 1834 and 1842, when our tariff, which had just paid off our old National debt, was repealed. By this repeal our mills were stopped, as they now are; our furnaces closed; lands fell to half price; the Sheriff was at work; States repudiated their debts; the

United States were unable to borrow money at home or abroad, and bankrupt laws were passed by Congress. The tariff system was again tried in 1842, and in less than five years the production of our country, in iron alone, rose from two thousand to eight thousand tons; prosperity became universal and the public revenues greater than ever. In 1846 the Free Trade policy was again tried by repealing the tariff, and notwithstanding the enormous amount of gold, found in California, money was as high as ever; iron came in and gold went out. In 1857 the culmination was reached, and a crisis of ruin came on, when the Treasury was nearly bankrupt. In three years immigration fell below the number, that arrived twenty-eight years before.

The results of the two systems will be clearly seen by following the tariffs of 1810, 1828, and 1861, when labor was well paid, money plenty, and emigration great. We cannot too carefully contrast the prosperity, that has uniformly followed the tariff policy of our country, in comparison with the frightful consequences of an approach to Free Trade, as they appeared in 1817, 1834, and 1857, when labor was ill paid, money scarce, immigration declining, and bankrupts were numbered by thousands. If every step toward Free Trade bears such fruit, although it may look as beautiful as the whited sepulchre of old, if it is intended to operate in connection with our inflated paper-circulating medium, it should be dreaded as we would dread the presence of a pestilence.

In Mr. O'Conor's letter he recommends, that our Government should adopt, not only Free Trade, but direct taxation, as the policy of our country. The old confederacy of thirteen States attempted to maintain their Government by direct taxation and failed. That failure was due to the fact, that the several States then neglected to provide their quota of taxation for the General Government. But the presence of a multitude of tax-collectors, and the personal contact of each with the farmer and mechanic, as claimant of dues to a remote interest, like that of the General Government, has