12 ) Thus speaks the New York Journal of Commerce. It is unnecessary to multiply extracts to this point from whigpapers. If it were necessary, they are at hand. Every sensible man can plainly see that no country can long sustain itself under the forced operations} of needy, greedy speculators. For a time they may inflate prices, and as long as their credit is good, create a seeming prosperity. But reaction must take place. The old-fashioned laws of trade, as founded on regular demand and supply, must control and regulate prices. To have prices this year far above the true standard which re* gular business can afford, and the next year as far or further below it, is not what a man of sense desires. A Speculator may desire it, for by his wits he may enrich hints self. But the man who tills the soil (and of such five-sixths of this nation are com* posed) wants only a fair exuivalent for his products, and a regular scale of prices. He wants to know what to depend upon, then may he make calculations which will not embarrass him in the carrying out. A simple fact may here be noticed. During the high prices of 1836, a land-holder sold on long credit some five thousand acres of wild land at five and six dollars the acre. Prices of produce were at the highest, and the loud boast was, that these would be sustained. The persons who purchased these wild lands, seeing a speedy way of paying for them at the then high prices, entered into contract. The unnatural state of things came to an end, and now they owe for the land, all of them embarrassed in their plans, and many driven away after making large improvements. This was a practical working of the speculating system. The wild land was forced up beyond its value, because the spirit of speculation was abroad. Far better would it have been for all con* cerned, had trade been left to its oldsfashioned, honest and legitimate course. The Pressure passing away under the operation of the Independent Treasury. That a healthful action is once more discernible in the business world is beyond ques* tion true. And this is what might reasonably have been expected. There certainly is as much property, as large real resources in the nation as there were in the day of inflated prices. The New York Journal of Commerce thus speaks: “It must be confessed, that since the Sub-Treasury bill was passed, there has been quite a revival of business m merchandise, and an advance in prices; but a very retro* grade movement of stocks.” Upon this subject the Pittsburgh Mercury justly remarks: “ We copy from Harris’s Intelligencer the weekly notice of the market contained in that paper. The almost general improvement in prices, if whig arguments are worth any thing, must be owing to some act of the administration, and with their permission, we suggest that the restoration of confidence consequent upon the passage of the Independent Treasury bill, is the cause. The whigs have relied upon ‘low prices,’ and their ability to saddle the causing of them upon the administration, as a principal weapon in the contest. Should prices improve, the prospects of the whigs, according to their own showing, must decline. How humiliating it should be to all honorable and honest men, to be placed in such a position. To know, as the whigs must know, that their only hope of political triumph rests in the permanence and general diffusion of private trouble and distress! “ The article of flour has risen about fifty cents a barrel since the news of the pas* sage of the Independent Treasury bill. Juniata blooms are ‘firm, and some are holding up for better prices.’ Pig metal has improved $3 a ton. If it is not the Sub*Trea- sury which has caused this improvement, will the whigs tell us what it is 1” “Money is a drug in our principal cities. Good security, such as prudence always de« mands in times of ordinary business, can procure it for less than the legal interest. While writing this paragraph, proof of this fact meets us in the “ money article” in the New York Express, one of the most rabid of the opposition papers: “We can say with confidence, that money was never a greater drug, more abundant, or more idle, than it is at present.” How does this give the lie to the whig slander that there is unmitigated distress throughout our borders. Out of their own mouth we condemn them. “It was said a few lines back, that prices are gradually recovering under the operation of the new treasury law. To the proof of this let us glance at the “ Price Current” of the Commercial Advertiser, a thorough federal paper, and one which would rather find fault with the administration than do any thing else. In that paper of the 22d August, it is said, in a review of that week:— Ashes. We understand all the Pots thatcould be obtained at $4 87| have been taken for export, establishing an advance of 12J cents. Pearls sold for consumption at 85 50, which is also.an improvement of 12| cents. Coffee. Holders are very firm, and since our last an advance of t a cent per lb. has been obtained. ,
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