10 



saving were to be counted at last by a standard that was 

 itself varying and unstable, the work of their hands could 

 never be established. 



The owners of vast cotton fields and exhaustless mines, 

 enslavers of labor and the possessors of privilege and mo- 

 nopoly, may look with unconcern upon the character of the 

 standard which measures their returns, the margin of profit 

 is so large. That which comes from the prodigality of 

 nature, or the sweat of other men's brows, is so easily ac- 

 quired that depreciation in the standard of its value is 

 hardl}^ considered, but when every dollar acquired is coined 

 from human effort of hand or brain, it should be the 

 world's best dollar, absolute and changeless. How well 

 the people of Essex County and of New England under- 

 stood the financial problems confronting a new country, the 

 history of the past has clearly shown. How able and apt 

 they were in solving them is no less clear. How faithfully 

 they have adhered to the one underlying principle of 

 soundness of the cui-rency, every student of the past 

 knows. The importance to a free nation of a people with 

 the traditions upon financial questions of those of Essex 

 County can hardly be exaggerated. To the permanence 

 and advancement of such a nation industrial and financial 

 independence are as essential as political independence. A 

 nation whose currency is debased or unsound must always 

 occupy an inferior position. Its people are at the mercy of 

 others in their exchancres. The wealth of India or Mex- 

 ico cannot make such a people great. Revolutions and 

 declarations of independence cannot make them free. 

 They are bound in the chains of a servitude hopeless to 

 break. Progress is impossible. Pride and patriotism are 

 crushed, finally their revenues are turned over to some 

 creditor nation, and their country becomes a province. 



To the establishment of varied industries in a new coun- 

 try, and the creation of the conditions which make them 

 successful, the growth of a free and intelligent population 

 about them is essential. To the merchant and manu- 



