Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-03-13
FOR THE SPECTATOR.
STATE BANK-NO. ii.

sure of the times, under which the peo-
pie Of the United States have, for the
last two years, SO severely suffered, has
most generally been ascribed to sudden
change in the commercial relations OF
the country, as connected with various
foreign countries, by the transitions from
a protracted state of war, to a general
peace, and the necessary and extensive
debts incurred and losses suffered, dur
ing the period in which we were compell-
ed to be party. However forcibly the
mind may be struck with the conviction
of the truth of these causes, still here
are others that would seem to be equally
as instrumental in producing the effects
described, and to have had more i'm
mediate agency, in causing the disas-
trous state TO which we have referred.
= BY an examination oil the report of the
secretary of the treasury of the the Unit
ed States, made on the Gath February,
1920, TO the house of Representatives, it
will be seen that the currency OF the
United States had, within the three
years Immediately preceding that period,
been reduced from ll6 to as millions of
dollars, being reduction OF IS millions.
Sc A reduction SO sudden and so extern
sivc," in the language of the secretary,
"could not fail under the most favorable
auspices, in other respects to produce
much distress; to check the ardour OF
enterprise, and seriously to effect the
productive energies of the nation. AS
there is no recorded example, in the
history of nations, of reduction of cur
rency so rapid and SO extensive, SO but
few examples have occurred of distress
SO general"
Ii IS here evidently seen, that this re-
duction of the national capital, was in
truth the immediate cause of the distress
and misery which then prevailed, and
which still continues to exist; and it is
well understood that this reduction arose
out of the great and simultaneous efforts,
which were then made, byth banks, in
the various parts of the United Statas, to
resume and sustain specie payments.-
How far with all the suAerings, which
have accompanied these efforts, they
have been successful in their object, the
melancholy picture, which many parts
of the nation now exhibit, will unfortu-
nately show. Great, sudden, and extra
ordinary changes in the various relations
of the body polite, are always attended
with great danger; and their operations,
like in the human body, produce not un-
frequently disastrous consequences. The
transition from one state to the other, I'M
Tess effected gradually, is almost univer-
sally productive of more evil than good /;
and it is believed that such has been
the effect, in the case to which we
have referred. 1t was in vain, however,
to have complained of the difficulties
which had environed the nation, and it
was certainly more manly to adopt mea-
sures calculated to relieve the people of
this state, from the embarrassments which
had thus fastened on them. What mea-
sures were thus best calculated to pro-
duce the desired object, was certainly a
question ofmuch difficulty to solve; the
legislature, however, had the lights Of
experience to give them solution, and
they had also seen that the expedients
which had been resorted to in neighbor-
ing states, had entirely failed in accom-
plishing the objects for which they were
designed. This, however, might have
been perceived at their adoption, because
they were in truth mere expedients at
procrastination. Their sole effect was
to defer the evil, without an attempt to
remove the cause, or to avert its pro-
sress, by which, at the termination of the
period of procrastination, the evil re.
turned with accumulated force. Such
had been the result of the replevin laws
rf Ohio. Kentucky. and Tennessee