Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1832-06-05

Secretary Of the Treasury makes confidential inrmaton
OF wish TO pay OIL six millions Of three per cent stocks ON
the first ofJuy next To the pressure upon the COM
nerce OF New York, aud 10 the Bank from the neces
sny OF eurtalng the discounts OF the merchants debts
Government for duiiesthc President proceeds TO Wash
ingon, and, conference with the Secretary of the
Treasury suggests the expedency of posponing until the
rs oil October the payment OF the six millions Of three
cent stock The Secretary accedes To the
the Bank spulaing pay the qoarters interest i'm consj
derauon OF having during the interval the the mo-
ney and this adjustment advantageous TO the govern
ment rrovident of the interests of the stockholders SO
beneicen TO the debtors, both of the Government and of
the Bank and so facilitating TO the collector OF the rcye
nue. at time of considerable
Is seized upon in the Majority Report if the earh of
reasonable cause OF complaint had bred a famine and
harped upon as If IL had been the convusive gasp of the
Bank in the very agonies OF bankruptcy
Now all this has led the mind of the subscriber reflect
ing upon with all the anxious intensity of which il il ca
overtrading TO considerable in the course of IA.
last two years he has doubt That the issues OF Bank
credit and circulation, unusually large, partly furnished
the means to this ovcrenergy OF enterprise e not pre-
pared TO deny That in the proper 10
renves in productive funds the mass of capital thrown
PACK upon their hands by the payment OF the mil
lions OF the Governments debt fo the stock OF the nation in
the bank, the President and Directors may have for
hen overscppcd the line where that prudence which
includes all the attributes of the Divinity might have
stopped is possible. The subscriber is far from affirming
'hat they did If they did he is that it from
motives pure recude ITSELF and FROM infrmilies of
Judgment incident TO all the labors Of man.
The President of the Bank very focibly stated TO the
institution stands towards the commercial community in
this respect So long the bank keeps within the line of
safe operations upon It's own funds it leaves those
merce 10 regulate themselves Ii neither seeks
nor diminish them When, from whatever cause, there
among the merchants tendency 10 over-tradnr il is
not the province of the Bank directly to nerpose AGAINST
III Tor that would be toexercsc invious and proper
control over business with which has but remote con-
Germ Its general duty is to grant facilities while it has
disposabe funds unlnvested The point which il
TO stay its hand is matter OF difficulty TO determine and
upon which the soundest discretion may different
results IN different men, From the first appearance of the
Impending PRESSURE the measures OF the President and
Directors of the Bank appear the subscriber to have been
marked with great Judgment and to have been continued
ana modied according TO the progress events with
equal scadncss of purpose, and bcnevoence of intention
But whether the Corporation issue, its circulation with
hoerahty or curtas il with provident caution il equally
meets the ccnsure oil the majority report. Afcr quoting
two passages from report of Mr. Rush. commenting the
Bank for its prudence in limiting the amount of its circ
iauon gives two statements, showing that, between Au-
gust, 1928, and the first OF April last the had
been augmented 10 what il calls the astonishing
Of upwards oil ten millions in less than four years But
omits all notice OF two facts which, if duly
would have taken off all the edge of asonshment The
first is that during that interval the seven millions
OF Stock held by the Government were repaid The sc
cond, that upwards of three millions of the public debt
held by the Bank, paid Off: that the astenishp NO
increase OF circulation is reinvestment of capital
which mad been returned upon the hands of the Bank
and only the substitution of species productive pro-
perry for another And scarcely the sentence of CEN
sure been expressed in the report it turns and
plains and appeals TO the circular addressed the Branch
cs and correspondence with them since October last that
The chief object OF the Bank has been barely sustain
SELF and that since that time the Bank has increased
its facilities TO the trading community any part of the
Union.
The subscriber believes that nothing can be more deu
ve than the parallel drawn majority report between
the state and condition of the Bank in 1910 and i'm 1892 bu
That report has subjected itself which is already
disclosing the true character OF its reasoning 1t has ven
ured upon the field of prophecy the failure of IL, mr.
diciions is already frightening into demonstration
In the anticipation that there will be a curailment of
discounts for several months come the foresight of the
majority report is probably This of course must
occasionally happen in all banking establishments It's
incidental TO all the unavoidable fluctuations of trade and
believed TO be at this time Indispensable not only TO the
Bank, but TO the whole commercial communv This
operation has, indeed been quietly proceeding in the Bank
OF the United States since the circular of 9TH October
1881; which the majority report large account
for its purposes 1t has been in progress while at the
time the direction of the Bank has been reserynp and
outstanding and prudenty applying the the COM
mercal portion OF fellow citizens meeting and mas
sing through this critical emergency, with little detri-
ment TO the public and TO individuals possible This
would EXPLAIN would think, very satisfactorily the
fact stated in the letter of the President the Bank 10 the
Secretary of the Treasury, the 2g of March last that
In compliance with ntimation from the Collector of
York. extension of loans had been promptly acceded to-
in the preceding month oFebruary, assist the mercantile
debtors oil the Government in the punctual payment of
their bond without needing argument such as that of
the majority report against this plain and direct assertion of
very notorious and unquesonabc fact The author of
e report hnds by reference TO the weekly statement
the Office at New York, from July 1881 TO April 1892
no aggregate increase of loans. but the contrary re-
ducuon oil The amount He finds that the total amount of
discounts at the New York Branch between the 4h Of
October 1881 and the 2Sth of March 1892 was actually
diminished $i6S,447 IL, while, during the same time
the bonds paid at that port amounted between nine and
ten millions of dollars Can ii be imagined that he dis.
covers in this statement compared with that in the letter
from the President of the Bank which he refers not an
uanswerabe demonstration of the prudence as well as of
the beraty with which the affairs of the Bank have in
this respect been conducted but occasion Of cOnesne
by unavoidable implication, the uerdcfy of the President
OF the Bank:-and this in report which, upon an mmc.
diatey preceding page charges the Bank with "e loss
81 Gue millions ofits specie"
On the first perusai of the Report the subscriber was
himself greatly at loss TO know what was meant by this
Gloss OF five millions Ofis specie of which he was yery
sure that no evidence had been given to the committees
and II was only after repeated examination of the nara
graph in comparison with another part of the Report that
he found this form of expression only an ingenious
mode oil accusing the Bank of loss of fire million or
specie between the first of September a the first of Apr
because there was nearly that of specie i'm
the funds OF the Bank at the former period the lat
ter This construction, by which payment odebs con-
into loss ofspecie may serve consolation for the
disappointment arising from the inability TO convict the
Bank oil any other serious loss since 1919.
With regard to the increase of the number of tl,e
Branches TO the precise manner in which the annual cleo
ton OF Directors has been conducted, to the alarming
magnitude OF the sums recently paid for printing TO the
sums paid TO the Solicitors and Counseiors distinct from
those PAID to attorneys, TO the number of useful ocu.
mens not reierrable to any particular head, 10 the
many statements called for, which The business of the
Bank and the shortness Of the time allowed for the nyes
hgauon would not admit TO be furnished the
viii pass over all these subjects they are passed over m
the majority OF the Committee with the expression of his
satisfaction that the labours Of the Committee upon them
were abridged by the march Of time and of his hope that
no Committee OF Congress will again be called to an
investigation upon plan of such inermnabe outline He
cOhvnced that TO fill itup according the comprehen-
siveness of its conception and the uarous complication
OF its Details Committee appointed AZ this ,a ,ybic