Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1834-04-24


5 sudden withdrawal of its present amour
OF circulation, or lis sudden depreciatio
b before any other sound currency was sul
t 'stituted TOR 1t, would certainly produce G,
tensive evils, and be sensibiv felt anon
all classes of society,""
The secretary then adyerts to the nnhli
agreement 10 receive the notes of the banl
10 payment of its dues, and proceeds a
follows: "But this obligation on the ma rt q
ne dated States will cease on the third o
March, 1886, when the charter expires
and so soon as this happens, all the on,
standing notes of the bank will lose the
peculiar value they now possess, and the
notes payable at distant places become as
much deprecated as the notes of local
banks. And if in the mean time, no other
currency is substituted in It's place by com
mon consent, it is easy to foresee the ex-
tent OF the embarrassment which would be
caused by the sudden arrangement of the
circulating medium. 1t would be too late
at that time, to provide substitute which
would ward off the evil The notes of
the bank Of the United States in circula-
ton on the second OF September last.
which was the date of the latest return be
fore me when the order for removal was
given, amounted to Sis, 413,2S7 or, scat,
tered in every part Of the United States ::
and it safe and sound currency were
immediately provided, on the termination
OF the charter, to take the place of these
notes, it would still require time to bring i;
INTO general use, and in the interim the
people would be subjected to all the incon-
venience and losses which necessarily a.
rise from an unsound state of the currency.
The evil would be so great, and the distress
so general, that it might even compel con-
gress, against its wishes, to recharter the
bank; and perhaps more efIectual means
could hardly be devised for ensurinc the
renewal Of the charter. 1t is evident that
a state OF things SO much to be depreca>
ted can only be avoided by timely prepara-
ton; and the continuance of the depostes
can only be justified by the determination
10 renew the charter. The state banks
can, have no doubt, furnish general cir>
culating medium, quite as uniform in val.
le as that which has been afforded by the
bank of the United Subsequently, more
so. For it is well know that, in some of
he cities, the branches of the bank havel
)een IN the habit, whenever they thought
proper, of refusing to honor the notes off
heir own bank, payable at other branches,
when they were not offered in discharge of
! debt due to the United States But cur
'ency founded on the notes of state banks
could not be suddenly substituted for that
heretofore furnished by the bank OF the u
lited States, and take the place of it, at
he same moment, in every part of the I'm
on. 1t is essential that the change should
)e gradual, and sufficient time should be
allowed to suffer it to make its way by the
ordinary operations Of commerce, without
hasty and violent effort.
sin this view of the subject 1t would be |
highly lnjudicious to suffer the deposites to
'emain in the bank of the United States
lntil the close Of its corporate existence.
And As they cannot be withdrawn without
he action of secretary Of the treasury
It must unavoidably become his duty, at
some period Of time, to exercise the power
IF removal"
These are literal extracts from the sec
retary's letter, and no one who reads them
can doubt that the secretary claims the
right to regulate the currency, and that he |
meant to force one kind of currency out,
and, by means of the state banks, to force
another kind of currency into use. Can
any one who has read his letter, doubt that,
if this power is denied by the committee,
they deny the whole case of the secretary?I
The lever he has undertaken to use, is one
which not only cannot be used without
changing the currency, but the secretary
has used it for the express determinate pur-
pose of producing the change But to pro-
coed with the reason itself:
The value of the measure, as an op-
Grafton Of finance, TO expel one curren-
cy, and to introduce better, is al
ready tested, in the short time which has
elapsed since the order Of REMOVAL
The discounts of the bank have been
partially reduced, yet the circulation of
the bank, instead of being diminished,
has increased. The local hank paper.
except for local purposes, has generally
deprecated, and the paper of the bank
of the United States is at par in all pla-
ces except where it is above par. But
without advcrting further TO the incom-
potency Of the means proposed to attain
the end, it is an imputation upon the
congress of lSl6 to say they intended
to authorize the secretary of the trcasu'
ry to use any means whatever for the
attainment of such an end. The avow-