Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1834-12-18

4
yer the banks Of the several states: and hcuo.
tbs that single blow Of Executive authority ha
been sufficient 10 agitaie this mighty mass oGras,
\ derangetoa considerable extent the ordinar,
businessof the country. know that under an,
circumstances the currency Of the country require,
TO be cautiously touched; that even ia the bes
regulated systems small is the proportion
which the money necessarily bears to the pro.
perty Of the country, and rapid and electric lis
slightest dimunition and increase upon the value
Of that property, that causes apparently made.
quste to such results will frequently be followed
by the most monsirous consequences. Yet still
TO me it appears incredible, that the Executive
proceedings Of Sept 1898, could have been atten.
ded with its present effect upon the currency, il
the state ofthat currency had beeu sound. View
1T as il then was, and in my judgement the cause
was adequate to the effect. In like manner, so
| long as the present banking system continues and
the disproportiou which now exists between the
metallic and paper circulation ofthe country con-
tinucs, SO long will the currency Of the country
be liable to the same disastrous fluctuations
| Industry viii be robbed Gifts reward property
Invested Of its value, and the dearest interests Of
free people which should ever rest upon sure
and immoy able basis, will be the sport Of politi
ca. quackery and experiment.
Gyre .t,en is the seat Of the DISEASE. II con-
sists in the great aud growing disproportioa be-
tween the metallic and PAPER circulation of the
country, effected through the fundamentally oil
the Banks disproportion daily and hourly m
creasing under the impulse of most powerful eau
ses, which are rapidly accelerating the country
to a state of CONFUSION and revolution.
] viii moi stop here 10 enquire what is the CT
feet Of the present policy of the administration,
and whether the obvious tendency Of ats mea-
ures is not TO multiply to an alarming extent the
number of State Banks, and thus increase that
| dIsproportion between paper aud specie which is
now the admitted evil Of the system Perhaps
il may have some measure in reserve, which IN
due time may be announced, intended 10 obvate
those results which seem TO flow from the policy
which it recommends. None, however, have
been far revealed TO the curiosity OF the pub
| lie, and !, in common with large portion Of the
| Union am constrained to regret, that il has not
yet exerted lis controlling power and patronage
| to effect so desirable an object
| ibelieye that no one sensible of the existing
state Of fittings, and of the which have pro-
duced il, can contemplate without dismay, the ra-
pid multiplication Of the paper currency Of the
| country. Where is il to end: Where can il end ,
but in general bankruptcy and ruin-in eonvul-
sions and revolution If IFS progress shoald con
| tisae rapid and as uniform it has been for
the last fifty years, the whole capital enterprise
| Of the country must sooner or later be bound by
ties of indissoluble connection with them.
eat the adoption Of constitution says
Mr.. Calhoun, /" there were but three banks in
the United States, the amount Of whose capital |
do not now recollect, but il was very small. In
this short space they have increased TO $50 with
a capital of $l45, 900, has already been
stated--an increase exceeding nearly an hundred
fold the proportionate increase Of our wealth and
population great as they have been. But it is
not in numbers only that they have increased ;
there has been in the same time a rapid advance
in the proportion which their notes in circula-
tion bear to the specie in their vaults. Some
twenty or thirty years ago il was not considered
safe for the issues 10 exceed the specie by more
than two and half or three for one, but now Ia
king the whole and including the Bank of the
United States with the State Banks, the proper
tion is six TO one and excluding that bank j
would greatly exceed that proportion" Tp q
| According to estimate made out by Mr.
Galatin in his &c considerations on the currency
the circulation Of this country in 1911, was S2s
100000, resting upon metallic currency of 8 II
900 900. II MFR. Calhoun is correct, in March
1884, the circulation was $70000,0 900, resting
upon metallic basis Of the sumo amount. Thes,
are facts we'll calculated to rouse the public MIND
and direct its attention to the subject embraced
| in these remarks.
The sagacious William Pitt once observed
let the Americans go on with their Banking
institutions and their boasted independence viii
be mere phantom" hope this language maj
not prove prophetic. | hope it is yet to-
late, the firmness and intelligence ofmy country
men will apply the proper corrective TO th
evil. In my next will examine what that cir
cula,ion should be. HAMPDEN.
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