Iowa news. [volume] (Dubuque, Upper Mississippi Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1837-1841, 1837-07-15
Observation-Disclosures


The Question stated IN W1ocOmsans i.
70 the Editors Of the Iowa News. !.
GrSrLEMEs: 1t is amusing to listen to the Il
different opinions and arguments made use OF, 1
% show the cause Of our existing commercial
the suspension of specie pay
ments by the banks, and the consequent de-
Of the currency: some attributlng {,
4 70 the the downfall of the Mammoth Bank.
pthers to the Specie Circular, others again to
the oye,tradiny of our Merchants, and specu-
Iators in foreign goods; and another class to
the Distribution Bill, and the consequent sys-
tenn of extravagant Legislation on internal Inn
provements by the States.
Take up any or all of the opposition papers,
and they are filed with denunciations against
the late and present administrations, moving
as !: heaven get the people
to Join with them, in attributing to the policy
Of the government all of our present difficulties.
Assertions are easily made: but let us ask,
what has Government done to deserve all this
blamel "Oh," we are answered. .'the Go
venment has put down the u. S. Bank, and
issued the Specie Circular" Granted that it l
has, and deny that this is thecsuse-l deny
that either Of those acts have sent out of the +
country one dollar that should be kept in It; !
but on the contrary, have been the means OF
retaining in the country what gold and silver
there were in it, and more than TRrBBLlNo 1t
in the short space of Six YEARS; and that the
cocntTy possessed more Of the precious metals
At the time the Banks stopped specie payments
than was ever in it at any former period ofour
history. III succeed in this, hope shall
have proved to the satisfaction of every unpre-
JUDGED and candid man, that we are not to at
tribute the present embarrassment to the poll.
o,, ,ol sh., Sbo mt hut
that we are to look for the cause to some 9TH
Ter source. To prove this, shall select peri
DDS when gold and silver were most abundant
in the country.
In 1892, during the administration of Gene
raj Washington, the whole amount of specie
then in the country was asceftained to be Sl7,-
OOO, 900, and the population was 4,5OO, 200,
thus giving less than four dollars per head Of
gold and silver COIN In 1904, at the close Of
Mr.. Jeferson's first term, gold and silver had
increased to 500 500, 900, that is, there were
in circulation Sl7, SOC, O0O, and in Bank Sl2,-
OOO, 600 Of hard money, at the same time there
were but S13,OOO,OOO Of bank notes, making
the total circulating medium Of the country in
1904 to be s42,0OO,OOO. During the next four
years, we find that Bank paper had increased
from IL to $4,000, 900, and gold and silver
from 29,5OO,0 600 to $50, O00, 600, yet the cir
culation Of gold and silver had actually de-
creased S3,O00.O00, thus there were in 1903,
but Sl4,0O0,OOO Of gold and silver in circula-
Ition, and $24.000,000 in the Banks, and 3d.
00O, 900 of paper money; making at the close
Of Mr.. Jeferson's administration, total of
S6l ,OO0, 900 Of circulaung medium in the coun-
try, giving an average Of nine dollars head
of the whole currency, or Of gold and silver Of
fpe dollars per head. 1tmay be as well to re-
mark here, that the sum of S38 ,O00. 900 ofgold
and silver coin at the close OF Mr.. jefferson q
administration; was tho largest sum ever known
to be in the country at any one period since or
tbefore, untifthe year 1888, two years after the
IS. Bank received its death blow. In 1916,
That Bank was chartered, and it is all impor.
liant to know the situation Of the circulating
medium at that period, as the great Regulator
!, Of the currency is now about entering upon her
duties, that we may the better know how she
found it, and in what situation after Is years
Of unlimited power, she left it. Well, the Of
e fetal returns made to Congress in 1916, say
there were about ga, O00, OO0in Bank notes
and about 81 $780, 00 in gold and silver in cir
: culation, and SiS, SOC, 600 in the Banks, ma
!. king total Of SOC, 100000 of hard money and
: grand total of the circulating medium in thu
: United States the year the United States Banl
). was chartered, OF ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS.
!, Thus far, we have the basis of the circula
! ting medium Of the country, at the time wher
the United States Bank commenced operations
8 Let US now see how far she has succeeded
9 how much she deserves those attributes will
:. which her friends wish to clothe her: that is
the regulator and preserver ofthe currency, tn
: controller Of State Bank issues the source AM
fountain into whose capacio1s reservoir tn
9 wealth Of nations was to flow, to be again dis
tributed through the veins and arteries to tn
! farthest extremity Of the body polite, and lik
. the dews Of Heaven shower it's blessings alik
:. on the poor and the rich; and Let it be recolec
9 cd that all this her friends and advocates for
re-charter assert she has accomplished.
:. We will now give the friends of the Ban
!. all they can ask, and take the report made
|. Congress in the winter of 1917 and 'l6. tn
= most favorable that ever has been made f.
her. Well, that report slows. that there wa
at that time $62 900, O0s Of Bank paperin eli
'e culation and SIG, 900 in tho Banks, NAL
Of ing 81, 100000 Of paper currency, and So
!. 000, 900 Of gold and silver in circulation, an
d 81, 600, 600 of hard money, and allowing a
g Increase Of the precious metals in the sho
y space Of two years Of $ll ,0O0. 900.
h Thus far 90 good. every thing appeared /,
s;l % on well; the u. s. Bank was the ne-plu.
u ss6ru ofths'day, the very magnUps-bomum ,
70 psrfectionybu but alas! show the mighty has ia
lem" the very next report which we have
only one year after, makes the specie in circuL
to-. only -Four Millions Fine HUNDRED Thou,
and Dollars, and in Banks Fifteen MslXsor
ol FSpe Hundred 1Housand, mak;ng total IN =
!. tie country Of only Trenty Millions Of har
g mesey, shosDing an actSalL0 to tie eovsatrv