The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-14

-lene land ss-he wa uaI satisfied @Ih ehd ul them,
hc had thought besi 70 postpone the subject nil The
regular session, and ODER soae remarks IN explanation
OF his reasons for dong so.
Two plans were, he said. urged upon the Senate
reported by the Committee Finance, as propos
cd TO be amended by the Senator from South Carona;
the other, the State bank SYSTEM which had already
been tried, aud failed
As to the last various apologies had been made here
and elsewhere for us failure and il has been insisted
that had fair trial, and, therefore, could not be
said properly to have failed The most able aud nge
NOUS advocates and apologss OF this system that he
had heard were his friends from Virginia aud New
York II they had not succeeded in convincing the
Senate that the system should be resdopted, (wth the
moderatons proposed) conviction might be considered
as hopeless lie certainly agreed with them, that the
sys,en had not had fair trial The pets had certainly
had hard time Of II under their Executive patron but
he had never had confidence in them from the begin
nng and in TRUTH the system had succeeded for
one moment. The history OF the world furnishes
instance which administrative measure so vitality
interesting 10 the whole community mad been SO ong
sustained by system OF mere assumption deception,
and putting, Business men rarely deceived by
these means; but large portion OF the people
less informed, and believed the statements which
from time to time imposed upon them, Why, (ssld
Mr., X lately saw in Of the numerous apologize
essays on this subject (even when the exchanges had
got into such confusion render il impossible to de-
ceiye any BODY that the system had been Of the
dom Of man. The author regretted very much that he
not entitled TO any share Of the honor Of having first
conceived 1t; which honor all due 10 the great
financial wisdom Of the Ex-President. The fruits Of
this mighty conception had, however, been blasted by
the stupidity of Congress, who had passed. contrary to
the known will Of the Executive, the obnoxious
sure for the distrbuve deposte with the States in
June, 1896 beautiful system, truly, for the admin
lsration OF the public finances, that should wher at
HINT that we shond want portion OF the public treasure
IL.
than s,r months ahead But said (Mr X } unfortu-
naely this bill passed rather too late to afford
even preteI to the advocates of the late Presidents
experiment | state TO the Senate fact coming
within my knowledge, thai before the drstrbutioa
bill passed talked Of the president Of Southern
institution passed through this city with large amount
OF specie IN his possession, on his way to New York,
there to purchase Southern and Southwestern exchan
ges. The same operation had been made by others.
Was such operation made or dreamed Of during
the existence OF The Bank Of the United States before
the withdrawal OF its btanches A beautiful ystem of
exchanges, this, which would lead men a thousand
miles from home to shave the commercial paper Of their
neighbors. a
Here are the evidences Of the fu6ment Of the promi
ses that the experiment would give better cunen-
cy, safer repositories, and cheaper" system Of ex-
changes. The local banks, whilst the deposiles in
their vaults were large the currency expandng and
speculation furnishing demands for money every where
and credits every where, afforded exchanges tolcraby
ment these causes ceased TO operate and the branches
of the United States Bank withdrawn the exchan-
ges fell into the utmost confusion and every prctension
after this that they were furnishing exchanges cheapy
as the United States Bank did" has been mere
assumption, and calculated to deceive any business
man in the community Sir, (sad he) have gone to
the very counters Of these bank and asked for exchan
&C at the published rates The generally was,
that, -" # ttry dtutug," they would sell at the
published lrces, boz they rarely had any to sell
Now, what kind Of profit do you suppose could
have induced the strange operation have described!
have been informed it frequently amounts to Is and
II per cent sometimes less, but always enormous.
The operation, if understand it, this A bill
purchased in New York the debtor OF the drawer in
the South or West, Southwest, at discount from
four to six per cent and perhaps sometimes higher II
the bill were paid the purchaser (being established be-
tween the drawer and drawee) again sold bill drawn
on the fund, and charged premium for these great
regulators IN the habit Of sharing erery direc
tfon. They would buy Southern funds at heavy dis
count, and sell bill on It at heavy premium. This
was the operation il the bill paid but if the bill
were dishonored, as frequently happened before, and
nearly always after the adoption of the specie circular
the bill went back upon the New York drawer with
accumulation ofcharges, and five per damages for
the dlshonor The drawer had it pay though he had
suffered heavy loss on the discount The payment Of
bill and damages furnished the drawer with Northern
fund, which he could again draw premium at five
per cent. Thus the Senate will the enormous pro-
fit that often made by the discount off single bill
1t was from exchanges, added to other profits, MIR
KING said that accounted for the enormous profits and
heavy dividends that had been made by some of the
banks, OF which he mentioned to have been prod
gious within fourteen months proceeding the st Of
March, 1897 Where did these enormous profits come
from, and who ultimately paid them! Why they were
shaved from the hard earnings OF the industrious classes
being clearly the circulation Of the pro ucts Of
labor
Mr. X. said he would not detain the Senate by going
fully into the capabilities of the State bank system TO
perform the services promised by it. He stood upon
firm ground on this subject His friends could not
charge him with change inconsistency in this matter
and, was well known, he had generally predicted
step by step, the consequences that would follow from
the financial experiments that had afflicted the country
beginning with that unfortunate and unnecessary mea-
sure the removal of the depostes in 1884 1t would
be seen that he had strong prediction for the State
bank deposite system, though he admitted that might
have DONE and still could do, much better than hereto
fore, if the Executive would to let alone and
cease the continual nterferenccs by which the banks
have been tormehted and tho Of the country
deranged, since the Executive had taken the con-
troll Of the finances.
Mr.. X, then proceeded to notice the plan Of the COM
mittee proposed to be amended This he looked
upon as new experiment. though it had been alleged
to be otherwise by the Senator from Missouri The
Senator insisted that ahead of our DESTINY
and ought to go back to the glorious days of the Roman
empire to learn lessons finance and political econo-
my. The plan was strongly recommended having
been that under which the Roman quRstors made their
mild exactions from the people. 1t was also recon-
mended most warmly by the Senator, because it was
that under which the leves Of Napoean were made
and the finances Of SPAN and Turkey collected and DIS
bmscd. Upon the first recommendation the Senator
had given us most eloquent discourse upon Roman
hcroism; bloody battles, and the eves Of the auns-
tors He had spoken Of the great pleasure with which
he read Roman history these subjects, and the de-
light with which he contemplated the renown of this
great people. Well: Mr.. X said he had read some
Roman history too though certainly not good an his
torian as his friend from Missouri But il any ibipu in