Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-11-15

be e~radicated, even by the power unoD
which they depend for existence.
They enter largely into, and inf,
ence TO q great extent, all the elements
which affect the trade of the coun,rv
and thus whether you are connec,oi
with, or divorced from them, whenevor
trade or the course of exchange IL
which they largely deal) is deranaed
or injured, your finances will be imne
diately affected. You may be diyor'
ced from them a mensa, and a rincrG,
and should a period ever occur aoa;O
when there is a general suspension Il
specie payment, your Treasury will
stop payment in unison with the benL.
precisely as it has done now and H.
only difference between you will bs
that they will stop the payment as
measure of prccaution, and you from
necessity.
say then emphatically, that tho
present embarrassed condition of ,ho
Treasury is not owing to its connection
with the banks. You have moi now
money enough to the credit of the Go.
vernment, in all the banks north OF Tho
Potomac pat together, (the Quarter
where the principal revenue is coIlec.
ted,) TO carry on the Government for
two weeks. The Treasury is wi,bop,
money, not because the banks have
stopped payment, but because its sun.
plies are cut off. It's revenue is STAG
nant in the hands of its debtors, and
not in the vaults Of the banks. Tbern
is money enough due to you, but YOU
can't get 1t in, and so it is precisely
with the banks. You and they are
both obliged, being operated apo BY
the same causes, to give time TO your
debtors, and to wait for the reaction Of
trade, the revival of commerce, before
you can again get afoat.
Neither is this reasoning at all wes.
kened by the fact, that you have some
five or six millions yet on deposite, in
the southern and western States, which
is styled ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TINT
you can't command it for use. You
can't command it, simply because you
have no use for ii, in the place where
1t is. In the northern and eastern
States, where you had use for money,
you hive Withdrawn it rapidly since
the suspension, and SO you would have
done, from those south and west ,,could
you have used the money al the place
where 1t was. Suppose then that this
money, instead being on deposite in the
banks, was locked up in Sub. Treasu.
rles in gold and silver. Five or six
millions of bullion is too large a sum- to
be suddenly transferred from one quar-.
ter Of the country to the other, without
producing very serious effects upon the
trade and business of those places
whence it is taken and yet you would
nave no other whatever in
order to make it available" but 10
bring it away in bulk, Transporting il.
at heavy cost cro the country, from
the place where it was collected to the
place where it was wanted.
You could not command a dollar by
means of exchange for the very eau.
SEES that now make your deposite "un.
available" there, has run up exchange
to rather more than the expenses of
transportation. And thus that whole
fund, ever if now in gold and silver,
and in Sub Treasures to boot, would
be just as unavailable to government,
in the present condition of the country,
as their deposite is, in the banks men,
ioned. Government would not at.
tempt to bring away the metal. The
country would not allow itself to be
thus drained-or if il were done. the
very operation would open the peoples
eyes TO the working of the machinery,
and all would cry out against it. No,
sir, if this whole unavailable fund.-
in the South and West, were now lock.
ed up there in gold and silver, sooner
than encounter the cost and risk of
transportation, and the clamor that
would be raised against it in those
States, we should go quietly TO work,
as we arc now doing, and issue Trea.
sury notes 10 answe in its place, until
the restoration of trade to its acoustic
med channels would allow its being
made available, by the use of bills Of
exchange.
Treating the banks, then, as they
certainly are, institutions dependant
Tor their being upon the States alone,
and yet exercising so important an in.
huence upon the trade and business of
the country, it becomes us next TO in.
qulre what is the best and safest rela-
ton IN which the government can place
itself toward them, to avoid, as far as
may be, a recurrence OF the evils un-
der which we now labor.
In the first place, | see no prior ne.
either as regards the welfare
of the Government or the Banks. for