The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1837-06-07

/ and the same 10 be repeated as long as the
bank or banks can be squeezed for that
purpose. At length the outdoor borrowers
become known, and suspected of being in
desperate circumstances the usual facili-
ties before given them in their business are
narrowed, or wholly refused whence the
next step is the bankruptcy of a few of the
most rotten members in the trading COM
muni,y, aud if the gap cannot be suddenly
stopped, every one takes the alarm! The
banks require payment or security; money
ia great measure disappears; and what
goods are disposed of, are sold only for cash,
and that by the most necessitous holders,
and at reduced prices general re-
duc,ion takes place on all goods; stocks,
aud real estate, fall to very low price-in-
somuch as to bankrupt great class ofthosc
who hold them, who considered themselves
sound before. At this period the banks be-
gin to totter! Daily and hourly runs for
specie, by those who before held their bills
in perfect confidence, ensue. A few Of
them arc unable to maintain the siege, and
are overwhelmed and broken tue rest find
the banks at g per cent per year SO to cre-
ate new fund to shave upon second time,
ng that the Goths and Vaudals can no lon
ger be resisted in open fight, shut up their
castles, unite in one body for their own de-
fence, and call upon the strong arm Of fIegs-
laton to protect them from the just claims
of their creditors.
We are not disposed to assail the banks
for the last step they have taken. Necessity
has no law but that of its own creating-
and every rejecting and intelligent man
must know that no bank, organized as ours
are, and conducted with n proper regard to
the interest of its stockholders, eau, at any
time, meet the demands Of half its creditors
at once, in specie. This fact being known
and acknowledged is the cause of the quiet
acquiescence of the people in the course the
banks have taken. Ii now remains for the
banks to pursue such measures as will make
themselves the most useful and the least
obnoxious to the community. They still
hold the larger part of the specie which be-
longs to the people of the state-which they
withhold from circulation by an act of dis
obedience to the MISUNDERSTANDING their
own bills of credit in the place of it. Under
such circumstances the people have a right
to demand of them, that they make their
circulation ns useful as they possibly can
and the measure which appears to us the
mcst likely to effect that object, is by con-
,inuing to have the bills af the X. Island
banks redeemed in the city of Boston as
heretofore, rs a present expediency. The
men who govern those institutions should
never, for moment, forget that the banks
were made by the people, aud for the peo-
pie, and not the people for the banks.
What may be the end of this paper money
system We do not pretend TO foresee, but
IRE confident that people are under mis-
take, who think that its benefits far exceed
its ovii tendencies but all our business is
so interviewer with the banks, that separa-
ton now would be attended with great adj
ditional evil, however wholesome 1t might
be at a more suitable time. We would
recommend forbearance on the part of the
Legislature and the people, on The one side,
and the strictest integrity and willing COM
pliance of the banks, on the other, in sub
hitting to the correcting hand of the gov
| ernment.
The banks having forfeited their char
ters, by their late act, one aud ALL, is to be
hoped that the legislature will subject them
to all future legislation MS to their charters,
either in amendment, or repeal, so that at
ter full practical test of the present cxper-
imcn,, if the system is found dangerous,
or materially defective, none Of the present
banks shall en,rcnch themselves out of the
reach of such laws as the good of the whole
people may demand
AS general impression has been enter
tanned lha; the same money invested in
bank capital becomes expanded, aud goes
u great deal farther in sustaining trade and
manufactures than before it was so invested,
we shall give few extracts from the re-
turns made by the banks of II. Island to
The General Assembly, ut various times, to
show that this position is questionable.
In October, 1929
The banks had in Capital Stock paid in
by, and belonging to the people, S6,09S ,30i
Profits on hand belonging 10 the people, l73,2st
Deposites, belonging to the people, SOS, 1877
4 cy, S7,osO,S7s
| What then was the amount the public
used, and on which they paid the Banks
interest
The Directors owed the banks 3 s3S, ,73s
Other Stockholders, 1l,2i9
An other persons ovid the banks5, ,339,SaS
Total amount of discounts, S6,9oo, 500
The people used less than they pu, in by 10 SCI
In October, 1893,
Bank Stock ofthe Peoples S7i}S,S SIS
, Profits on hand s32 l6t
Deposits, -li53 S5S
) The banks then held OF the peoples mon.
/ cy, s., l2I ,37l
Then the people used over what they put in, 67,i73
S9,i9l ,si5
| The Directors owed the banks, 92S,2
| Other Stockholders, 1852
| All others, 752l0l3
S9,l9l ,si5