Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1837-01-03

| TO increase ulclr SpeCic, oIu, HoA', w S'S
them the means of doing It, by drafts on
the dcposte banks. The commercial COM
munity were thus taken by surprise. The
interior banks making no loans, and con-
verting their Atlantic funds into specie, the
debtors in the interior could make no re-
mittances TO the merchants in the Atlantic
cities, who are thus thrown for support on
the banks Of those cities at moment when
they are unable TO afford relief, on account
ofthe very abstraction Of their specie to the
West. The creditor States not only re-
ceive no money, but their money Is. carried
away to the debtor Safes, who, in turn,
cannot use il, either to pay old engagements
or to contract new. By this unnatural
process the specie of New York and the
other commercial cities is piled up in the
Western States-not circulated, not used,
but held as defence against the Treasury,
and while the west cannot use 1t, the East
Is suffering for the want of it. The result
is, that the commercial intercourse between
the West and the Atlantic is almost wholly
suspended, and the few operations which
are made arc burdcncd with the most cx.
travagant expense. In November 1886,
the interest of money has risen to twenty
four per cent. merchants are struggling
TO preserve their credit by runous sacrlfi-
ces: and it cos:s five or six times as much
to transmit funds from the West and South
west, as it did in November, 1885, or "a.
or '32. Thus, while the exchanges with
al the world arc in our favor, while Europe
is alarmed, and the Bank of England itself
uneasy at the quantity of:specle we possess,
we are suffering, because, from mere ms
management, the whole ballast of the cur
rency is shifted from one side of the vessel
to the other.
In the absence OF good reasons for these
measures, and as pretcxt for them, it is
said that the country has overraded, that
the banks have over-issued, and that the
purchasers of public lands have boon very
extravagant. | am not struck by The truth
or the propr;e,y of these complaints. The
phrase of overtrading is very convenient,
but not very ineligible. If it means any
thing, it means that our dealings with other
countries have brought us in debt to those
countries. In that casethe exchange turns
against our country, and is rectifed by an
expectation of specie or stocks in the first
instance-and then by reducing the imports
to the exports. Now the fact is, that at
this moment, the exchanges are all in favor
of this country-that is, you can buy bill
of exchange on a foreign country cheaper
than YOU can send specie to that country.
Accordingly, much specie has come in
none goes out this, loo, at moment when
the exchange for the last crop is exhausted
and that of the new crop has not yet come
into the market-and when we are on the
point of sending to Europe the produce OF
the country, to the amount of eighty or one
hundred millions of dollars. How, then,
has the country oyertraded. Exchange
with all the world is in favor Of New York.
How then can New York be an over;ra-
dor ? Her merchants have sold goods 10
the merchants Of the interior, who are will
ing to pay, and, under ordinary crcum-
stances, able to pay; but, by the mere fault
Of the Government, as obvious as If an
earthquake had swallowed them up, their
debtors are disabled from making immediate
payment. 1t is no: that the Atlantic mer-
chants have sold too many goods, but that
the Government prevents their receiving
payment for any. Moreover, in the COM
mercial cities, money can be had, though at
ex.ravagant rates, for capitallts add to the
ordinary charges for the use of it high
insurance against the loss of it. 1t is not
then so much that money is not to be pro-
cured, as that doubt and alarm increase the
hazards Of lending it.
Then as to the banks. 1t is quite pro.
bable that many Of the banks have extend
ed their issues-but whose fault is it Who
called these banks into existence! The
Executive Who tempted and goaded
them to these issues! Undoubtedly the
Executive. The country, five years ago,
was in possession ofthe most bcau1lnl ma
chnerv Of currency and exchanges the
world ever saw. 1t consisted of il number
of State banks protected, and, al the same
time, restrained by the Bank of the United
States.
The people Of the United States, through
their representatives, rechartered that lnst:
tuition. But the Executive, discontented
with its independence, rejected the act OF
Congress, and the favoritc topic of decla-
nation was, that the States would make
banks, and that these banks could create a
better system Of currency and exchanges:
The States accordingly made banks; and
then followed idle parades about the loans
ofthesc banks, and their enlarged dealings
in exchange. And what is the consequence!
The Bank of the United States has not
ceased to exist more than seven months,
and already the whole currency and en-
changes are running into inextricabc con-
fusion, and the industry Of the country is