Litchfield enquirer., 1837-09-14

and, on thEse different occasions, szciusiyey 1!st anterior to the establishment of the Est bank o tne United States secondly in the interval f s s teFminauon Of that institution and the cnartsr U - successor; and, thirdly during the limited peIiO0 winch has now so abruptly closed. The connecuOn
 mus repeatedly attempted, proved unsatlsactoay On each successye occasion, notwithstanding the Vanous measures which adopted to facilitate insure it's success. On the last occasion, in the year 1885, the employment of the State Banks was guarded es- pecally in every way which experience and caution could suggest Personal security required for the satekesPing rnd prompt P&yment Oi the moneys so be time to time, to be made by the Repositories In the first stages the measure was eminenty successful, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the Bank of the United States, and the unceasng efforts made to overthrow it. The selected banks performed with f delity, and without any embarrassment to themselves to the community, their engagements to the Gov ernment, and the system promised to be permanently useful But when it became necessary under the act of June, lS36 to withdraw from them the pubic mo- ney, for the purpose of placing in additional lns
 ons, of transferring it to the States, they found It, in many cases, inconvenient to comply with the de- mands of the Treasury, anI numerous and pressing applications were made for indulgence or rehet. AS the instaments under the deposite law became paya- ble thelr own embarrassments, and the necessity un, der which they lay of curtailing their discounts and calling m their debts, increased the general distress and contributed with other causes to hasten the re- vulsion in which, at length they, in common with the other banks, were fatally involved.
 Under these circumstances, 1t becomes our solemn duty to inquire whether there not in any cOnnec- tion between the Government and banks of issue, evils of great magnitude, inherent in it's very nature and against which no precauton can efectualy guard
 Unforeseen in the organization of the Government, and forced on the Treasury by early necessities the practice o employing banks was, Tn truth, from the beg1nnlng more a measure of emergency than ot sound policy. When we started into existence as nation, in addition to the burdens of the new Govern. men we assumed all the large but honorable load of debt which was the price of liberty but we hes- tated to weigh down the infant industry of the coun-
 try by resorting to adequate taxation for the necessary 4f H,o s,r fIn privileges they acquired, were promptly offered, and perhaps too readily received, by an embarrassed Treasury. During the long continuance of national debt and the intervening difficulties of foreign war, the connection was continued from motives of con venience but these causes have long since passed away We have no emergencies that make banks no load of national debt to provide for and we have on actual deposlte large surplus. No public inter- est therefore, now requires the renewal of connec- uee % os the of our resources the general harmony which prevails between the different States, and with foreign Pow ers all enable us now to select the system most con sstent with the Constitution, and most conducive to Treasury for fourth time with the local banks only be under conviction ha. past failures have
 danger, difficult, if not impossible, to be avoided in such arrangements is made strkngly evident in the very event by which it has now been defeated the people, deprves the Treasury, without fault or agency of the Government, of the ability to pay it's creditors in the currency they have by law rght to merce could have produced, ii the public revenue nad been collected in the legal currency, and kept in that form by the officers of the Treasury Ihe c,tlzen zen suspension, at sacrifice in it's amount; whilst he who kept it in the legal currency of the country and
 in his own without Gs tnG n car ,s situation of the former, is involved in embarrassments it could have suffered had pursued the course of the latter These en,barrassments are, moreover, aug to use appreciated currency and 6y so aolng take from the Government the ability which individuals have of accommodating their transactions to such catastrophe.
 A system which can, in time of profound peace, when there is large revenue laid by, thus suddenly prevent the application and the use of the money of the people, the and for the objects they have directed, cannot be wise but who can think, without painful reflection, that, under it. the same unforeseen events might have befallen in the midst of war, and taken from us, the moment when most wanted, the use of those very means which treasured up
 to promote the national welfare and guard our nation al rights To such embarrassments and to such dan gers will this Government be always exposed, whilst it takes the moneys raised for and necessary to, the public service, of the hands of own officers, and converts them into mere right ot acton against cor poratons entrusted with the possession of then Nor can such results be efectualy guarded against in such system, without investing the txecutlve with
 control over the banks themselves, whether State or National that might Tt eG m xord that liable in the management of it's fiscal concerns, to occurrences like these. But this imminent risk IS not the only danger attendant on the surrender o the pub lie money to the custody and control of local corpo- rations Though the object IS aid to the Treasury its effect may be to introduce into the operations of the Government influences the most subtle, founded on interests the most selfish.
 The use by the banks for their own benefit, of the money deposited with them, has received the sanction of the Government from the commencement of this instead of being kept till 1t IS needed for heir use, l in consequence of this authoTty, tuna on whcn discounts are made for the profit of those who happen be the of stock in the banks selected as de- positores The supposed and often exaggerated ad- vantages of such boon will always cause It to be sought with avidity. ,willnot stop to consider on whom the patronage incident to IS to be conferred; eress or to the Executive, either will be subjected to appeals made, in every form which the sagacty of ln- terest can suggest The banks, under such system are stimulated make the most of helr fortunate ac oustion the deposites treated as an increase of capital loans and circulation are rashly augmented, and when the public exigencles require retgrn It IS attended with not PIovaed ioi os, nc, fortunate when the public funds were received md themselves most embarrassed when the season of payment suddenly arnyes ., limited to the banks It Itsmulates general rashness of enterprise, and aggravates the fluctuations ot com merce and the currency. This result was stnkingly exhibited during the operations o the ae eepOssl;e ps lands The order which ultimately directed the pay ment of gold aud silver in such purchases, greatly checked, but could not altogether prevent the evlL- the notes which the banks could themselves create at pleasure but still, being obtained from them as loan and returned as a dcposlte, which they were with diminished speed. This operation could not have been perfornled had the funds of the Govern ment gone into the Treasury, to be- regularly disbur- sed and not into banks be loaned out for their own Vvhl a