Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-09-16


of party; opinions were more or less
affected by political considerations and
differences were prolonged which might
otherwise have been determined by an
appeal to facts, by the exercise of rea.
son, or by mutual concession. It is,
however, a cheering reflection, that cir
cumstances Of this nature cannot pre-
vent community so intelligent as ours
from ultimately arriving at correct con-
clusions. Encouraged by the firm be-
lief of this truth. | proceed to state my
views, so far as may be necessary to
clear understanding of the remedies |
feel it my duty to propose, and of the
reasons by which | have been led to re-
commend them.
The history of trade in the United
States for the last three or four wears,
affords the most convincing evidence
that our present condition is chiefly to
be attributed to overaction in all the de-
partments of business; an over action
deriving, perhaps, its first impulses from
antecedent causes, but stimulated to its
destructive consequences by excessive
issues Of bank paper, and by other fa-
cilities for the acquisition and enlarge
ment of credit. At the commencement
of the year 1884, the banking capital of
the United States, including that of the
national bank then existing, amounted
to about two hundred millions Of dollars;
the bank notes then in circulation to
about ninety-fve millions; and the loans
and discounts of the banks to three hun
dred and twenty-four millions. Between
that time and the first of January, 1886,
being the latest period to which accu-
rate accounts have been received, our
banking capital was increased to more
than two hundred and fifty one millions;
our paper circulation to more than one
hundred and forty millions, and the loans
and discounts to more than four hun
dred and fifty-seven millions. To this
vast increase are to be added the many
millions of credit, acquired by means Of
foreign loans, contracted by the states
and state institutions, and above all, by
the lavish accommodations extended by
foreign dealers to our merchants.
The consequences of this redundancy
of credit, and the spirit of reckless spe-
culation engendered by it, were for
eign debt contracted by our citizens, es-
timated in March at more than thirty
millions Of dollars; the extension to
traders in the interior of our country of
credits for supplies, greatly beyond the
wants of the people the investment Of
thirty-nine and half millions of dollars
in unproductive public lands, in the
years 1885 and 1886; whilst in the pre-
ceding year the sales amounted to only
four and half millions; the creation Of
debts to an almost countless amount, for
real estate in existing or anticipated
cities and villages, equally unproductive,
and at prices now seen to have been
greatly disproportionate to their real
value, the expenditure Of immense
sums in improvements which, in many
cases. have been found to be ruinously
improvident, the diversion to other pur-
suits or much of the labor that should
have been applied to agriculture, there
by contributing to the expenditures Of
large sums in the importation of grain
from European expenditure which,
amounting in 1884 to abouttwo hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. was, in the
first two quarters Of the present year,
increased to more than two millions of
dollars, and, finally, without enumera-
ting other injurious results, the rapid
growth among all classes, and especial
ly in our great commercial towns, of
luxurious habits, founded too often on
merely fancied wealth, and detrimental
alike to the industry, the resources, and
the morals of our people.
1t was impossible that such state of
things could long continue. that the pros
pect of revulsion was present to the
minds of considerate men before it ac-
tually came. None, however, had cor
rectly anticipated its severity. A con-
currence of circumstances inadequate
of themselves to produce such wide-
spread and calamitous embarrassments,
tended SO greatly to aggravate them,
that they cannot be overlooked in con-
sidering their history. Among these
may be mentioned, as most prominent,
the great loss Of capital sustained by
our commercial emporium in the fire Of
December, lS35-a loss, the effects Of
which were underrated at the time, be-
cause postponed for season by the
great facilities Of credit then existing
the disturbing effects, in our CONNER
cial cities, Of the transfers Of the public
moneys required by the deposite law Of
June, 1886; and the measures adopted