Western courier. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-09-14

mellt III Telallon Tue currency, would, IN
the excited state Of public feeling produ-
ced by tie occasion, fail to attribute to
lthat policy any extensive embarrassment
1 in the momcntary affairs of the country.
The matter :hus became connected with
the passions and conflicts of party; opin-
ions were more or less affected by poiti-
cal considerations; and differences We're
prolonged which might otherwise have
been determined by an appeal to facts, by
the exercise Of reason, or by mutual con-
scession. Ii is, however, a cheering re-
fection, that circumstances of this nature
cannot prevent community so intelligent
as ours from ultimately arriving at cor.
rect conclusions. Encouraged by the
firm belief of this truth, proceed to state
so far as may be necessary to a clear un-
derstanding of the remedies | feel it my
duly to propose, and the reasons by which
have been led to recommend them.
The history of trade in the United
States for the last three or four years,
affords the most convincing evidence that
our present condition IS chiefly to be at
trbuted to over action in all the depart
ments of business; an over action deri-
wing, perhaps, its first impulses from in~
tecedent causes, but stimulated to Its de-
structive consequences by excessive is
sues Of bank paper, and by other facili-
ties for the acquisition and enlargement Of
credit. At the commencement Of the
year 1884, the banking capital of the
U. States, including that Of the National
bank then existing, amounted to about
200 millions of dollars; the bank notes
then in circulation to about 95 millions;
and the loans and discounts Of the banks
to three hundred and twenty-four millions.
Between that time and the first of January,
1886, being the latest period to which
accurate accounts have been received,
our banking capita was increased to more
than two hundred fifty one million; our
paper circulation to more than one hund-
red and foity millions, and loans and dis
counts to more than four-hundred and
fifty millions. To this vast increase are
to be added the many millions of credit,
acquired by means of foreign loans, con-
tracted by the States and State institute
ions, and, above all, by the lavish ac-
commodations extended by foreign dea-
ers to our merchants.
The consequences Of this redundancy
, of credit and Of the spirit Of reckless
: speculation epgendered by it, were for.
eign debt contracted by our citizens, esti-
mated in March last at more than thirty
millions of dollars; the extension to tra-
4 ders in the interior -four country of cred
. its for supplies, greatly beyond the wants
:. Of the people; the investment of thirty
nine and half millions of dollars in un-
productive lands, in the years 1885 and
1886, whilst in the preceding year the
sales amounted to only a millions; the
, creation of debts, to an almost countless
amount, for real estate in existing or an
ticipated cites or villages, equally unpro-
ductive, and at prices now seen to have
been greatly disproportionate to their re-
/ al value; the expenditures of immense
sums in improvements which, in many
cases, lave been found to be ruinousIy
improvident, the diversion to other pur-
suits of much labor that should have been
applied to agriculture, thereby contribu-
ting to the expenditure of large sums in
+ the importation of grain from Europe
an expenditure which, amounting in 1884
f to about two hundred and fifty thousand
: do lars, was, in the first two quarters of
the present year, increased to more than
! two millions of dollars, and finally, with
out enumerating other injurious results,
the rapid growth among all the classes,
, and especially in our great commercial
towns of luxurious habits, founded too Of
ten on merely fancied wealth, and detri-
mental alike to the industry, the rcsour-
ces, and the morals of our people.
1t was impossible that such a state of
things could long continue, that the pros
pcct Of revulsion was present in the minds
of considerate men before il actually
came. None, however, had correctly
anticipated its severity. A concurrence
Of circumstanc s inadequate of themselves
to produce such wide spread and calamit-
Gus embarrasments, tending SO greatly to
aggravate them that they cannot be over
looked in considering their history. A.
mong these may be mentioned, as most
prominent, the great loss of capital sus.
tanned by our commercial emporium in
the fire of December, 1854 loss, the
effects Of which were underrated, at the
time, because postponed for season, by
the great facilities Of credit then existing;
the disturbing effects Of our commercial
cities of the transfers Of the the public
monies required by the deposito law of
June, 1886; and the measures adopted by
the foreign creditors Of our merchants TO
reduce their debts, and to withdraw from
the United States large portion Of our
specie.
/. However unwilling our citizens may
heretofore have been to assign to these
causes the chief instrumentality in produ-
cling the present state of things, the de-