The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1837-09-16

lhe DINERS; and those who direct them both.
being principally guided by the same views.
and influenced by the same motives. will
be equally ready to stimulate extravagance
Of enterprise by improvidence of credit,
| HOW strikngly IS this conclusion sustained
! by experience. The Bank of the United
States, with the vast powers conferred ON
1t by Congress, did not or could not pre-
vent former and similar embarrassments:
nor has the still greater strength. il has
been SAID TO possess, under its present char
ter, enabled 1t, in the existing emergency.
! to check other Institutions, or even 10 save
ltsell. In Great Britain, where, it has been
seen, the same causes have been attended
! WIN the same effects, national bank, DOS
sesslng powers far greater than are asked
| Tor by the warmest advocates of such an
institution here, has also proved unable 10
prevent an undue expansion of credit. and
the evils that flow from it. Nor can find
any tenable ground for the re-estabishmept
OF national bank, in the arrangement al
Ieged at present to exist in the domestic
exchanges oil the country, or in the facili-
ties 1t may be capable of afTordng them.
Although advantages of this sort were an
tIcIpated when the first Bank of the United
States was created they were regarded as
an Incidental accommodation; not one
which the Federal Government was bound.
or could be called upon to furnish. This
accommodation is now, indeed, after the
iapSe oil not many years, demanded from it
as among It's first duties, and an omission
to aid and regulate commercial exchange.
is treated as ground of loud and serious
complaint Such results only serve to ex-
emplity the constant desire among some of
our citizens, to enlarge the powers of the
GoYernment and extend its control to sub
Jects with which it should not interfere.
They can never justify the creation of an
institution to promote such objects. On
the contrary, they Justly excite among the
community more diigent inquiry into the
character OF those operations of trade, to-
wards which it is desired to extend such
peculiar favOrs.
The various transactions which bear the
name OF domestic exchanges, differ essen
TALLY IN their nature, operation and utility.
One class of them consists of bills of ex-
change, drawn for the purpose of transfer
ring actual capital from one part of the
country to another, or to anticipate the
proceeds OF property actually transmitted
Bills OF this description are highly useful in
the movements of trade, and well deserve
all the encouragement which can rightfuly
be given to them: Another class is made |
up of bills ofeXchange, not drawn to trans |
fer actual capital, nor on the credit of pro-
perty transmitted, but to create fictitious
capital, partaking at once of the character
of notes discounted in bank, and of bank |
notes in circulation, and swelling the mass
of paper credits to a vast extent in the most
objectionable manner. These bills have
formed, for the last few years, large pro-
portion of what are termed the domestic ex-
changes Of the country, serving as the means
of usurous profit, and constituting the most
unsafe and precariOus paper in circulation.
This species of traffic, instead Of being up
held, ought to be discountenanced by the
government and the people.
In transferring its funds from place to {
place, the government is on the same foot
ing with the private citizen, and many re-
sort tothe same legal means. 1t may do
so through the medium of bills drawn by }
itself, or purchased from others; and in c
hese operations it may, in a manner un- i
constitutional and legitimate, IA !
'ilitate and assist exchanges Of individuals !
ounded on real transactions Of trade. The |.
,xtent to which this may be done, and the !,
,est means Of affecting it, are entitled to Il
he fullest consideration. This has been n
bestowed by the Secretary ofthe Treasury,
nd his views will be submitted to you in 1t
lis report. !.
But it was not designed by the constitu- r
ion that the government should assume VI
he management of domestic or foreign ex- al
hange. 1t is indeed authorized to regu- II
ate by law the commerce between the SC
'tates, and to provide general standard 7,
f value, or medium of exchange, in gold af
nd silver; but it IS not its province to aid la
ldviduals in the transfer of their funds, III
therwise than through the facilities afford W
d by the Post Office Department. As =
lstly might it be called on to provide for ~ y,
le transportation of their merchandise. r,
'hese are operations of trade. They Ia
ught to be conducted by those who are ce
lterested in them, in the same manner that tn
ne incidental difficulties of other pursuits eff
re encountered by other classes of citizens. pc
uch aid has not been deemed necessary in "a
ther countries, Throughout Europe, the ~