The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-17


erias nor the laws for such a consuIninalion. Yor
may do infinite mischief but you will never do any good
iou may break up business, aud RUN the industrious
classes, but you viii do no good to any class excep
sch as know now TO proht by confusion and speculate
on the mIslortunes Of their fellow men
lie said at the very tnne thu, strange order was is
sued exchange already sufficiently high against The
Southwest and West, have made the transmission
Of specie Profitable operation. This was by tho
Senate when they with such unannlty refused 10 take
the responsibility OF the The effect fore,
seen first TO RAISE the exchanges, and then break
them up, Why, sir said he, If the whole currency OF
the country had been specie, any measure opposing the
force of Government 10 the LAYS OF trade the practical
ELECT OF winch should be To require the actual TRANSMITS
so of specie against the OF exchange would far
I doubie the exchanges upon mathematical principle.
10y requiring two ransts of specie instead Of one. So
true Is the operation OF this cple that a,bI-
tray reqa!ston that the paper money alone Of the At
\ lantic seaboard should be received for public lands
would have produced heavy effect upon the exchanges
1 because IN the exchanges IL would have added The
wrong side of the account
But, sir when We come to the actual operation in
question; when we not only take money fIon
point where II Is due, and send il to point from
which II Is owlngo take II from the creditor aud send
I II 10 the debtor, but perform this rough and au-com
mercil operation by taking away the very basis upon
which hseslxhs OF the currency rests yon produce ef
ecs that can never be arthmetlcay calculated, and Of
which no adequate conception be formed, except
/
duced DO the measure the commercial seaboIrd aud
those sections upon which the WAS intended
10 operate. An exact ratio would contract the whole
currency IN the money moley market, from which the
specie Is thus drawn, m the proportion which paper
based specie, thereby contracting SIX millions for
every TINS ahsactcd, if the proportion be fs pa
per dollars based on one Of specie Bat we all know
lhat such measures do not operate ~ exact, but
loose ratio, from the prehenslon, the couson pane,
and alarm which they create, aud the commercial
which they cut of This measure cot of. To
great extent the OF The Atlantic merchants
the of dcbf due then from the West
and Southwest, Tor It not only unnaturally sent their
money from them. bnt prevented any coming 10 Them
But determining TO have some friends TO the measure
it has been insisted that although have ruined the
Atlantic merchants, and done mury creditors, 1t
was great blessing TO the people OF the West. These
people, however, II seems, not easily gnlled hy
these forced blessings for after full trial Of 1t, their
representatives with great unannuty. voted last SESSION
repeal it The able speech of OF their representa-
uves (Mr. Walker) at the last session explained TO us
the and operation Of this blessing and the legIs
atuIe Of his state had by resolution unanimously
tanned hun. He did not know how grateful his friend
felt for these blessings forced upon hun by the Exccu-
tive, and which had contributed so largely TO bankrupt
his constituents; but Tor himself, Mr. X. SAID, ito
rustic prase) he would not like TO be jnnnccd even
with champagne,
But what was its 'hsppy effect" upon the West and
Southwest, whilst it ruined the scaboard Was the
debtor aided whilst the Crc0ltOr was oppressed Not
all. Whilst this specie on the voyage OF It's
exile and after reached the deposltc banks, far as
the commercial and planting interests were concerned
II might well have been buried IN the middle OF the
earth or carried back to the mines OF Mexico. Did
il and the merchant in paying his Northern and Eastern
debts No, it immediately increased the cost 10 HIM
OF such payment. BY increasing ihs rate of exchange
whilst the time, closed upon HIM all the usual
resources of obtaining money This increase IN The rate
Of exchange Increased the danger of a demand upon
the banks by the merchants whilst they had also TO an
swcr the demands Of their b-hoders, who might want
to purchase the public lands What Northern exchange
they had exhausted in reducing their crcnla-
ton, whilst they cold not prudeny do any business
that would place their issues III the hands OF the
business part Of the community, AGAINST The b"st
ness part If The con,muHy boih merchants NM Plant
erx, Mcy sudie,dy and tfectuaIty closed They
could not pay out paper for fear specie would he de-
mandcd for II, for the reasons before named lhey
could not paw specie discount Tor merchants, be-
cause the hirh Of exchange and difficulty OF pro-
curing 1t any price would have started |, back IN
cnty -four hours The section from which had been
d ,aturaly exed They could no, pay out specie 10
the planters for they owed the merchants and us destl.
nation would have been the same If. then. they did
any business all they do It with the purchasers
of the public lauds which they were secure OF re-
turn OF The specie deposites. Accordingly they favored
tins class Of customers, order TO do any business at
a, ALL aud the President hrnse IN his Message, refers
TO the circular operation by which they contract ed many
u
one popular catch 10 recommend this measure has been
that It was aimed at land speculation.
The measure Mr.. 4. said seemed to have been
attended with unmitigled mischief Even the sales
of public lands had most prob by been increased by
it, b fore the suspension Of specie payments. there
was no o,her way Of accounting for the heavy
amount of those sales, after the mania for Specula-
lion had already begun TO decline Money became
dear and difficult TO procure, anu all the pubic ldhds
in market very much culled and selected The de-
positc banks in the new States had been devoted al
most exclusively to the use of spectators as before
stated, and, moreover, great numb'r were ihduced
10 go into the business ater the adoption OF me or
der who Otherwise would not have thought Oh II
Ours he said is an enicrprSing, speculative People;
and whenever Government co!nnl'S an error or
adopts an unusual measure, they basin TO 'nihk
what can be made of il in financial poinl OF view.
Accordingly, the impression was very general ihai
This measure would greatly check purchases, and
that the monopoly of those who would RAISE specie
for the purpose would be much more Vaiuap le man
if no step had been taken TO destroy conpeliloh'-
He said he knew of several himself who collected
their capital turned ii into specie, and went INTO the
Business who, but for the order, would not nave
thought of it, For these reasons, an intelligent gen
tlcman from the West had given II TO HIM as ms
opinion that The sales had been much increased ny
me on,ration of the order and he (Mr. h. beev-
"a il H. then it were so desirable to check the
sales of the public lands, the object had failed even
the President acknowledges, i'll the Message, tha'
Tho effect of the order in that particular had beer
oycr-cStimated But this was not tho object OF the
orirr The object Of the order was TO prop up
few lettering duposite hanks, against the combined
blt Saluarv operation of The distribution law, Gnd
heavy exchange The President or his advisers
saw that some of the depo,c blnkS in the West ana
Sou,h-we, had expanded enormously, and were IN
a prccarious condition, and exchange already suih-
cienIy high TO endlnger demands on them for spc
Gle: and he feared that when asked iora portion OF
the public money, they would explode, and give
riumph TO his enemies by the failure OF his tavoriie
experiment He determined TO sustain them al ev-
cry hazard and without sufficient regard 10 the
interests of the people Did he succeed in this Oh
cc No On the contrary, in this last grand coup
dcat or rather coup dargcRt to sustain his expert
mcnf BIZ snccnrinw a few to,tcring pet banks, he