Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1837-05-23

"Oh The banks the tcicked banksp Dear
sir, what is the matter7 What have the banks
done7 "Donel sir: why, they won't give
me specie for my bills and in this golden age
of Tom Benton, can't get specie enough for
a lawful tender, on twenty dollar debt l'-
Well, cir perhaps you are Van Buren, man
we won't hurt your sen sibilily by telling you,
in this article, the first causes which have led
to this state Of things it is our purpose 10 ex-
plain bri fly the causes of later occurrence
To begin, then, the banks Of New-York stop
ped specie payments--and probably for rea-
son satisfactory even 10 you, inasn!uch as
government bank, alias pet, led The way
At that time the city was filed with bills of
other banks which had not stopped, and the
Shylocks and harpics bought them up at u
premium Of IRON five TO ten per cent and star
ted off expresses TO drG'O out the specie from
these other banks in boston, Albany, SC. sc.
Now, what would be the fesuIt1 For
instance, turn TO Boston: the banks Of this
city had bills in New York 10 the amount Of
perhaps a million or Two Of dollars--and this
amount in specie would Of course DO immed-
ately drawn out by the horpies. At the same
time Boston had New York bills to an equal
amount, and could not ara,o back single dol.
lar of specie. The effect would be 10 drain
Boston of specie, and carry it 10 New York,
when in fact Boston did not owe her single
ur-pence-ha'Penny To prevent this-,o
defend themselves and the people Of Boston, -
the banks there resolved TO suspend specie pay
mcnts also and the New York shavers, who
had come on just after the banks had shut up
for the day, with their pockets crammed with
bills bought up at large premium, went back
with -" feus in their ears, "-just as they deser-
we'd. Now what is true Of the Boston banks,
is true Of every country bank, We will take
the bank Of Montpelier, for example. Our
merchants had just been TO Boston and bought
their spring goods, carrying Montpelier bills.
Ofcourse large share Of these bills were al
ready redeemed when specie payments were
stopped there, yet perhaps few thousands
were in crcula ton. These would have been
bought up by the sbavcrs, had not this bank al
so stopped paying specie, and the specie would
have been demanded Of the bank the bill-hol-
ders here also would have taken the alarm and
drawn out specie. But this bank could not
diaw on Boston, although it might have bills
enough on foreign banks 10 redeem its own.-
The inevitable effect would be TO strip it Of its
specie, stop its discounts, and perhaps depre-
cate its paper, bringing a large loss, not so
much upon the bank, as upon the farmers and
mechanics who have lis bills. The salvation
of the bank and Of this community, then, de-
mandcd Of it to stop specie payment for the
present. Had not this bank ard the other
state banks pursued this course, the result
would be nothing more nor less than draining
the state Of specie, and gripping all its banks
a misfortune most to be dreaded by the people,
who would have Lov" ti.S 5,va,est oufS.sro.
IL, in this view of the matter, people must
complain-let them complain Of something be-
side the banks: they have evidently acted,
not only in defence Of themselves, but for the
protection of the people.