Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1837-09-08
From the National Intelligencer.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE MIXED
CURRENCY OF THE U. S.

are BANKRUPTCIES, arresting the ordinary pur-
snits of business ruinous diminutlon IN
prces. n want of employment, and a great
individual distress. This calamity has come
upon us. Still the people, with some ex-
ceptions, and the Governments OF the coun-
try, will be able to pay what they owe
The national resources remain the same
But the fall in prices, and the want Of buy
ers, lessen the present ability to pay.
The calamity has fallen with unusual Sc
verify upon the large cities. II will soon
overspread the country None can escape.
1t will, at least, bend whom il does not
break
In times like these, the mercantile class is
the first 10 be stricken down. And when |
ever this class bends or breaks the whole
people will feel the shock Commerce per
ishes with credit The merchant is the fac
TOR literally, the agent OF the farmer. the
planter, aud the mechanic. The merCnan,
exchanges, at home and abroad, the surplus
productions of the earth, OF the sea, and OF
human skill II is BY and through the mer-
camille class that the profits Of labor are
made the most available 10 the producer
He. therefore who seeks to destroy the
credit Of the merchants is an enemy TO the
farmers and mechanics. And, whether he
issues his denunciaions from the editors
desk, or utters them from the husliDgs, he is
the bitierest foe to the poor man. whose In
Dor is his capital and who depends upon his
daily employment for his daily bread.
This prostration of credit and trade was
looked for Those who have watched the
succession of causes for some years past,
have known full well that calamities, of the
l.. II han 4 taky
of Nature that like causes produce like ei-
fects But, as no one knew all the secret
workings of these causes, so none could
foresee the suddenness or the magnitude of
the CALAMITY. We all feel il, or shall feel il
The poison has been infused. 1t will affect
blood. muscle, and fibre. No member ofthe
body polite can escape its influence. The
merest drone, who uses his income wholly
to CRAFTY his palate, or his passions, may
find it needful to shorten the allowance of
both-while the business man, the debtor,
and the day-laborer, will feel il more or less
intensely, and may be thankful, perhaps, if
they can escape hunger and prison.
We have had surfeit of demagogues.
enough of hattery, and too much OF folly
Let the passions, good or bad, alone. They
have been played upon TOO successfully
Every appeal 10 our passions argues that we
lack Judgment, or that our judgment is not
TO be trusted. Every honest man, in an
honest cause. speaks to the sense. and relies
upon the judgment, of his fellow-men.
We need the truth, the honest truth; and
we must have il, or il may be long before
commercial health and soundness will again
return to invigorate and bless us and our
country. Above all. we want political agents
who will act for the country FIRST for selfand
the party last We must have sensible,
fearless agents; who, when they commit err
rors. honest errors, if you please, will ad-
NIT Them and correct them. He, whether
his place be high or low, who refuses, from
fear, or pride, or obstinacy. TO correct his err
Iors can be neither an honest man nor pa
trot. All such are unworthy Of our trust
They promise, but 10 deceive.
We had sound currency--a currency
as uniform as human means can well make
il. The domestic exchanges ranged from
par to one and a half per cent. We were
promised better currency. What is il
now? Is il sound with one part OF the cur
rency eight or ten per cent below the other
Is it uniform with the domestic exchanges
ranging from fioo TO fifteen per cent?
Something is obviously wrong. This
wrong will be found in The action of Govern
ment, in the credit system, in the rashness
of individual dealers, or in the combined ac-
ton OF all of them.
On a careful examination, however, il will
be perceived that much the greatest share
of the wrong is to be charged to the Federal
and state Governmets We do not question
their motives. But the bad effects of their
action every man feels--and every honest
man admits. In its proper place. we shall
prove it TO the satisfaction OF every one who
does not hate the truth
Our currency consists OF coin aud bank
bills Both are alike money. Each circu-
lates. is received, and pays debts as money.
When we mean to distinguish the one from
the other, we call the metallic part coin,
specie, or hard money; and The paper we
call bank bills. or soft money. Since the
charter OF the late United States Bank ex-
pired. all that portion Of the currency made
up Of bank bills is the separate creation Of
wentyseven sovereign powers. Congress
authorizes the issuing OF bank bills in the
District Of Columbia, and in the Territories;
and each of the twenty six States does the
like for ITSELF IL therefore, it be admitted
that Congress had the power to create the
banks in the District of Columbia, and that
each State had the same power to create the
banks within its limits, then it follows that
the bills of these authorized banks are as
much the constitutional currency as are the
gold and silver coins, fresh from the mint
The fact that there is no power, either in