The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1838-05-16

hesnhPnuh 81 specie payments
by The hanks. lls whole protested OBJ.
lIseI Is the collection and disbursement Of
the public revenue. Some Of he friends,
indeed. say, that when il shall go into
Operation. II will, Incidentally. produce
favorable effect on The currency. BY re.
sirsInIng The issue Of bank paper. But
Others press IL az If its effect vas 10 Be
the final OEeT,hrow Of all banks. and the
introduction Of an exclusive metallic cur.
renry Tor all The uses Of the country.
Are We 10 understand, then, that il Is
intended. by means Of which this is the
hrss. 10 nd the country Of all banks, IS
being but so many nuIsances. and 10 abo-
iish all paper currency whatever!
Or Is II expected. On the contrary, that
after this system shall be adopted Tor the
use Of the government. there will still be-
paper currency in the country for the
use Of the people!
And IL there shall sIill be paper cur
reney, will that currency consist Of ire
deemsble Government paper, or Of con-
verIible bank notes, such as have circu-
lated heretofore! These questions must
be answered. before we can Judge aeeu-
raIely OF the operations OF this bill.
As to an exclusive metallic currency,
sir. the administration on this point is re-
gularly Janus faced. ouI doors. aud o.
mons The people. il shows itself " all elm.
quaint. all in gold" There. every thing
Is tn be hard money-no paper rags
no delnsiye crcdiis-no bank monopolies
--no trust in paper Of any kind. But in
the Treasury Department. and in the
House Of Congress, we see another as
Pec,--a mixed appearance, partly gold
and partly paper; gold for The Govern
menl and paper for the People. The
small soice which is heard here, allows
he absolute necessity Of paper Of some
suri. and To some extent But the shouts
IA the community demand The deslrue-
,ion of all banks. and the final extermi-
nation Of all paper circulation.
To the People. The lion rOars against
paper money in the lnudness and ierror
Of his natural voIce: but 10 members of
CoGsTpss. he is more discreet; lest he
should frighien them on. Of their wits, he
here restrains and moduiales, aad roars
" as gently as any sucking dove. or a. il
were. any nightingale" The impracsi.
cabilIIy Of an exclusive metallic currency,
the absurJiIy OF attempting any such 1hlug
in a country like this. are 50 manifest.
that nobody here undertakes 10 support II
by any reasoning or argument. All that
is said in its favor, is general denuncia.
lio1 Of paper, general cutlery against the
banks. and defamation against existing
institutions. full Of sound and fury. sig
nlfying nothing.
The moment any one considers il. lie
secs how ridiculous any such attempt
would be. An exclusive metallic circu-
lalion for the second commercial country
an earth. in The nineteenth century! Sit.
you might as we'll propose TO abolish CON.
merce altogether.
The currency Of England is estimated
at sixty millions sterling: aud il is Mr..
MeCulIoch's calculation. that If this cur
rency were all gold. allowing only one
quarter Of one per cent. for wear Of me.
tails. the annual expense. attending such
a currency would be three millions and
quarter a year. or nearly five per cent.
upon the whole. With us, this charge
would be much greater. The loss Of ca
pital would be more, owing TO the higher
rates Of interest; and besides all this. is
The COS, Of transportation, which IN a
country So extensive as ours. would he
vast. and not easily calculated. We
should also require. propOttiunally, more
specie than is requisite in England. be-
Cause our system Of exchange. BY means
Of bills Of exchange, is al present, and
would be, under such system as is pro-
posed. much less perfect and convent
en-, than that Of England. Besides. the
English metallic circulation is mostly
gold, gold being in England the standard
metal. With Us, silver and gold both are
made standards, at a fixed relation; and II
we should succeed TO keep this relation so
true as To preserve both Of the precious
metals among US, (which indeed is no.
very prubable,) our circulation would be
still more expensive and cumbrous. from
the quantity of silver which i. would con-
tain. The silver in the world is estima-
ted to be fifty times that Of gold in a.
mount. and consequently something more
than three times in value. l(bo.h should
circulate, therefore. equally, in proper.
ton TO value. the currency would be
three parts silver. and one gold.
Now, sir. the ANIMAL expense Of such
a circulation upon the basis Of Mr.. Me-
Culioch's estimate. would exceed the
whole annual expenditure made for our
army and navy. Consider. sir. the a.
mount OF actual daily payments made in
the country. II is difficult. to estimate ii,
and quite impossible to ascertain it. with
any accuracy. Blu. we can form some
notion Of it. by the daily amount OF pay
men,s in the banks in some Of the cities