Piney Woods planter and Amite union literary reflector. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1838-1838, 1838-09-08

pCltOljilSAs VI IhC NONubAJs thAo ID |
the safest basis on which it can rest. |
If great National Bank be establish
ed, having, as it must, the mastery of
the whole ban,sing system Of the Uni
on, it will be strong enough to pres
cribe the rates Of exchange, and drive
competition out of the market, not by
reducing TIE price, but by wave oil
its sceptre.
Fit were to indicate to the State
banks that exchange was considered
its own appropriate harvest field, in
which it was not agreeable to have a
competitor, they must necessarily sub
nit to the will of This legal superior,
and withdraw fromthe business. Would
it be safer to have exchange regulated,
and the price fixed by the president Of
bank, whose first object is to make
as much money as possible, then by
the general laws of trade, which know
no selfshness, and have no fayorites?
Not only would it be more safe, but it
can SCARCELY be doubted that a gener-
al competition among bonks and indi-
yiduals. now thai the whole process
and the necessary machinery is well
understood, would secure to the coun-
| try lower rates.
The same state Of things. renders a
Bank less useful to the Government,
as an agent to transfer its funds from
one section of the Union to another.
than it was when the late Bank of the
United States was established, and fol
many years afterwards. Competent
agents for this purpose may now BIZ
found in the State banks and in private
/ bankers; and these facilities are multi
plying even more rapidly than the
growth Of our country. This argu-
ment in favor of 2. National Bank has
therefore, ceased to have the weight
to which it was formerly entitled, and
goes but little way to coanterbalance
the many fatal objections to such an
institution-H can only be- said, with
truth, that it would save some trouble
to the officers and clerks of the Trea-
sury Department; and that is the only
just extent of the argument.
The same reasons which oppose the
establishment of a Bank of the United
States, are equally hostile to Trea-
sury Bank, or any machinery in the ma
ture Of Il bank, attached to the Urea
sury Department. The former would
be the creation Of an independent and
irresponsible power in the country
whose inclination and interest would
generally prompt it to support friend
i " Executive, and whose power would
almost certainly be great enough to
overthrow one which was not. The
latter would at all times ct in concert
with the Executive, with power to give
him strength in proportion to its cap
lital and the extent Of it machinery.
\ Both alike arc calculated to enlarge
Executive power; and although a Trca
sury Bank would in theory, at least, be
more comfortable by the popular will
| constituting part of the Government
both are to be dreaded and rejected
alike by those who would preserve the
simplicity and-purity -four institutions,
But as we do not know Of any advo.
cate, in the Republican party, ofs
Treasury Bank, though such scheme
J is most unjustly imputed to them, We
f deem it unnecessary to multiply argu
, ments against it.
The cheapness of our system of Go
! vernment, compared with the monarch
t ical systems Of the old world, has beer
J one Of its chief recommendations to thu
! favor of mankind. This is one Of it
r characteristics, which every Republic
} an will strive TO maintain. lnjudici
Gus legislation, and the spirit Of specu
: lation in merchandise and public lands
had, within few Of the last years
7 brought into the Treasury aredundan
/, cy Of revenue. AS natural conse
Q quence, this inhx has been followed By
t loose and extravagant appropriation
b by Congress, and an increased expen
a diture. 1t is an inevitable law Of on
) system Of Government, and perhaps Q
!, everv other, that lift collects much, !
I must expend much. 1t could not b
4 safely tolerated, lift were practicable
& lthat the Government sheuld collct
h hundreds Of millions from the peopl'
! to be retainedby itiO the shape ofm'
c ney or property. II must always 9,
Is pend what il collects eIhe only q
n fcctiye remedy, therefore, for % {,
II travagant expenditure, is to reduce sh
l-Isupply. For the accomplishments,