Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-09-27

1he people nave no ioea how large pro.
portion of our cotton crop accumulates
every year, in the hands Of spectators. on
both sides of the Atlantic. Twas Informed
by one of the first bankers 10 England, that
it was a common occurrence, for cotton
broker, with capital Of E20, 900 to have
on hand cotton to the amount of f200, 600.
The matter 10 even worse in this country.
A speculator, who can by any means, get
credit in one of our banks, for $40, 600, by
repeating the operations of ofpurchasing, ship
ping. and drawing rapidly, can soon have
in his possession cotton to the amount Of
$500. 900 resting on no other basis than
the original bank loan Of $4,000. While
trade is seemingly prosperous, money abun-
dant, and loans easily obtained, this accu.
mutation of cotton in the hands Of specula.
tors and brokers, undoubtedly tends to ca.
hance the price. But the moment there 0e.
ours pressure in the money market, and
The banks have to cali in their debtsand cur.
tail their discounts, the whole Of this accu.
mulated mass ofco.ton is necessarily forced
upon the market at once, in quantity, three
or four times exceeding the existing demand
for It /; unavoidably producing an extreme.
and unnatural depression in the price. Il IS
much more the interest Of the cotton plan.
ters and regular merchants, that the price Of
cotton should be steady and uniform, than
that it should be occasionally very high. But
mere cotton spectators have the same inter
est in the fluctuations in the price of cotton'
as money brokers have in the arrangement
and fluctuations Of the currency.
Iwas very much surprised, therefore.
y hen saw that your intelligent correspond
ent, q" 4 Cotton Planter" so very widely
mistook the matter, as to ascribe to the
J" Cotton Circular" design to force a
confederacy between the banks and the
SPECTATORS ? Heaven forbid the banus Of
such union. Your correspondent would
have come much nearer the mark, If he
had supposed that abou. nine.tenths OF the
assaults made upon that paper, have pro-
cecded directly or indirectly from this latter
class of persons.
No banking operations can be more ie.
climate than that proposed by the circular.
Besides the stability and security It will I'M
par. to the banks, it prescribes safe prac-
tical limit upon bank circulation. A cur.
rency never can become redundant, which
is issued upon the principle proposed. for
every dollar Of circulation thus issued,
would represent the actual annual income
of the country. This would not be mere
nominal repr senta:ion, as is the case when
il is said that bank bills represent specie.
The cotton is actually there to the full a.
mount of The bills issued and advanced upon
it, when every body knows that the specie
IN the vaults of all the banks does not o.
mount 10 one.fourth oftheir aggregate cir.
culation. So that, in, fact, every paper
dollar represents only twenty-five cents 10
specie. shall be very naturally asked,
if these are your views ofour system Of
banking, how is 1t that you signed a poper
proposing the issue Of post notes payable as
remote periods 7" answer, that my name
was signed to the Circular, by a friend sev-
eral weeks after left New York, upon the
implied authority, derived from very
strong and intimate personal friendship. and
from my known concurrence in the general
principles and objects developed in that doc.
sment. The issue of post noles, he no doubt
considered matter of detail, which the
Convention would adopt or reject as its de.
liberate judgment should dictate. / am
very sorry it was suggested in the Circular,
as it has given rise to much of the oppose
ton 10 call Of Convention, and is a meas
ure to which Ishould, as at present advised,
be decidedly opposed. ! do not think the
proposed post notes could possibly be made
to answer the purpose ofa currency, and as
cotton planter, ! am sure they would not
answer my purpose.
As TO the sixty million cotton Bank,
which some lively imagination has foisted
into the Circular, The people of South Caro-
lima do no, require to be informed, that |
am the very last man in the State. who
would give it the slightest countenance.
They cannot but recoiiect, that in my last
annual message-as Chief Magistrate Of
South Carolina, used the very strongest
language in opposition to the chartering OF
gigantic Bank then projected, urging in
opposition to it the general redundancy Of
the currency, and predicting the eommer-
cialexplosion which took place few months
afterwards, to those who we're utterly dea.
10 the warning. That bank was chartered
by an overwh Inning majority those who
| are now for U. States Bank, and those
who are for Sub Tresury system. seem.
ing to vie with each other, Who should con.
tribute most, to swell the torrent in its favor,
while | should have stood solitary and
alone." if the venerable Judge CoLcocx,
whose loss South Corolina has so much
cause to deplore, and few others, had not
stood firmly by my 81 'e. 1t would be ex-
traordinary indeed, II under these circum.