The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1839-08-06
..MILIE AND BANK REFoRM,,
July 20, 1899.

q nc ralyins cry &c the VNn Buren, presses in
VermL;., ,,.,. i"c, h' freauency OF its repetition,
it might be supposed thai ascs yes su>tthing very
imposing about it. NJ Smile, the Tors o-n.4,1s..
for Governor, n men Der OF the last Senate ,at,
as the question Of the re-charlcr of Banks came
before that body, his action upon il doubtless re-
fleets his opinions Of "bank reform" Oct 10
"The Senate resumed The consideration OF the
bill entitled IAN net to incorporate the bank Of Cal
edonia.
Mr. Smile moved that said bill be committed To
n member for the purpose Of being amended by the
addition of the following sections;
"Be IL further enacted, That the private property
Of the stockholders shall be holden TO redeem III
bills issued by the corporation
"Be hfiIrthsr enacted, Tha, any stakeholder in
sid corporation shall be nj LIBERTY, nj the ex-
piration OF the charter Of this oct me ton cd, to
WITHDRAW from said corpol alton, and upon
suob withdrawal. said corporation SHALL PAY
SUCH sTOCKigLDERF ok HIS SHARE Of
the capital stock. an amount eehal 10 me original
cost OF saids siock
The question was taken and decided IN tbs reg
alive.
There is something a little captivating in this
anne ndment at first sight But upon an examina.
ton OF its true meaning and impor' the conclusion
is irresistible, that il means 10 add provisions TO
Bank charters allowing the ,ockhollers sloindie,
rob and cheat the holders of the paper of banks
WHICH ~ bS ipOIutou, according 10 tnClr
charters Mark tho provisions--The private prop.
erty of the stockholders Is holden; but when the
charter expires, and the bills Of the bank unre-
deemed, any stakeholder may Withdraw from tho
corporation, and receive from il the amount Of his
stock and his private property is released from the
liability be holden for the redemption of the bills
8r.hc tlut Tho corrov'iion then must redeem
tho bills. Who what is The corporations Why,
it may consist OF the corporate means of the bank
and one, ten twenty stockholders, and these men
perhaps poor as Lazarus The bank may have
lost third of its capital thirds of tho stock
holders may be rich mon; they sell to the corpo-
ration their two thirds, and receive the remaining
two thirds Of the capital stock for pay. Tho cor
poraon then consists Of The ba lance of poor stock
holders, aud not cent Of capital to redeem lis is
sues Especially, ifthe bank in bad cond.
ton, and the stockholders dishonest, would there
be all the inducement desirable for the
who possessed private property 10 pursue this
course, and swindlc the bill hoders-and do il 20
according to MIR SMILES notions of "bank reform"
without violating the charter!
We have a case in point, that illustrates the e..
fects Of such "reform' with the exception that
the corporation was not obliged to pay out the cap.
ital of the bank to buy up the stock of It's owners
Some Yeas ago in New Hampshire, there was
established 'the Marlborough Bank" according to
tho charter of which the private property of the
stockholders was holden for the redemption of its
bills The bank failed and many of its bills remain.
unredeemcd TO this day. The stockholders possess.
e9 available private property when the explosion
occurred. Every bank that has been chartered in
N. II. according TO Mr. Smiles "reform'' has failed
aud robbed the public, while only one since bank.
! ing commenced in the State, established on the
specie basis, has shared the same fate We doubt
very much If ono be found in all N III.
who would vote for chartering n bank upon the
"Smilie reform" system. The State is satisfied
with their experience in such refoEm, and SINCE to
this day, they have not asked for its revival Wed.
ded, the State is TO Van Barenism, they ask only
for the specie basis and the specie in the vaults for
the redemption OF bank issues.
Another illustration. When the Windsor bank
EXPLODED il held that had been discounted TO
Thomas Emerson, for the payment Of which his
private property was legally holden. He nominal
ly held vast amount of private property. But il
could not be secured TO cancel his notes. He was