Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1840-10-15

"broken to the hope" As the Bank Unexpectedly
raised prices, it deploraby reduced them--and by
species of deception, it managed the people along
without giving them true knowledge OF IT'S secret m
fuences-ln ISL matters had become still worse Aif
Niles says on the 18th Of September of that year
| "a gentleman in Western Virginia, directs the he.
gster be stopped because he used to pay for II an
nually, with barrel of -four but three will not d"
IT now. Another, miller in Ohio, on paying IN ad-
10 my agent observed that he had sold tour bar
res Of -four 10 0btdn the of five dollars which
RENTED.
The Weekly Register Of May the 9th, 152l gives
the following quotation from ga late Ptsburg Nercu
ry" of that year: Flour per barrel 81; whishey 10
cents gallon; good merchantable pine boards 20 cents
per hundred feet; sheep and calves 81 head iore-i'
goods al The old prices One hnshcl and han OF %eat
VIII buy two pounds OF coffee barrel Of -four w'buy
pound of tea twelve and half barrels Will buy one
yard of supertne broadcloth."
DO talk of hard times now; Do want 4 /.
5 Bank 10 improve prices and make money plenty
What gross nbsurdtty These authorities not 10
thing Of their character. After four years full play,
the effects of the late Baak-and how can It be-
possible that the people will rcfus" 10 profit from the
plain teachings Of true history They cannot so re-
fuse unless they have driven reason from It's empire,
and abandoned the habit of thinking for themselves.
Hoir aras II IN lS22' Mr.. Niles states in his jour.
nal of the 10Th Of June of that year, that fortytwo
merchants of Boston had failed within the period of a
month awe regret 10 learn, (says paper OF that
date printed at Salem, Mass,) that failures continue
to take place almost daily at Boston, OF them OF
persons extensively engaged in commerce. We are
informed that within the last two months there have
been more than eighty failures in that city
The distress continued in 1923 and l-2i-and bad
increased TO such appalling extent that It became
the leading theme in speeches by members OF Con-
gress Even Henry Clay himself whom the Bank
party in Nashville have so recently worshpped, IN his
great Tariff speech in 1871, SAID
ain casting cur eyes around US the most prominent
circumstance which fixes attention and challenges
deepest regret IS the general distress rhch per-
rades the tch0ie country 1t is indicated by the dImn
shcd exports of native produce; by the depressed and
reduced state of our foreign navigation BY our dimn
ished commerce: BY SUCCESSIVE, UNTHRASH-
ED CROPS OF GRAIN, PERlSlllNG IN OUR
BARNS AND YARDS FOR WANT OF MAR
kET BY the alarming dimIrution Of our circulating
mediums by the numerous bankruptcies, not limited TO
the trading classes but extended TO all classes OF socc
": By IN universal complaint OF want Of employment
aud u consequent reduction Of the wages OF labor by
the pursuit after public stations, not Tor the
sake Of the honors and performance OF their duties, but
rs means of private subsistence: by the reluctant
sort the prrous Of paper money; by the ntcrvcn
ton of cgslaon in the delicate relation between debtor
and CREDITOR and above all, By Mc ior anil depressed
suite Of rni"e of almOSt cey description q me "h0te
average, SUNK NOT LESS THAN FIFTY PER
CENT, WITHIN A FEW YEARS.
Here son have ii from Mr.. Clay own lips. What
was the prime cause of all this: The United States
Bank was then in operation and mad been IN operation
for "a few years at east-seven years of It's charter
had already expired. Such then had been the effect
Of the ssgrcat Regulator IN lc2i. But Mr. Clay con-
tintcs 10 show more gifts effects In that speech
he said
's'rhe truth is, that class OF society suffers more
in the starnatiOn of business than the abonng class
That is necessary effect OF the depression OF agricu
,,,r. IL nal of he 4
wages Of able bodied men vary fKOM fN ~
EIGHT DOLLARS PER MONTH"; and such has
been the want of employment, IN some parts OF inc
Unon that instances have been unirequent OF men
rOrLip" rcev for tie mcaaS Of subsistence IT the
r0ycs Of hbor here anil EnoiaHd IRE c0mparta they
viI he found NOT TO BE ESSENTIALLY DIFF
FERENT
After all ,nis is It not shameful for the advocates Of
National Bank 10 attempt constantly 10 deceive nose
who diligently work the dusty labor field, and the
mrchau c's shop into belief That National Bans
would improve tneir fortunes, Shameful IL 49, beyond
all comparison But let us pass on 10 l-23
Mr. Goucc in his history Of banking says, that IN
l-25. "bctwccn August and December there were
6iy failures in New York. and thirty in the Southern
cites Towards the close Of the year the pressure tor
money in Boston was very alarming Many OF The
Banks were in grea, difficulties Some of them broke
and such were the straits of the United States Bank
that one the directors talked publicly on the exchange
of Philadelphia of the expedlency of suspendng specie
payments.
At this time the country under Wing admin
s,ration o. O. Adams but still the distress con-
timed Mr.. Riddle, then President of the United
States Bank, said in communication published some
time afterwards
"Thc fall of .25 was probably the most disastrous
ncriod in the financial history of England.-t was
then that the wild spcculations in American mines aud
the still wilder specuations IN American cotton recolrh
upon England, and spread over It extensive rum In
m. midst Of this suffering it required little TO produce
Inn lvth nr n a 81 o.
which, Tor A time threatened to involve all interests IN
confusion was probably, at no period Of Eng
yh hjstory 50 intense aad general distress as there
was III December, l-2o.
"sNow, the very same storm winch mus nroke on
ENGLAND pa sscd over this country few weeks before;
il was on the eve of producing exactly the same re-
suits and certainly never felt any uneaslness about
the Banks of this country, except on that occasion.
II will be seen that Mr.. Bidde not willing TO
admit that his bank produced the distress, nor was he
inclined to charge 1t upon the Administration but ne
charged the speculatons of the English, as his
Bank has more recently tried to pack IT'S SINS oil upon
the Opium Trade Nevertheless the fact that the dis
ress continued at that time is admitted by him most
clearly.
And now for l-26 Mr.. Gouge, says
"Thc effects of the necessary reaction were elt
rouohou The greater part of the year lc26, in ge-
neral duncss OF business In the Southern States,
the consequences were most trying, as me h9n Pce
Of cotton had led TO ovcr-eXtension oil Inc crTe oil
that article and the planters, encouraged By :ic de-
ma nd for Their staple ha! ,.,unged Themselves in debt
to support s,-,:c;d style C living The manuiactu
rers ;. cotton were ESQ great sufferers. Cotton cloth
which CO.. e cents yard TO import in lo23, was M
ncred in he spring of -26, at is cents II was sald,
that flour thousand em !oyed in Philadelphia IN io@o'
not more than one thousand had employment IN May
1c26.'' :
Gov Wolcott in his message to the Legislature OF
Connecticut in lS26, said
"The effects produced upon the people are, that no
man can travel fifty miles in any direction, without re-
cevng paper of which he possesses no means Of
ascertainng the value or even the AUTHENTICITY a"G
This difficulty increases in proportion TO the distance OF
an individual from some one of these banks. we can
perceye that the issue of The notes from the banks IN
this State have been annoying to the banks IN boston
and New York. while these, founded on no superior Sc
curtv, have been equally injurious to Us
If the "Great Regulator which had now been IN
full operation for nine years could not regulate he mo
notary concerns Of the country any better tiah .s'
there is not much TO hope from another OF The same
h,-,c,ar The proofs are conclusive that II produced