Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1840-10-27

! iAOA vi luO WOAAAS 0AN A0o bCOu UlOOulC
than Moloch, vilsr than Belial, proude
than Luclfer may all the other vices seen
at least TO be rendering homage to avarice
Ambition, vanity, and appetite, have al
become its parasites. William Penn anc
his associates drove the money changers
out of the temple of liberty, as thei
great exemplar did out of the temple oI
religion. And by the Constitution o.
the Union and most of the States, ava
rice is no longer recognized as a constit
uent, much less the supreme principle o
Government.
But although excluded from the Con
stitution, the money power has been re-
ceived into the legislature of the country
Money holders have been associated by
law, endowed with protracted continuity
of existence, and surrounded with privi
leges and immunities. They have been
authorized to contract debts, without be.
ing bound to the extent of their property
to pay them, or subject to imprisonment
for refusing. And they have the exclu.
sive privilege of supplying the paper cir
culation Of the Union, amounting com.
monty to about one hundred and forty
millions, which is standing loan from the
people to them Of that amount without
interest, and with its attendant advantage
is more than equal to an annual gift of at
least ten millions Of fdollars. The bank
ing capital of the Union is nominaliy
three hundred and forty millions Of dol
lars, and is held by less than two hun
dred thousand men, the most of it prob
ably by about fifty thousand, many of
whom are aliens and foreigners. These
men, with this money, have been erected
by legislative authority into a PRIVILEGED
order, with control over the currency,
credit, commerce, property, and labor of
the Republic. They lend four hundred
and fifty millions of dollars, and have the
power to establish or overthrow the for
tunes Of individuals, of classes and Sec
tions ofthe country.
This is power as great or greater
than any privileged order has ever yet
possessed under any Government. This
is power which exceeds the aggregate
of all the powers conferred by the people
through the Constitution on all their pub.
lie agents who administer the Govern
ment. This is a power able to govern or
overthrow any Government, This is a
sovereign power Let us consider how
it has been exercised.
The leading and auded maxim Of the
banker is to give facility to the business
of the country; that is to give credit 10
commerce. This is the avowed principle
and standing boast Of banking. Although
its sincerity has been often questioned,
its utility has not, that ! know, been de-
MED. But | nOp deny it. And | assert
that commerce neither needs nor merits
more credit or political favor than agricul-
ture or manufactures. Commerce is not
more useful or more noble than either of
them--and as it is in fact more fashiona-
BILE and attractive, it requires less extra.
neOus aid than either. Why then should
three hundred and forty millions of capi-
tai be collected into masses, gifted with
the use of hundred millions of credit,
exempted from the vicissitudes of mortal
ity and Of fortune, placed beyond the
natural laws of our being and the obliga-
tions of civil society, with all incidental
and resulting powers for the purpose of
affording facilnies 10 business.
iii! be admitted that commerce has no
paramount claims over agriculture or
manufactures, but is rather less entitled
to public favor than either, how absurd
must the policy appear of comforting that
favor at their expenSes And this is the
very evil of our present banking system.
Government has given to banking capital
alone the use and profit of the common
circulation of the country. Every man,
therefore, who holds banking capital, re-
alizes the interest not only on the stock
he subscribed, but on about One-third of
the amountmore from circulation. The con-
sequence is, and has been, that capital
forsakes agriculture and manufactures,
on which no such bounties is conferred
by Government, to 60 into banking and
commerce. Thus are the accumulati0ns
of the two most useful branches of our
industry drawn of, to be wasted on the
other. l say to be wasted. For as has
already been remarked, the mercantile
life is more fashionable and attractive
than the hard work of the farmer and ar
tizan, and always secures without Gov
ernment aid its full proportion of the cap
ital, the talent and population of the
community. Nay SO seductive has been
that vocation 10 all who wish to evade the
curse of earning their bread by the sweat
of the brow, that competition and con-
fiict of capital and skill in mercantile
life is usually too GREATS suicidal--is
wasteful of mental and monetary energy.
The addition of enormous credit and ia
vor aggravates the morbid inffiammatOry
action of mercantile pursuits, and
4 II 49,.