, 1840-05-09
From the Journal Of Commerce, March IA.
REGULATION OF THE CURRENCY.

There has long existed an opinion that it
is the Guty OF government TO regulate the
currency. The National government is call.
ed upon to do this, and the state governments
have been called into help; and 10Th have
been hard at work, until the currency has
fallen into such utter disorder that the work.
men are almost ready to give it up in des-
pair. The mltter certainly coul. not have
been worse if it had been let entirely alone. Ii
seems TO be generally supposed that If gov
eminent does not provide a currency, there
will be none ; and that if government does
not regulate the currency, IT will not be reg
uIated or at any rate, that the regulation will
be SO very feeble, as to be quite insufficient.
If men could distinctly see that the Maker OF
all things had furnished balance-wheels and
regulators. which operate at all times, and
in all places, and upon all things, and if they
could understand that the power of those
regulators IL As much greater, and their ope-
ration as much better, than human regulators
as he is greater and better. than men, they
would be less alarmed about the want of
regulation. The natural principles of trade
are in fact ~incomparably more powerful than
anymachinery which can be contrived. They
have trIumphed in the controversy, and in fact
demolished the machinery which was brought
to contract them. II men were sufficiently
observing, they would be willing now TO
trust to ~superhuman regulation. Now is a
capital time for the experiment. The regu.
lators lie broken on every side. Now let us
try how things will work without regulation.
Very little is now done by the banks towards
regulating the currency. Through most of
the country, they nave been irresistible dis
organizers. They have refused to keep their
promises, and attempted to sustain them
selves in that refusal by teaching moral doc.
trines utterly subversive of mercantile hon.
or; and then they go to the Legislatures and
ask special acts to be passed in their favor,
legalizlng their illegal and wrong conduct
A plaa which works thus is bad plan and
worse than none. The only true and effect
ual remedy Tor the evils of the currency
is to be found in the repeal of all laws pro-
hibiting the free use of money, and the for
nation of associations for banking purposes.
Leave men free, and they will at once shape
their plans in conformity to the public wants.
A currency would then be produced just such
as was wanted-simple, cheap, safe, and
known to be so, from one end of the country
10 the other. The exchanges Of the country
are now regulated and conducted almost
by a few brokers. To them you can
sell any thing, and of them you can
by any thing. If you have funds in any
part of the country and wan them here,
you can realize the money in Wall street in
five minutes any day. If you have funds
here, and want to place them at any other
point, that also you can do in an Instant
The differences of exchanges, also, taking
specie as the basis, are exceedingly SMALL
If your draft is payable in cabbage-leaves.
each leaf 10 be called a dollar, it is not likely
the brokers in Wall street would take it at
par. But if it be payable in coin, the average
rate of exchange will not I've equal one-quarter
Of the expense Of transporting the COIN
There is hardly a point in the Union where
he difference between buying rates and SELL
rates is over half per cent. The immense
exchanges between here and Europe are
low altogether regulated by natural means,
md they were never in better condition.