The Yazoo City Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 183?-1840, 1840-03-20

vent debtors, and set free many an honest
man who is now broken-hearted, and incas
pable of even making an effort.
A Ruined Country.
The present condition of this country Is
deplorable beyond description It fills the
heart with sadness and melancholy, to con-
trast our present condition with what it was
eight or nine years ago. Every patriot heart
bleeds, and every philanthropic bosom heaves
at the contemplation of the sad picture. A
few demagogues and few money shavers
rejoice at the suferings Of the people; but
they are bastard vampires-they are human
beasts of prey, who, were this the final retri.
button, would not trouble the people long
The face ofour whole country, from its CEN
tire to its circumference, presents one entire
scene of devastation, ruin, suffering and
loss, the contrast of which with the same
view few years ago, excites no less the
wonder tnanthe sympathy ofevery observer.
To paint out the proper lieDaments ofthis pic
ture need not be done. Every man has il
before his face. He sees it in his own fields
lin his own shop-inhis own store, and he
FEELS it in his lack of wagesfor his daily la
bour. His toll does not produce bread as il
once did. The fields grow yellow to har.
vest, but harvests neither yield the various
necessaries of living, nor relieve the hus-
bandman from previous obligations, as they
once did. For while the honest man is fondly
dreaming that harvest and payday will meet
J, IoO h.
and sweeps off, not only the annual yield
of his labor, but the only means ofrendering
his future toll profitable to his suffering fam
lily. This is not the report of an isolated
case here and there, Il is the picture Of tie
people! The great mass ofthe honest, indus
trious farmers, mechanics and aboring men
of this country, know that this is their ex-
perience. There are at this time hundreds
) of thousands of women and children in this
country, who are hungry, because labor will
not buy bread; and there are tens Of hum
dreds of thousands more who are bankrupt
and pennyless, because a fortune, a compe-
tency or living has been swept off to pay
for the last purchases, which constituted
but tenth or twentieth of his property
You call this panic-making! You are dem.
agogue, or demagogue's tool! You are a
/ slave, who either will not or dare not think
for your self.
And why allthisruin and wantl Ay why!
: Twice the country has been overrun with
foreign foe, and war spread her red mantle
all over the land. The avenues of trade were
INSTRUCTED, embargo and restriction paralised
all industry, and the calls to the camp and
' the field caused the plough to stand still and
the hammer to lie idle. The country, we
say, has twice gone to war, leaving the wo-
men and the children to stag with the stuff,
: while all the consequences of war was suffer-
ed by the people; but never, no, never did
the country suffer as it now suffers! Then,
/ what cause more blighting and disastrous to-
industry and commerce than the sword-the
: invasion of powerful foreign enemy, has
J; passed upon us? We are told that the in
crease of banks has ruined our currency,
and that commercial and agricultural peo-
: pie cannot live as such, without asound cur
! rency. Well, fortunately thus far we all
agree. All parties, believe, political, sci
t entifc or moral, agree that the evils of bank
/ ing has poisoned all the roots and all the
; fruits of the whole industry of the country,
) and still paralses every noble effort of all
| honest men, to retrieve their disasters and
5 better their condition. It is wise then to
/ tenquire what has caused the great increase
: Of banks and banking. Here there appears
5 to be difference of opinion. Previous to
3 two or three years ago the differenceof opin-
ion was this: as to the kind Of restrictive in.
} fuence that ought to exist in the country,
to prevent the anticipated evils of over bank
r ing. All agreed that some kind Of restrie,
} ton was necessary; and three modes were
5 suggested--a National Bank, the State Leg
} islatures and the mutual influence Of each
other. One party held TO the former opinion
and the other to one or both Of the two latte r.
1 Mr. Van Buren, in discussing the subiec.
in 1886, is Of opinion that the last mentioned
mode, assisted somewhat by the course then
pursued by the State Legislatures, was am.
ply sufficient Thelegislatures have laboured
ten years, and all agree that they have done
no more towards the desired restriet,on. thar
have the several banks themselves, ID their.
intercourse with each ether; which Is no..
ta'1g! While expansion continued untt
i exploded and spread ruin al over tbe en-
tire country. The legislatures. too. have
had every opportunity ofregula.ing the evil
i they could, for ''banka and banking'' has
ever been prominent hleot IN the action
! Of gil those bodies for the last ten years.
j The people have made Rraaf afl,rl.- LA n