Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1840-04-09

ate history. Things were well, aud every
body knows it, till 1913. Then began the
bank reform by the removal Of the depos-
ites--and then began this rapid series OF
expansion, contraction, and explosion
then followed crisis alter crisi:-then
came the arrangement of exchanges,
and then tho endorsements which have
oyeiWhelned the country-.then came,
too, the nine hundred banks Of which
the Senator speaks, though he has probably
sweled the number beyond historical truth
The Senator admits, what cannot be de-
MED, that the Administration proposed and
carried icto effect the State bank deposite
system. 1t was in this place and by them
that State banks we've taken into favor,
Petted, and boastingIy held out to the
country as affur ding "a better aud safer cur
rency. Into them was the revenue put in
enormous SINS, aud they were directed 10
loan freely upon it by the President for the
accommodation of the people, and it was
his pride aud pleasure to make known 10
Ne that the public money was thus employ
ell, instead of being locked up; striking
commentary upon the present plan of
vaults and safes, Mr.. President.
The Senator admits that in this wav the
policy of the Administration, and that the
disastrous consequences predicted by the
Opposition have been verified. He might
gone farther; for i, is truth equally unde-
Unable, that this policy sowed the seed of
nearly or quite one half ofthe whole num-
Der of banks-betwecn eight and nine hum
dred-and Of more than one half of the |
capital; that it was the parent ofthe paper
"expansion, contraction, and explosion,
ofwhich he has spoken in terms of just
severity; that it is alike the parent of the !
bloated credit system, which he affirms has
made US all gamblers; and that the mad
speculation which ragged over the country,
and has furnished the theme for decIama-
ton and denunciation in these halls for
three years past, was begotton by it,
Such are the facts. and on the projectors Of
this policy let the responsibility rest. We
had no "eXpansons, contractons, or
explosions" for long period, that did not
fairly belong to the vibrations of.trade.;
none that excited alarm or seriously dis
tnrbed public confidence. till we came to
this reforming policy; but since then the /
public mind has scarcely been tranquilized. |
In 1884 came the first fell swoop, which
overturned and bankrup,ed thousands; and /
it originated here. In '35-6, came the
great era Of matchmaking and trading up
On the public money, then accumulated to
sixty or seventy millions, as nearly as | re-
member, which threw the country into a
fcverish excitement, and even firm, we'll
balanced minds out of their Adjustment
There was rage for fartune-making and
tortune-huntng such as had never been
witnessed, and which nothing but this pol
icy was capable of generating. The Sem
ator might and ought to have limited the
bloated credit system that made US all, as
he affirms, gamblers to this period, and
'leh the offspring to stand beside its parent !
rs proof ofthe disasters of this policy and
OF the fulfilment of the predictions of the
Opposition; for 60 together they must, and
live together they will in history; and no
sophistry, no ingenuity can ever seperate
them. While the Senator admits this pol
icy to belong exclusively to the Admins
tra:ion, and tohave been strenuously op-
posed by US, and its melancholy conse-
qnences predicted, he now repudiates it as
erroneous, ami we must allow TO him and
his friends whatever credit belongs to an
abandonment of it after it had literally ex-
ploded, and the rnischiefwas accomplished
But, sir, he and they must be reminded |
that could, i'll would, read from the
messages of the President, and from the
successive reports Of the Secretary of the
Treasury, language Of exultation, triumph
ing in the entire success of the polioy. |
Boosting that the currency was on a better
footing than ever, that the exchanges were
greatly improved, and that, too, at the very
moment when the bloated credit was most
expanded, and speculation was the most
rife and rank. Such was the delusion that
the madness which had seized multitudes
was trumpeted forth as;evidence ofsuccess
and general prosperity. The. Senator clear
ly reasons from false premises when he
makes the banks the origin of our embar-
rassmcats, for they were only instruments
in the hands of those who projected the |
measures that have made them what they
are.
But the Senator goes further, and traces
the evils of banks and bank paper into
England, and alleges, without Gua!ifca-
tion, that from this cause, business there is
as badly paralyzed as it is here, and am
not about to make an issue upon that point,
for nnst hurry on to matters. He makes
an inference, however, which must no.
tioe. He says that TO this circumstance
alone we own our ability to manufacture
ooods If ENGLAND was a hard-mOnev