Columbus Democrat. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-18??, 1840-10-03

gives one class OF the community over The rest
are lnralculahle. As bankers are actuated alone
hy tn desue OF gam, concert OF acton among
them IS easily obtained. When they determine
on an expansion of the currency, the time has az
uyed To take advantage of the unsu-pecuns by
purchasing their property with bank notes oil 'hel'
The baukersl manufacture, and when they swell
the bubble of bank paper to the point where an /
explosion or contraction must take place, lhtN Sc" /
on, on a credit TO unsuspecung dupes Who cannot /
see, until too late, the deep land plotto cheat Them
out of their honest earnings This Is the operation
of the system under The garb of honesty, but when
banks lal into the hands of men that are less
scrupuDous of public opinion, the game assumes
more daring aspect. Such men, OF rather mon
s,ers, set at defiance the laws OF God and man,
and commence with determination never To re-
deem their bank issues. Those who control sEch
insltnuurS buy any kind of property at whatever
prce the vendor may ask. provided he takes IN
payment bank notes which they can make at the
rate OF millions day. BY resorhng To every
species Of lalsehood, fraud and deception they
maintnin the credit OF their vile Trash until they
become satisfied with their Ill gotten plumber;
then these institutions that were conceived IN
fraud and conducted during Their bret existence,
thr0uuh all the torluous wnduss of vliany, are
allowed TO die a natural death. The only conso-
htion the unfortunate note holder receives from
those 10 whose premedltaled vlllauy he has fallen
a victu, is smile of derslon Tor his unsuspcc'
unr confidence IN men whom he, as well as the
community at large. had once supposed TO he
honest The Brandon and many Bundled banks
that might be named are glowing illustrations OF
| IL. fl'b.ua stand forth
once the enduring monuments oi peoples FOLLY
and of the deep corruption IN which the whole
banking system Is based DO we not see scat
tered throughout the State the pcnnyess specua-
tors Of Yesterday waIlowlng IN wealth aud luxury,
which, IN fraud, they have wrung from the sweat
bought earnings of coutdng people and
while their unfortunate dupes are writing under
the unreeuting grasp of the law, these vampires
that have deprived them OF their substance look
on with compaconcy, conscious that they are Sc
cure under the shield Of bank charters from the
operation of laws which exacts "the utlermosI
| larthnu" from the rest OF the community IL
such thing ever heard Of as the property ut bank
stockholders or directors beng made liable Tor
the millions OF worthless notes with which they
have flooded the country Can any thing be
more repugnant to The principles Of justice Than "A
system which screens from the legitimate effects
Of law the villain to whose cupldOty hundreds have
fallen victims Yet, for the success OF this sys
tenn, the modern Wings put forth energies "or
thy Of a better cause, aud Tor opposing 1t thtl
denouncc the democrats as agrUlans and enemies
of commerce and civilization
What principle can be more at war with th'
theory of our government than that which extend
special privileges to class Of men who have
rendered the State no service who ale not mOt'
distinguished for virtue or Learning than the mass
whose only claim TO exemption from some OF The
most saIulary laws of the country, consists II
their having more ready money than their neigh
bor5 And as fortune has happened to smile
upon them their pecunlary interests must be ad
vanced by the artificial means Of bank charters
which converts, by Law, each real dollar they have
into three, while the poor mans dollar possesses
that value only which the God Of nature has I'm
pressed upon II. The gross injustice Of this
principle is seen IN the fact that 1t allows the non
producer. who can avail himself of the privileges
of bank charters, three times the legal interest o
the State, 81 "a per cent per annum on the actu
al money he is possessed OF while the latmer
mechanic or other producer, who could not aval
hmsolfol this bank privilege, must rest satjsic'
with eight per cant interest, when they lend thet
hard earnings, having obtained their money b,
the slow process OF industry and economy. lib,
legislation the farmer could be enabled to make
three crops year upon his land, the mechanic Il
sell three times as many articles 10 his line as b.
is possessed ofand the aborer to obtain eighteen
DAYS wages for each week, then the rest Of th
community could bo placed on The same loount
with bankers. But the absurdty Of such pro
position is not more obvious than the gross mus
tlce of allowing such privileges TO the droncs o
sociey--he bank nabobs Of the land
The banking principle is dramatically oppose
to republicauism. The vital principle Of repub
3 lie consists in the powers OF the government re
= manning in the bar DIS Of the people. Each gran
$ Of privileges or monopoly, ~ the shape Of ban
charters or ~ any other form, takes rom The PEG
I pie a certain portion Of their legislative powers
Tor, according to the theory Of law, the people ca
: be debarred Of these powers for ever, as II IS onl
! necessary for banks to comply with the requls
lions Of their charters to continue the exercise q
their privileges 40 matter how injurious they ma
prove 10 the community. II Is antltepubIlca
I for one generation TO legIsldte for another who
they undoubtedly do when they create bank char
3 tiers for twenty forty, er sixty years, as is ofle
the case. If the principle Is good for twenty o
ski, years, it holds good Iorese The Manhat
tan Bank of New York furnishes an illustration
Of this, as its charter has been declared petpelua
, by the legal tribunals oflhat State. No eglsato
I should do more lhan represent the wishes Of h
constituents for the time bring, leaving his sue
: ccssors IN Office ample power to repeal alter Q
amend all laws which fail to answer the purpos
: for which they were Intended. The principle Q
5 creating State bonds for poslery to pay, Is Iden
T teal with the creation Of bank charters which ar
9 also binding on unborn generations. We CIV
. Mr. Jeiiersons opinion on this subject IN his ette
f; of oath Of june 1918 to John w. Eppes.
e 1--WE may consider each generation as dlstlnc
!, nation, with right, by the will Of ITS majority, t