Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1841-11-16
Is,bIity ami with more loOsness than is Of

f.ct he credit uf the banking system as
Fnow organ zed. Can they be corrected
lbvtbe creation Of more banks on the same
Id.t.ctiye principles! Bat il may be said
that iucogYenienc8 would result from a
reform, which while it increases the res
DOnsio,lIjy OF bauks,.and gives more cred
II 10 tkulr issues, reduces the number o!
banks aud dinInishas the inducements
Tor capitalists 10 vest Their funds III bank
stock. Ii may be answered that without
some radical change either ia tho organl-
zaion or management of banks, The same
results will more surely and more speed
| lily follow. The Inducements either Ol
profit or security are lamentably few al
ready for investments in bank stocks
This is owing partly TO the number of
banks, the competition being, as often
happens in other business, too great to af.
ford adequate employment to all tho cap
itAl now invested but chiefly to the want
of reliable responsibility in the business
of banking; and it may be assumed that if
banks were conducted on sOunder ba-
sis, the same confidence which warrants
investments in other business transac.
tiOns, would insure u sufficient amount
OF capital for all tho banking necessities
of the country. /. is fictitious system
Of profits, on Il fclicous basis Of credit,
which has induced the excessive banking
which now calls so loudly for a remedy
against It's evils, and while less capital
would be employed under a sound system,
II would be more substantial capital, and
lis profits would be more certain and
greater to the capitalists, and far safer to
society as the holders Of bank notes.
1t ls said, however, whenever any at.
tempt is made to correct the defects OF
the banking system, that it is so delicate,
aS not TO be touched without danger. In
what does this delicacy consist, but in the
very defects which have been noticed,
and how are they TO be cured unless by
the gradual application of legislative re.
form? They are the true enemies of the
credit system, who aver that banks cannot
be placed in as solid and durable a res.
possibility as any other fair business; that
It ls possible 10 legislate confidence and
credit into existence, without first sup
| plying the actual elements ON which
alone they can rest.
1t is feared by some that the prices of
property and labor will decline under a
process Of reform in the banking system,
Money is now made plenty or scarce as
1t suits the pleasure or necessities of the
banks, and It iS certainly to be desired
that these Institutions should be relieved
as far as is practicable from the operation
Of these causes which so often deraBge
their business, and as a consequence com
pei them TO derango the business of all
others. The business is exposed to fee.
quent fluctuations by ils own weakness.
II is needless, however, to press the no
cessty Of bank reform, since the demand
for National Bank is based on the ad.
mission Of the inability Of the Slato bank
system to tnrnlsh oven u sound local cur
rency, aud it is wanted to regnlas what
the laws do not now regulate. This ar
gnment, while II comedies the power Of
b taking 10 the States, assumes their nca
paclty 10 control the corporations which
they have created, and assumes that tins
control can be safely entrusted to feder-
al corporation, tho creature of another
government, A National Bank, ifIt have
the power TO regulate the ISSUES OF the
State banks, may control the extent ull
accommodation To the people from these
banks, aud thus effect The prices Of Drop.
cry by MAKING money or the sembIance
1i money plenty or scarce al its pleasure.
| ~ not supposed that any one contem
Dlates National Bank as a substitute for
ne Stale banks entirely. 1t is urged as
means not of local accommodation to
hose vino wish 10 borrow money, but an
ssessIng power through It's extended !.
ranches 10 regulate exchanges between
emoie commercial points. II the State
anks were properly reformed, 80 that
lelr issues would TO a proper extent re.
lily be what they ought to be, the repre.
'nIatives Of gold and silver, medium a
ould be furnished for the regulation oC :
tchanges, at once safer and!moro pcrms. u
1nt than the notes Of a United States "
ank, framed and probably administered ~, ~
o on tho same defective and deceptive
IhcipIes as the present State banks. 1t To
not to be expected that National OF
NIX on a Sounder and more restricted ca
IN than that of the present State bank, g.
u be created. The measures already pu
'pnsed contemplate the establishment ~
q Y. y. Bank under a charter similar pr
mos OF the Stale banks. How, it NAV S"'
asked, is such a bank to be managed Ial M
better under National than under aci
te charterR Its increased. powers, and en-
more extended sphere of its action. cos
aid only expose its directors to stron. we
and more irresistabl, temptations uni
lie they would diminish the chances WIS
etecting any nal administration ofils ere
irs. "'
" ans
o'cI
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