Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-08-14

placed. Itrequires the close inspection and
near supervision of the States themselves
to do it. They are the best judges of
what regulations are best suited to their
own Institutions They can best subject
their courts and their agents to that whole
some control, so absolutely necessary to
the proper management and distribution of
the funds of such institutions, when wind
ing up their concerns. The State of New
York, and l presume the remark is appli-
cable to other States, has far better Bank
rupt law for Banks, than Congress can
possibly pass; and she has, and does, ad
minister it through the Chancellor and
Bank Commissioners, infinitely better than
any law of Congress can be administered
through the courts or agents of the Cen
eral Government. In New York, if a.
Bank suspends specie payments for ten
days, its concerns are at once handed over,
on the complaint of the Bank Commission
ers, to the Chancellor, and by him placed
in the hands of Receiver, and closed up
with all convenient speed-having due
regard to the individual and public inter-
ests involved in its liquidation. The States,
too, can best Judge whether any interior
ence on their part will, at any time, pro-
mote the public interests. There may be
cases, as there have been before, where the
Legislature of State might deem it proper
to interfere and suspend the forfeiture of
a Bank charter. This occurred in 1887,
after the suspension of specie payments by
the Banks. The suspension was brought
on, at that time, by causes beyond their
control. They suspended for the benefit
of the community, not their own,-and the
Legislatures of several States suspended
the forfeiture of their charters, but did not
legalise their suspension ofspecie payments.
The Banks of New York and elsewhere
were, at all times, liable to prosecution for
demands against them, and to an increased
interest on all demands made, which were
not met in specie. The people had their
remedy against them in the courts; but
in my own State, public sentiment was so
strongly in their favor, that there was
scarcely an instance heard of to coerce
them by prosecutons-and why were they
sustained by public sentiment!-Why did
the Legislature, before the expiration of
ten days after their suspension, pass an act
to relieve them from the forfeiture of their
charters 1t was because the public voice
demanded it-not for the benefit of the
Banks, but for the People themselves. Let
us suppose that, on the occasion of the sus-
pension of the Banks in 1887, throughout
the Union, there had been in existence
Bankrupt Law for Banks-what would
have been the consequence? The people
were indebted to the Banks to the amount
of more than five hundred millions of dol
lars. A Bankrupt Law operating upon the
Banks would have forthwith put their con-
Germs into the hands of Commissioners to
be closed up. This enormous amount
must have been collected, or attempted to
be collected, from their debtors. Judg-
ments and executions must have gone
against their property. That property
would have been sacrificed for want of
purchasers, and inevitable ruin would have
overtaken the whole debtor portion of the
community, and such disasters cannot be-
fal that portion without affecting, in their
consequences, the solvent portion also. An
earthquake or tornado, extending its raw
ages over the whole country, could scarcely
equal the destructive consequences of the
operation of Bankrupt Law under such
circumstances. 1t was for such reasons
that the Legislatures, in 1887, interposed--|
not for the Banks, but for the People. But
had such a law then existed, there could
have been no relief. No Legislature could
have nterfered. 1t would have been as
unyielding as the bed of Procrustus, and
the victim would have been Topped off, or
stretched out to meet its dimensions. Such
time, though far distant, may arrive
again. am for leaving the Banks, in
such a crisis, to their own natural guar
dams, the Legislatures of the several
States. Some have supposed that they
could get over the constitutional objection
to including Banks, by leaving the law to
the assent Of the respective States. One
moments reflection will show the uncon-
stitutionality of this proposition, namely,
that it would not be a uniform Bankrupt
law, if one State should assent and another
dissent. | hope and trust, therefore, that
the friends of General Bankrupt law will
not be deceived by this proposition to in
clude corporations. Such a bill cannot
pass. 1t will be opposed, as it was before,
by some of the party which has constantly
opposed any Bankrupt law, and this great
measure of relief will be again defeated.
Let individuals claim to stand by them
selves, and let corporations stand by
themselves. They rest on different princi-
pies. Let each class stand on its own
merits.
Sir, this extra session was called for the
purpose of adopting measures for the re-
lief of the present distressed and embar-
raised condition of the country. What
measure would give greater, and more ex-
tensive, and more instantaneous relief than