The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1841-01-15
From the Augusta (Muine) Age.
FACT AND THEORY.

Lest any might be deceived by the
confident and assured statement Of the |
Federal press that our currency was ev
cry thing i! should be until the U. S. |
Bank was destroyed, il may be worth
whlle to repeat the true account Of The
matter.
Immediately upon the commencement
Of The Bank, in 1877, the whole coun-
Wy run mad with speculation, much as
in 1885. The revusion came on early
in the next year, when The National In
ielligencer announced the "currency' to
be "im cOnfusion." From that time on
ward n 1921, tho history Of the times,
is the history Of failing and insoIVent
Banks, disordered exchanges, depres.
Sed business, laborers thrown out Of EN-
ploy, ruined debtors, and prices run
down to poin. far below that of 1887,
or 1910. The record of these facts 10
preserved in the highest forms ofauthen
ITCHY; in the descriptions Of cotempo-
raneous journals, in the Reports of the
Secretaries Of the Treasury and of Con-
gressional and Legislative Committees,
in the petitions Of the people for relief,
numerous as the sands of the sea shore,
and eloquent with the pathos of real
suffering, and above all, in the disgrace
iul legislation Of the State Governments,
in the relief laws, which only found their
partial justification in the extreme ne>
cessities Of the case. During all this
time the U. s Bank excited, If the state
ofparalysis brought in by it's miscon-
duct, can be called existence. 1t was
all the while under care Of doctors, luck
lily skilful ones. 1t made no discounts
and declared no dividends. Langdon
Cheves nursed its vitality into a tolet-
able robustness, enoughl al all events,
to stand during some years, the opera
tlOns Of that quack who followed him.
The proofs Of these facts have too Of
ten been laid before the public, to re-
quire repeated production, and wher.
ever any one may choose 10 fix the lo-
cality ef the fabulous prosperity under
the rule Of the U. S. Bank, it is quite
certain, that il will not be in lhe period
from 1918 to 1924.
How affairs stood in the last named
year, was, at the time, described by Mr..
Clay, and his description is familiar to
all. 1924 was surely not the prosper
GUS year.
Nor was 1925, when the Bank, as
Mr.. 3iddIe tells US, was only saved
frem destruction by his management, in
pos.poning the presentation ofa draft
for sum less than 100000!
The insolvencies and bankruptcies Of
1926 and 1927, are too near our own
time, 10 need particular notice. 1t is
sufficient TO say, that they produced, as
more recent ones have, loud demand
for bankrup. law, the Gebates upon
which remains authentic memorials oil
the distrssses Of the times.
In 1928, the state Of affairs had be-
come so intolerable, that Mr.. Biddle
himself, for the first time, began to write
on finance. He ascribed the entire mis-
GHETTO "0uerbanking," and advised the
very simple remedy OF "bdnking less.
All this was under the rule of grea
Regulator.
Was not Gen. Jackson fully satisfied
then, when in 1929 he declared that tht
u. 8. Bank had signalIy failed in re-
forming the currency? And who CAT
doubt the truth Of that often published
letter of Mr.. White. the Cashier of tn,
u, S. Bank at Baltimore, which de-
scribed the disorders in currency ant
exchange then existing, and the suffer
,ngs oflhs country during the ten years
before.
Nothing is in fact more surprising
than the reckless and stupid impudence
with which the assertion is made, tha
Gu. ency and exchange were we'll reguIa
ted by the U. S. Bank. Every we'll IN
formed man knows the truth 10 hav'
been otherwise, and that so far from rel
ulating, that institution disturbed ant
unsettled every thing.
~ WV " 10 tuOS iuiuiSu pupOl IbO'
dium OF par vulue, throughout the who'll
country. But the mass of currency slil
continued TO consist oflocal issue. an
abe exchanges were, fer the most part O
The time, in an extreme state Of disorder
United States Bank notes were avail
able every where, but the conversion
Of the currency of one State into that q
another, was attended with great loss.
Thus, at tho present moment, the ex
change between New Io'k and Mo
bile is said 10 BIZ deranged, being somt
Gve per cent against the latter place
This merely means that the conver
zion of Mobile currency into New YOr
currency is attended with the nomins
lose, During all this tme, there exist
the medium of gold or Treasury notes
which can be used as remittance viii
out discount or deduction. The cili
uona oe Moh.lo nracoto1 4