Mobile daily commercial register and patriot., 1841-10-27

Ii apoears from this table that the whole number of " banks and branches in operaton' throughout the country amounts 90l; the amount of capital paid ia $35S 442, ,692; the aggregate of debts due them of investments supposed to yield income soo9ooZ' 772 Estimating the average rate of interest through out the country at per cent the profits realized by
 the banks at that rate, upon this aggregate oi debts due them amount to S39, ,l35, ,793.
 This vast sum ($39, ,l35, ,793) largely exceeds the whole amount of taxes paid by the people to deiray the expenses of the general government, and, upon an accurate calculation, have no doubt will be found to exceed the whole aggregate of the taxes paid by the people to defray the expenses of both the gener- al and state governments. -, .,
 This yield of profit upon the capital pali m, (to wit: $358 4i2, ,692) shows the rate of interest actually realized charged upon the country by the banks to be fraction within Il per cent.
 Now, SIT, will any deny, that under this as meet of the subject, the whole system of bank mach- rerv as here exhibited, is hostile to the interests of the producing those who earn their bread and their wealth by the sweat oi their lace, m what ever calling they may be engaged!
 In what branch of honest industry and regular bu- siness can man afford borrow and employ capital at the rate of II per cent per aunum! Can the far ,ner or the planter afford at this rate to borrow the capital which he invests in in his lands, stock, pro- visions, and implemensl Or the mechanic the cap itaI which he invests in his tools his umber hs iron or cloth! Or the merchant the capital which he in- rests in his traIel No, sir Who then can afford to employ money at this ratel No one but gamblers at the faro bank the roulette table, some other branch of their vocaon-speculators and stock job bers, money shayers aud note shavefs, whose busi- ness grows out of the embarassmens and suiierings of their fellow men, brought about by the seductive influences of this system.
 Such is the tax levied by the banking system in all the various forms of it's influence and operations upon the country rather upon the producing clas- ses of the country, upon whom all the burdens o s'- ciety rest It's tendency Is to increase the number oI gamblers of spectators and kjobbers, of money
 hayers and note shasers, and of iders and drones, throughout society, wherever it operates to render the human heart callous and indifferent to human suffering covetous and a,aricious; to distract the mind with sudden, and often runous changes of for tune; to breed dIscontent and misery, demoraze so- <iety and counteract the holy influences of religion. And pray what are the advantages claimed for so- ciety in for the foul suppurations issu- ing from this fungus upon it's bodyi Why, SIT, the poor ,aiserable--ray, mistake, according to mod ern ph;iosophythe very great and inappreclabe ad- vantage of using the uncertain and iuctuatng paper
 credits of banks the currency of the country in- stead cf the gold and silver coins of the constitution, which would rapidly fill up and occupy the channels of circatiou if they were not expelled and kept out ol the country by the circulation of bank paper and the er, ors of bank financering.
 I hs fast item in the statement before alluded to, reprcscats the net circulation of the banks-whch means. suppose, the actual amount of bank paper circuliting in the hands of the people, to be-
 $86, JIG. .6sO To this we must add the item of depos-
 ites, which in all of the commercial
 cities constitutes the most effective part
 of bank circulation, being represented
 by checks and transfers of credit on the
 books of the banks, 75,696. .s57 The whole amount of bank clrcuation---
 thus being l6l ,S67 ,537 In addition to this, there is estimated to
 be in the country, partially circulating,
 lsrtrn rnaiuly hOarded uD. amount Ot
 the precious metals, somewhere be-
 tween forty and fifty millious, say, $45 ,OOO
 But it is the paper part of the currency which am pow considering, and to which shall conlne my re- marks
 From nasty examination of the document to which have referred, (No III,) came to the con that something two thirds (6OO) of all the hanks in the union, yielding about the same pro portion of the aggregate banking capital, are now m a st ,te of suspension, and that something ouer two thirds of the whole aggregate of the bank currency of the country consists in the paper and credits- The proportion, then, of bank circulation not con yertible into specie, and used by the people as the major part their currency, may be estimated at near s1l0,0OO,OOO. The different kinds and classes of paper comprising this mass are var- ousiy depreciaied below specie par throughout the union, varying from three per cent as the minimum, to fifty per cent, the maximum rates of depreca- ton; and his sir, the privilege of using the paper credits of banks currency, liable in whatever form Lne system may eAist, Wtth of wiuou such depreciation, fuctuaton and instabilI- Ly in value, is the great advantage realized by the people in consideration of the heavy tax annually levied upon them to sustain the expensive machinery and usurious profits of the banking system. And ,ere, sir, beg to call your attention most intc- resting part of the subject, which constitutes the ground of daily and unceasing complaint here ana throughout the country. l alude Q what is general y termed the 's Arrangement of the exchanges" rowing out of this dsordered condition of the cur ency. The evils growing out of re inequalities of ,ank notes and the consequent apparent difference n the rates of exchange, are numerous, and very ,erplexing. But must further say, that in refer ,nce t, few subjects within my knowledge does ,reater degree of msapprehension and error per 'ade the public mind, and the minds of many gen. Iemen here whom have heard speak upon the sub ject.
 Tine depreciation of bank paper, and the inequa- ty of that deprecation often, and indeed, gene ally characterised " the Arrangement of the ex- and the degree of the depreciation of ,ank paper below specie par, is held and regarded IS the degree of '' tie Arrangement of the exchan- ,es''-as exhibiting the degree of difference or ne- uality in the rates of exchange. This view of the ubject is totally incorrect and untenable,