The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1841-01-04

FTOm the .Nt,0 Orleans .advertissr


Resumption of specie payments is the "huGe
fly after which the nation is now full tilt IN
pursuit No one will listen to the suggestions
of experience, no one will heed the retnonstran-
ces of wisdom. The cry is,-'resume, resume"
and no enquiry is made as to the result upon the
debt-owing portion Of the people. Like herd
of sheep is the whole nation. The big bell-weth-
| err of New York has led the way and all the
other ,yuol-clad beasts follow in triumph The
more that efforts are made to stop them, the
more lofty are their leaps, and over the preci-
pice they go without loo king to consequences,
But we should never despair, in our efforts, to
induce calm consideration on the part of our fell
low men in the great steps which they are about
to make up the ladder Of human existence
''Situated as we are" it behooves us to pause in
our career and ask ourselves whether the re-
sumption of specie payments by our banks will
not preluce a greater evil than any benefit it
could bestow An attention to a few facts will
satisfy the inquirer that resumption at this time
will cause widespread ruin IN the community.
We different people from our neighbJrs OF
the North. Our wealth makes its returns but
once Il year, while the capital of the Eas. re-
wolves rapidly upon its axes, and gains in volume
with unerring certainty 1t will be easy
thing for Eastern debtors to meet the shock of
contraction incident upon resumption of cash
payments by the very nature OF the trade and
commerce of that section. 1t is essentially a
moving trade, and all the money invested in it,
commerce marches majestically on, and no hu-
man force can hasten its pace. Let our banks
resume, and the very attempt to contract and to
collect debts will arrest the already slow m0ve-
ment of our capital, derange the functions of our
trade, force property into the market, and throw
the wealth Of the city and State into the hands
of few nabobs. This restriction upon the avail
able means of industry will fall with double
force upon the mechanic and professional inter
est and the whole basis of society viii be broken
up, for whats-to pay specie on the circulating
medium of the country wheh that country is
plunged deeply in debt to the furnishers of the
currency!
We are decidedly averse to the present system
of irredeemable paper money. 1t is curse on
the industry of the state, but while that is the
case, it is no proof of dishonesty the part of
the banks, as conterded by some. If the people
could pay the banks what they owe them and
the banks then refused to pay specie, no one
u ould be at loss for a name to characterize
such proceedings; but the rev erse is true. The
banks would pay, but they cannot, because the
people, In debt to them, are unable to meet their
obligations. A sound, redeemable currency we
go for, with all our might and main, but net at
the expense of the great interests Of the state;
not, by involving in ruin the debt-owing portion
OF our fellow-citizens. The desideratum can be
effected without any disaster to honest industry
A little time,-two short years,--and all will
be right.
Let the +NoFtneIn banks resume, let grass grow
in the streets the resuming cities, but suffer
our carriage-ways and levees to be the scene eff
active industry We will pay what we owe
the North, without impoverishing ourselves. The
misfortune of the past is not dishonesty. He
who would assert, that the public were dishun-
est, by contracting debts when all was prosperi-
ty, must be actuated by false feelings. Our du-
ty is to ourselves as well as to those to whom we
are bound in debt. To make the banks nnfsel-
ing creditors, by legislation, does not indicate
deep regard for the public interest, and we are
yet to see the men in this state, who would drive
them wildly into resumption with all the serious
consequences attendant upon such step, at the
present moment
In the mean time, we throw open sur columns
to the temperate remarks of all upon this alb
sorbing question Let it be discussed freely. It
is one that "touches us all nearly"