Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1842-07-01

p,,isb pension system into this country,
and . scb ourht TO be resisted by all who do not de-
sire TO see the many taxed Tor The support Vi
few. -, ,,h;cb
Besides these, there are still other points y" WHY"
the txo par,iss diler-some of them ot v''ai import
rce ri limits of this address, however, Wi not ac-
mi, re thor full discussion here. We can only aluue
to them 49,, >.yov, p,yr
o; MI thc causes that have conspied to brrg aoou'
a.. sd tines now 50 universally felt, the banking
.v,o,, has done most That this scheme OF making
,o,ay wi:bou, work, is tho offspring OF Federal OF
Wbi,i policv no candid man VIII deny. IL doeS NOT
,cr bs case that in former years, ie" OF Tue oPpo-
site party may have favored oahAs-is ,a ,a,
cep,!on As general truth, 1t IS beyond dispute, ihat
,ba Federal or Wing party have always been the aoVo-
cafes ne the Banking system, while the Democratic
party have as uniformly been opposed 10 H. mat ''s
IS now the case, every candid reaoer may SUM user
tam far ne.lf Let hun but look around the circle OF
h;s ..o,,;n,nnce and see who own the banks WHO
have tho ranarement OF them who are The directors
ma co.b;ars lie will find that ninety-nine out OF
everv hundred are Wars. Let him look at another
ract-Who have encouraged the banks III their lawiess
course for The past five years-and VINO nave pee"
striving 70 lrpg them To Il sense OF their Gully Inc
arslurr in every Stale in the Union, where tho De
uoc-als have had the ma ory, has passed laws com
pelHnp ,ie banks specie payments ana conf
ny with their LEGATIONS, while this has not been done
bv sinai. legislature where the Wings had control
"
p-lino The banks TO have regard 10 the obligations oil
their char,ers-and everywhere the Wings have been
m favor Of permitting them 10 do as they pleased Is
wrono then TO say, that the banks are the offspring
and favorites Of Wing pollcy-that they are mostly
owned, and generally managed by Wings: Let the
people answer.
But before we expose further the effects of the
Banking system on the country, let US enqure-tehat
IS bank /"
when farmer or mechanic by hard work saves a
little more money than lie Immediately neeos, ana
wishes TO put out at interest the law torbids his tax
,nn more than six per cent Tor the OF it. If he
takes more usury, and he orieits his money, De-
sides being subject to severe penalty IL is not SO
with the banks A few knowing men have money 10
lend but they not willing to take SIX per cent IN
terest; what do they do Why, they go TO the Legs
laure or 10 Congress- and procure charter Tor bank
This charter authorizes them to make three paper dol
lars for every specie dollar they put into the banks, or
precnd 10 put in and they loan out these paper dol
lars, taking the interest in advance-mak'ng nearly
twenty. one per cent. their money thus the lar
mers money brings in six per centuin while the oahk
es money draws nearly twenty one per cent 1t may
be objected TO TINS that the bankers do not realise Il
per centum-that they Go not put that much INTO Their
pockets Tins may be so, bat ii does not alter The
case 1t matters not who puts The moncy INTO lheIr
Observation-Disclosures stockholders. directors or cashiers
enough TO know that II comes OUT OF Inc pochels
of the people.
Another advantor that the banker has over the far
rer is this: if the bank holds the farmer note all the
farmers property is bound for tie debt; but when The
farmer holds the note OF the bank no part oi The STOCK
holders property bound for IL; he may he rich, ana
the bank insolvent. There many instances where
banks have failed, and the people have lost thousands
by them bile the stockholders with plenty 81 money,
ard abundance Of property, were not liable tor cent
of the bank $ debts. We have striking example OF
this in the IT, $ Bank. That corrupt institution has
,acd for millions: many poor widows and orphans have
lost their all by II, ana now reduced 10 Wetched-
ness and want while Nicholas Bidde and his partners,
abound i'll wealth, and reve IN luxury 1h's is bank
M II privilege granted 10 tie tsw and denied to
the mana il is con,rivance by which the few who do
not work manage 10 convert To tEer own use The pro-
fits Of the labor Of those who DO work. Is tbs equaf
riehts2
The Wings say, that cannot get on without banks.
How dd our furefaihers do without them: They fought
through the revolutionary war, they drove The British
from the country, and achieved their independence,
ALL without the help of a single hank The first bank
ever established in the country was the bank OF North
America Phladeph la which went into operation IN
the year l1c2, with capital of only about 5000 GOO
This baak like all lis successors, soon made itself TO
he felt in the community where 1t dad business. An
able writer describes is effects in the following words
H., saws: ain the year 7e, the bank did very extern
sve business and by the beginning OF l-, the effects
Of lis operations began to be very apparent. They
we're such az banking has always prodHced-a pienti-
followed hY great scarcity, usury, rum
10 The nanv riches to the few. The effects OF tins
single bank severely ielt, that the Legislature
at the following session repealed the act OF ncorpora-
ton Bn the noaeyed interest," even at that early day,
was too strong be put down the hank had tasted
the sweets of the SYSTEM they had made great profits
without the trouble risk of commerce agriculture,
and they were determined not 10 give up tins easy way
OF making money. They accordingly went to work,
they combined al their Efforts and in two years after,
procured re incorporation. The bank interest hav-
inr now secured more footing III tie country,
ilv tn
Their was established, until at the beginning OF the war
in 1872 there were no fewer than l20 banks in the U.
S, with capital o! - millions OF dollars.
The war gave an impulse 10 the system, and 1t con-
tnued 10 spread out lis wings, and ialons. who that
is old enough will not recollect the dcplorable effects
Of the banks on the country at the close Of the war,
and for several years afterwards MIR. Crawford, e
Secretary of the Treasury in an able report made 10
Congress- states that in ISIS the banks had notes IN
circulation 10 the amount OF one hundred and ten m-
IONS and that in 1919 they had called in all to about
fortY fire mllions-tat is, in about three years tme
they had withdrawn from circulation strty ice millions
OF dollars The effects of this rapid contraction on
the country, were awful; bankruptcy and rein spread
over the land everywhere all suffered except The mo-
med few. Nuurcs ia,tcn when the murran RACES:
SO usurers and note shavers grow rich when distress
prevails among the people. The Bank system would
now have gone down under the storm OF public lndig
nation but for the IT, S Bark, and the Protective Ia
rii that came lts Even was, received
serious check which kept 1t within bounds Tor several
wears But IL not in the nature of The system long
to keep with II bounds.
The Protective Tariff of ISIS, and ls32-the opera
tons OF the L. S. Bank in l-3i-:1, and G,-and the
general example of that corrupt institution; the influx
OF money occasoned by State loans in Europe, all unite
to remove every restraint from the local banks The
system took start: banks sprung up everywhere
they mp the face of the country ike bubbles
troubled water; they spread over the land like the To-
Gusts Of Egypt aud with the same effect its pros
peri;y--unt,l l-37, there m fewer than sol
banks in the Y. : with 4 not:nal capital Of I00 mi
lions of dollars But the system had now swollen 10
It's utmost and the crisis fer lis explosion al hand
In 1887 all the banks from end of the Union to the
other stopped payments, discontinued discounts, and
set abou. calling their notes. There at the
time millions millions of their notes in circulation;
all Of whlch at once deprecated in the hands Of the
people, ten, some fifty per cent, while large
amounts became worthless trash 10 those who held
them.
But few of the honest working men of the country
have any idea of what the American community has
lost by the banking system We Will now call the al
-.acI.a L.. L.. l,au.a L.