Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1842-03-15
From the Nashville banner
"HISTORY Is PHILOSOPHY
TEACHING BY EXAMPLE"

puOllC uudnCe anu common currency
present at this time a most extraordi-
nary spectacle. The State Bank sys-
TEN has been abandoned on all hands
the sub-Treasury has been tried and
condemned by the people-a Nation
al Bank, twice presented by the peo
pies represe natives, has twice met
an Executive Veto, under such cir
cumstances as to preclude the hope of
ever procuring the assent Of the present
Executive head. and the only alterna-
tive presented from any quarter is the
recommendation by the President of |
Fiscal plan, which, from It's very in
ception, seems to be Stunned and dis
trusted by all parties as a monster
threatening at once the overthrow of
the Constitution, the republican sim
plicity and ultimately the liberties, of
the people. Thus, the ireest, the most
energetic, and perhaps the most en-
lightened people on earth, are borne
down and heavily burdened with a
general and widespread embarrrss-
nent-with national and individual
bankruptcy, without a prospect Of re-
liel-without adequate prices for pro-
duce or property, and without any es-
tablished system, or any promised sys-
tenn Of finance, to meet the future ext
gencies of the country. What specta-
Gle! and a spectacle too, the positive
result Of a train of causes traceable to
our own folly in legislatiOn-traceablc
from the first act of violent interference
with that quiet sea OF national Prosper'-
NJ so distinctive Of the period of the
full and free operation of NATION
AL BANK, down, through those
turbulent rapids Of Bank Vetoes,
Treasury Circulars, and Executive
Experiments, to our own times of ut
tier prostration-a dead sea of deep
pervading national paralysis and indi-
vidual ruin.
Thus we have plunged from the
paths of tried safety and prudence into
the fearful labyrinths Of untried exper-
ments, every effort taking US farther
from the great highway of national
prosperity, till experiments themselves
have run short, and We are brought 10
an awful stop. What is to be done?
How are we TO extricate ourselves from
the labyrinth of momentary derange-
mcnts into which all classes OF the
country are more or less involved?-
For one, we believe it cannot be done
till we return TO that policy which ex-
tricated the country from similar evils
,, in 1791-which being discarded in
1911, left US again at the mercy of rot
ten Stale Banks, and the avalanche oil
troubles which ensued-aHd which,
being established again in 1916, again
brought about, as soon as in the nature
Of things it could be brough! about, a
healhtIul and prosperous state of the
momentary affairs of the county,
We alude to the policy Of a NATION
AL BANK. And whilst we repeat,
that history is philosophy teaching
by example" we would proudly point
our countrymen TO the prosperous
condition of "our whole country, un-
der the full and free operation of a ma
onal Bank, contrasted with the mis-
cradle arrangement in It's finances and
prostration Of its wealth and energies
f whenever any other policy has been
2 relied on, as an evidence that we mus
= again return TO such an institution.
D in the language of General Jack
D sons Secretary Of the Treasury il
r 1S32-"The indispensable necessity
Of such an institution for the fiscal op.
e eratiOns Of the Government in all it:
= departments, for the regulation anC
= preservation of a sound currency, fol
J.: the aid of commercial transactions gen
= orally, and even for the safety and utilr
ty of the local banks, is not doubted
: and as is believed, has been shOtcn u
S tie past experience of the. Government
= and IN the general accommodation anc
i operations Of the (late) Lank."
Indeed continues the Secretary:--
r "The present institution may be con
: sidered as peculiarly the ofspring o
thai necessi'y,springing from the incon
reniences 1rhich JoILo,red lie loss of The
first Bank of the United States and the
eUiLs and distreSScS incident to the erces
# sire, and 10 some instances fraudulent
= issues OF tie local banks during the war
: The propriety OF continuing it is TO bt
considered, not more in reference t.
# the expediency of banking generally
: than in regard to the The actual state o
: things, and TO the multiplicity Of Stat
f banks dlready IN existence, and tchicj
e can neither. BE displaced nor IN any 9th
t err manner controlled in their issues o
= paper, by the General Government.
We will soon again advert to thi!
y subiect---and when we trust more
leisure will allow US to do it more jus
r tice.
THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO, Al
DELPHI.-This temple, even wheI