The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-05-05
From the ~. Y. Sun.
LOOK OUT FOR "BETTER TINES"

We deem it duty to caution our readers against
the evils of "better times" 1t is evident that the
banks throughout the country are mpaently waiting
to bless the country with an abundance of money
again. Circumstances have driven them to a
curtailnent within the past year. There has been
great danger of general explosion owing to the ex-
tensve shipments of specie last fall and the process
Of liquid ition to which many institutions have been
driven in the course of the winter and spring The
movements OF coin for the purpose Of enabling the
sound banks in parts of the South and W est to
resume, and the sweeping atoms OF the Bankrupt
law have also excited approximations and all Of these
causes together have produced wonderful and un-
precedented contraction Of the currency
The pressure in the money market, resulting from
this state of things occasions the cry OF hard times
and people generally look forward with anxiety the
period when the banks will loosen the trngs and
make "beter times" But the banks themselves de-
the arrival of this period more earnestly than any
of their customers Their business, their prime OBJ
iect, their leading motives are 10 make money and
this they can only do by issuing and clreu @lng re-
preventative of money which costs them nothing but
which, owing To the confidence of the public, will
| produce as much profit as real money.
We therefore look fol a sudden expansion and an
extensive issue Of paper money at the earliest moment
that the state of public feeling will admit OF it. The
history of paper money from the first moment of its
existence to the present hour proves that extreme
always follows another ard that the farther the pen
duluIn is driven in direction much farther viii
III tbc othei' ~ 'his tu'e Hot soHaly CA
| ceplion W i'll be found.
| This fact is not the only thing established by fnan
cia history more important lesson is taught in the
results which inevitably flow from it. The "bettel
times produced by bank expansions are in truth pro
ductve Of tenfod greater evils than the pres
sures They not only lay the foundation for other re
vulsions and pecuniary Distress but they unsee The
public mind and corrode the public morals,
Hence it is that we feel mpelled 10 caution the pub
lie against the called better times" which, If they
have not already commenced, cannot be far of. w,
do not expect to arrest the tide prevent the expan
sion which is sure to come but would admonsl
our readers 10 beware of the gided bait let then
! look around them, and count if they can, the thou
! sands whom it has led to destruction and let eacf
one resolve TO depend upon his own industry his owr
moral sefrEy hs eva eata %cR such e
tious "beter times" may give him for moment.
1t is much TO be regretted that we cannot have re
lief from the severe pressure upon the money market
without being carried to the opposite extreme. Blu
we cannot, with our present banking system the thing
| is impossible There is salutary influence tina
will stupthe banks at the proper point when the pro
cess OF expansion gets fairly under way. Obey ms
no impulse bu, misunderstanding to result bu
their own pecunary profit we shall them strain tt
! the utmost extremity their means Of making noney
Their loans and discounts will be rapidly increased
and their circulation extended TO the farthest possb,
limits. What will follow Precisely what has fol
lowed every similar expansion since the creation OF thu
world; and what that is all mankind have learned
from painful experience Therefore we say let eact
man be wise for himself and take warning in time