Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1843-05-06
MIS- CELL A n f. o u =.
T. x Il Il A & L )
DERANGEMENr OF the Currency.
From the Address Of the Virginia 1VAig State
C0nrenti0n.

10 which we are disposed manly 10 ascrtoc the
long train Of evils and disasters TO which the
country has since been exposed On the ruin Of
that one rose several hundreds Of similar ms itu.
tions; TO replace is 30 millions, upwards ot 2UO
millions of banking capital was legtsIated INTO
existence; TO compensate The withdrawal OF us IL
or II millions Of Circulation, more than ioo inl'-
lions Of piper, issued by aeD banks, Hooded lne
country The great organ Of the ne" empirical
school, the Globe, exalted that the States would
now furnish their own currency. President Jack
son. too with Phsetou like folly applied the last
10 steeds Impatient, Of restraint, and already
threatening To involve every hing ia ruin-ur-
cling and stlmu iaiing the banks to those fatal over
ISSUES whence have sprung all our calamlIies.-
Still, for time, the great ezpcrtnf mt seemed a
bout to verify the yaunts with which 1t was miro
duced. To the fair, but moderate rewards Of la
bour, soon succeeded. seemingly, nordnate profits
to rational enterprise, a "iid and hcenuoUs, ,
but yet sanguine sPIrit Vi speculation.
The amount Of money Che measure OF all
other values) circulating al any gwen time, reg
ulates with constant approximation 10 the ra-
ito which that amount holds TO The whole proper
~ Of the country, the prices Of every descrip-
ton of commodity. Hence, the constant increase
of the currency between 1880 and 1897, (lhe a.
mount Of property IN Tho country remaining the
while without material variation, or at least keep
ing pace with the increase of The circulating
medum) furnishing more and more money con-
tInuaily III proportion TO every other commodity,
produced by the inevitable law Of cause and effect
q continual and corresponding rIso III prices
Surprising other cause to operate beyond the
tho mere increase Of money, and that the rela-
tive demand for every sort Of property continued
unchanged through the period, the doubling Of The
circulating medium between the dates mentioned
would have been found exactly to double the price
Of every commodity. But this relative demand
il never the same from year to year, and hence
some commodities exceeded, and other fell short
Of an exact ratio of the increased amount Of cur.
rency-whlle the sPirI. OF speculation, engender-
ed naturally, and as men are constituted neces~
sarily by the rise Of prices seizing, as 1t always
does, on some favoriie object Of investment not
only tended further to disturb the equal pro-
portonate rise Of the price of each particular com
modify, but, nlaming the Imagination gave i'm
pulse the prices of these favoriie objects, hold
ing, in regard them, no proportion whatever to
the mere increase OF The circulating medium
Western land speculaiions was the South sea hub
Bile of The hour and has added-none coniec
ture to how vast an extent-to the evils and dis.
tress necessarily incident to the contraction Of
their issues, and the calling in of their loans by |
the banks Of tho country. IN tho process OF a re.
turn to a second comfortable currency.
Tho voice of prophetic warning had IN VAIN,
bee n raised arrest these mischlevous opinions
these fatal projects. Even of those who, at
first, had hearkened TO these warnings, many
Welded I'D their convictious TO the decisions OF
tho "better currency" era, and were swept IN
the common vortex. But the great mass and
body of the people, Judging, as they ever do and
must, from appearances only, fatally mistook the
false glitter Of those days for the sunshine OF
brief aydrean OF haPpi-
ness, and awoke TO pain.
In the space of seren gears the Banking cGpl>
tai of the Union ,ras increased by more than 10
millions of dollars, and the circulation rose from
81 to $40 millions, addition to the circulating
medium, in that beicf space, Of IS millions of
dollars rhIe Bank loans from 200 millions in
1880, reached 525 millions in 1887. increase
of loans in the same time Of ;}2o millions of dol 4
lars.*
The memorable words-"I leave you us ma
ton, prosperous and happy drowned even as
they were uttered, IN the crash OF falling houses
in the two great emporums of our trade in The
south and tho north, ushered in the last sad epoch.
They have found n continuing response, almost
from that moment TO the present, IN vast and
still widening wnil of despair and distress, as CT
" after city. town after town, and hamlet after
hamlet, and finally, the country well the
towns, have been reached in succession by the
pervading and oil desolating tempest The States
Of the Union oil, without exception, strattened IN
means impaired in crefit--somo on the verge
Of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. sunk, IN tho abyss OF repu-
10 crown all, the Federal Govern
me nj itse IF. the main contriver of all these woes,
exposed to tho unspeakabIe shame Of being driv.
en-, as not trustworthy from the morey markets
Of the world. and often only able to get along by
forcing its bills Of credit on unwilling creditors
completes the deplorable picture of The conse' I
,uences Of ignorant and wicked mi-ruc. !
From the Government in the hands OF Mr.. Van
Buren,, pledged lin his own words TO "foIlow in 5
The footsteps of his illustrious predecessor"-a
pledge which, whether regard the moral, po-
iticai. or economical errors OF that adminisra-
tion it must be admitted he but TOO faithfully full
iled-po relief of course TO be expected
Indeed, after persisting in the measures that :
brough, about the public calamities-after aggra
waiting those calauities by the clumsy and avis !
v ard manner in which the measures were carried
ou,--and addiog for himself other and serious
causes of complaint he hazarded the faIacy raih-
sr than retrace his steps admit his errors, that
however potent TO destroy, i'm &
potent relieve-and coldly babe suffering peo.
,le, cryi ing for relief. 10 look for them
selves. They did so--deposed from power men =
who had shown themselves incompetent 10 the
TASK of Government, revived fresh they JUS
ied, the nations hopes. Under the auspices of p
he lamented Harrison. the confidence was ipduIc-