The Arkansas banner., 1843-11-04

second place, circulating medium is a crea
 labor-saving machine, for the use of whicl
 we ought not to object to pay, performing a.
 It does functions so useful and indispensable
 as we do not grudge the interest on the capi
 tai invested in a steam engine; and ill tit
 third place, this annual saving, made at tht
 expense of evils incidentally greater, is ab
 solutely nothing ln comparison with the an
 nual income of production of this country
 which IS computed to exceed thousand
 millions of dollars in value.
 The greatest conceivable evil to an indus
 trlous and commercial community is an un
 stable measure of value. Pregnant as 1t i.
 with moral evil of the most fatal character
 the actual physical injury also, to its externa prosperity and well-being, is, we are wei
 satisfied, scarcely less great in amount, though
 incomparably less important i'll it's character
 This has been already too often experienced
 by us to need illustration. The natural fuc-
 tuatlons of commerce, i'll a healthy state
 under the action of the laws of trade, are in themselves an evil serious enough but te superadd to them the gratuitous aggrayation
 of uncertainty ill the measure of value to
 which all its transactions refer themselves
 would seem indeed the last extreme of folly
 It is impossible for any imagination to con ceive full idea of the psrnicious effects ol such a system. It unsettles the basis of all contracts and all calculations; 1t gives to every business more or less of speculatino and gambling character, and taints the na- tlonal heart in greater or less degree with the fatal moral poison which pervades the at mosphere of the gaming-table. It presses like dreadful incubus upon the poor man, and the plain laboring mass of the people, tending as t does constantly to keep up all imitation of the prices of the necessarics of life above the rates of the wages of labor, and exposing them to frequent vicissitudes, with the disasters with which the periodical revulsions attendant on the system agitate and derange all the movements of society. 1t stimulates an unhealthy and immoral spirit of speculation, which seduces countless thou sands from the slow and laborious pursuits of productive industry to the more tempting avenues to speedy wealth, at the cost of the labor of others, which 1t seems to open to them. And even if 1t does from time to time excite enterprise and industry to more rapid development of country's resources than might otherwise take place-which may well be doubted-lt is but the morbid overacton of intoxication, and, in addition to the loss of the actual waste of luxury, the country is again thrown back by every periodical revul- sion to point less advanced than it would have reached within the same time ill more healthy and natural progress.
 It IS great mistake to imagine that credit Is at all dependent upon the use of bank paper. This error, which is so prevalent, arises from a confusion of ideas between credit proper, and credit-money It by no means follows, that because credit is a good thing in itself, 1t ought to enter into the standard of value. and thus establish universal system of double or compound credit. On-the contrary, since confidence on the part of those who give credit is its first element, 1t is plain that every cause in operation tending to unsettle the basis on which the business of the commit nity is conducted, and thus to increase it's uncertainties and multiply its risks, is seri- ous injury to healthy and legitimate credit The fact is, that under our much vaunted ''credit system," we have comparatively little of sound and natural credit Credit is thing essentially personal in its naftire, having to the character and competence of the individual to whom it is given; yet who ever hears of pcrsoaGl credit being given to any extent among Us ? It is rarely given but for very short terms, accompanied with practice of suretyship, which is, after all, en- urely nugatory, giving rise to that of inter- changing endorsements, which thus makes each loan dependent on the means of the single individual, and not on the double se- curity. Or who ever hears of credit being given to character-to the personal worth and integrity of young men commencing bu- siness? A very different system of credit prevails in those commercial communities in which 1t has a sound currency to rest upon; and it can never be until we reform amongst ourselves this radical evil of fuc- tUating currency, that we can realize half of the benefits of this all important principle of commerce and civilization, Credit.
 Suppose the present state of things reform ed, and a sound currency introduced, found- ed strictly on the metallic standard, by some gradual process that should guard against any ohuuOb Ol DooIo Ol tAiSlliiS contracts-that is to say, specie alone, and paper representing specie, dollar for dollar what would be its effect The nominal value of all property would be somewhat re- duced, though much less than is commonly The general scale of prices would be lowered, including the necessaries and comforts of life, which would remain mo- derate and uniform, regulated solely by the iattirai | idsss=oifs trade. We ssAeuld4ehjey=an immense advantage over all foreign nations using paper currency, in producing at low specie prices. Our exports would be vastly increased in quantity and profit We should manufacture not only for ourselves at lower cost than the foreign manufactures could at- ford, but should be able to undersell him in the market of the world. Of those articles of foreign production desirable for comfort or luxury, which we could not so advanta- geously produce at home, the exchange of our staples and products would bring us back a larger amount than at present, under our