The North-Carolina standard., 1843-10-11
saturday, October 2, IsA3.
For the the North Carolina Standard.
The advantages of Paper Money.
mo 5.)

(No. s.
The advantaoes of hard money currency and
of paper currency can no where be better Illus
rated and compared than by looking at the con-
5aion of France and England They are both
I'D countries, with dense population in each, and
,re Governed by political institutions rs nearly
similar as perhaps any two nations which we can
fod In France we find the condition of the great
mass of the people, according to the accounts of
al travellers who have seen both the French and
the English infinitely more comfortable than that
If the British people In England with the most
hard-working people on earth, and perhaps as
bardIiving and frugal as any, we see small pro-
portion of her people wallowing in splendid luxu-
~ and possessing immense wealth, whilst the re-
mainder. constituting probably ninety-nine hund-
rphs are steeped in the ostdegraded and wretched
noverty and ignorance Thousands of the Brit
ish people every year die of actual Starvation
L is enough to make the blood run cold to read
the official and we'll authenticated reports, which
are annually made to the British Parliament, Of
the condition of the laboring classes If any Of
our Southern slaves were found in such state ol
extreme labor, starvation, and most barbarous cor
pora punishment, as is to be met with every
where in Great Britain, the owner would soon be
brought under the operation of Lynch law 1t
would be an easy matter in England 10 find one
man who is rich enough 10 buy every atom of
property owned by his fellow citizens: Let us look
at our country and see if we are not fast approach
mga similar state ofthings. Before the era of Bank
ing and paper money! the American who was
worth hundred thousand dollars was considered
immensely rich-a perfect Nabob. Now, we
have great many who can count their millions.
The art Of making one hundred per cent. per an
mum on money was unknown TO our simple and
honest ancestors But since the Introduction OF
Banking cunning ones amongst us perform the
feat quite handily l can we'll remember when it
was considered great disgrace for man to break
in this country. The fact of mans failing was
looked upon as prinpa tacie evidence of his hav-
ing been foolishly extravagan or shamcfully lazy.
Nowadays it is no more disgrace to be a bank
rupt than it is to have a fit of the cholic. The
reason of this change of public opinion is evident,
Wcsee honest, industrious, and frugal men fail
every day. through the ruinous changes in the va
lue of property produced by the doings Of the
Banks
But let US return to the comparison between
France and England. Every person at all acqualnt-
ed with the French people knows that in persever-
ing industry and economy they are far inferior tothe
British. The Frenchman, if it costs him his last
SOUS, will have frequent holiday-will drink his
wine, and have his fiddle and his dance, with an
occasional visit 10 the theatre. Yet with all these
leaks in his purse, the condition of the French la
boring man is greatly more comfortable than that
of the English. Another of the alleged advan-
ages of Banks is the stimulus which they give to
industry This too, is readily admitted. But there
unfortunately other things which they stimu-
late as much as they do industry. Among these
are shockingly long and black list of evils which
almost invariably attend the acquisition of sudden
wealth. They stimulate dishonesty. Witness
the hundreds of Bank officers who have become
defaulters, as our relaxed morals allow them to be
called; or, in plain English, haze stolen money.
Witness the thousands of counterfeit bank notes
which are daily imposed on the ignorant and poor
In fact, witnesses to prove that they do stimulate
dishonesty are so abundant that a man with his
eyes open cannot avoid seeing them. They slim
ulate extravaganza This is so evident that it i;
unnecessary to summon any witness to prove it
Yet there is one species of extravaganza which
think deserves special mention. have frienc
and neighbor with whom and his family anc
mine have been on the most sociable terms of in
tercourse. Our style of living has been the same
In the great fluctuations in the value of property
he sees an opportunity to make large specula
ton. He stakes his money or his credit on {
card, and it turns up winner. He is now rich
much richer than l. We all know that with in
creased wealth, particularly when suddenly ac