The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1843-05-17

Mo",nory I Bank paper IA per cent. under par.
Ta psU%s'' Exchanges IA per cent discount
| 1t is important TO place this record, in this
connexon because il siences forever all the ar
gument on the subject and proves what every
man, acquainted with mercantile transactions,
has always known, namely, that the exchange
between two places, IS the cost Of the transpor-
talon of specie.
| Mr.. Clay, then, the would-be Bank President,
has nothing left 10 sustain him and his monster
on the score Of its regulation of exchanges;
there remains, therefore, only the alleged ne
cessity for it TO manage the fiscal affairs of the
Government, and 10 loan money. Money can
be had for all the purposes of business in great
abundance at the usual rate of interest; and at
the next meeting Of Congress, the able finan-
cier at the head of the Treasury will no doubt
show that the receipts and payments of the Go
vernment have been as well and as safely made
as at any previous period.
| The truth Of the mater turns on, to be- that
the immense circulation of paper as money has
| been the main cause of all the difficulties we
| have had TO encounter, and that the creation OF
a Bank Of The United States, with power 10
contract and expand the currency al pleasure,
would be the very thing, of all others, most like
" TO un selte exchanges.
! am not about TO argue The Bank question;
that is hai PLY put To rest, and hope ior,ver-
! but these few hints appear necessary 10 stIip on
the my stery which has been often successfully
urced TO those uniformed u on these matters,
who have been made 10 believe that Bank Of
'"e ohued Sr"'-s was necessary to regulate ex-
cnanges' and carry on the fiscal operations of the
| Government
AS nope, ere very long. to show Thai tbo-o:
no mys cry at all IN money matters but Il al
any and every man may understand The whole
subject; and as the regulation Of exchanges was
one OF the mystic operations of the great Wing
financial system have thought il ST thus TO
denolsh that a. auYi larry TO clearing sway all
the rubbish which has been accommodating around
this pain and simple affair of money and cur
rency.
Money should possess intrinsic va ue in itself
Every farmer who sell. bushol of whea, should |
receive Tor 1t at the time Of payment its value, |
not IN raper, but in money He may sell it |
upon credit by trusting his n,ighbor, but when |
that n,ighbor pays, he should pay IN what OF it, /
self Is value, and not in a promise Of others 10
pay, which a bank note unqucsrionaby is. | |
know II is said man may give away his wheat.
and has, therefore, right TO receive for it wha,
be pIeases, and this do not deny. But do
deny the power the representatives Of the Peo-
pie have TO give charter TO certain men 10 cir
culae certain rieces Of bank paper as money
without making those who receive the prc6l
from It liable TO any losses the holder of il NAV
at any time, sustain. THIS is the great evil of
our banking system, ard as long as this shall
exist, we are IN great danger from it, IL may
not DC wise, at this lime, when the danger Of
loss is small, TO disturb our present ate Banks
and would be the last man, by any yiolen,
measures, 10 injure them or their cred'. | am
now m rely stating what all men Of business
know, indeed what mo people know, and claim
no me'H for originality in these IDEAS; but now
is quiet time, and the facts are al before US.
and, therefore, like The preacher who urges uron !
US duties Of which we are all perfectly consci- ,
Gus, would urge upon my fellow-clizens {
these apl srently simple views-for simple as J
they are, they involve mighty consequences
to the well-being Of society and the permanent ,
prosperity OF the many millions Of the human a
family who may any Of them be of, n deprived !.
Of the hard earnings OF their whole previous er-
stences, FROM the fuc uatons arising in mis- y
guided confidence 10 soulless eorpor tons, which
IN unwi,e Legislation has endowed with the =,
bower OF r,boing them without any one being !,
morally responsible for the theft.
Had the power law fully 10 do so, | w uld o
make every stakeholder in every blnk in the Il
Union liable for its b.s but as that cannot be !,
lone, trust those who egislste uron this sub
ect will be instructed by their constituents ne.
er 10 grant chatter, or TO renew an existing W
me, with'ut such responsibility on the stock. "
old,rs. So
] he true principle undoubtedly would be. TO D'
brow open the banking business, like all others q
rantns no charters Of any kind; but a, We @
ray not have yet arrived to the exact poin,
rhen the public Interest, would be best promoted =,
y such measure, however public opinion W,
,oud sanction III would at least take care in 10
] future legislation, to create no more soulIes, &C.
Operations. TO
Nothing Of any kind new here. The letter
John Minor Bolts is Of course paraded in
'me Of our high party papers, but from what OF
ear few appetltes are sufficiently gross, even Gu
this scandaous age, for such garbage. The NO
ily charitable conclusion is, that the man is CO.
ad-for his iarago i below a fish woman in