The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1844-12-18


bilities to which other persons are subjec
ted.
1st. 1t is claimed that the stakeholder.
Of banks shall be exempted from personal
responsibility for the payment of theil
debts, and the redemption of their notes
1t is difficult to conceive how any commu.
nifty, blinded by neither by prejudice nor
by interest, can be deluded into the Justice
OF this claims. Why should bankers not
be made responsible for their bank debts
upon equal footing with the individual cit
izen? The business of banking is not a.
ny more hazardous, indeed, if prudently
and honestly conducted, it is less so than
the mercantile or manufacturing business,
or other ordinary pursuits. If those who
own the banks, and have the entire con-
troll and management Of them, are unwil-
ling to trust their safety themselves, they
ought not to be tolerated in asking the
community to trust them, and to adopt
their promissory notes as money. When
il bank fails, the loss mrst fall either on
the holders of its bills and creditors, or
upon its stockholders. The former re-
ceive none Of the profits Of the bank, and
have no voice in It's management. Moth
ing can be more fagrantly unjust than
that the bankers, who receive the profits,
and have the entire management and con-
troll of their institutions, should require
the community to run the risk and bear
the loss Of a failure. The individual citi-
zen, who industriously follows his pur-
suits, regularly continues to increase his
ability to discharge his liability as he &c
cumulates property. But not so with a
bank; it divides all its profits among its
stockholders as they accumulate. The
riches which are acquired by q bank are
not retained by the corporation, but are
regularly, at short periods, divided, and
left to accumulate as private property in
the hands of the individual stockholders.
The stockholders, therefore, may be poor
in their corporate capacity as a bank,
while they are immensely'weaIthy intheir
private capacity, as individuals, from the
profits received from their bank. Thus q
bankmay fail and become insolyent, either
%fraudulently or otherwise, and the poo
pie, with a large amount of paper in cir
culation be left to suffer, while the stock
holders are living in afIiuence and sur
rounded by wealth, accumulated by means
Of the bank. The exemption Of the stock
holders from individual liability holds out
strong inducements to engage in eXces-
sive issues ofbank paper, in order to make
large profits, and furnish the means of
committing frauds with %impunity,
Cd: 1t IS claimed that banko shall be ex-
empt from liability to taxation upon their
capital, and be subject to be taxed merely
on their dividends or profits, All other
persons are taxed for the support Of the
Government, 'on the capital Of their in.
vestments. The private citizen who lends
at 6 per cent. interest is taxed / per cent
on his capital, while banks, with extra.
ordinary privileges, claim that taxation
shall touch only their profits.
Sd: 1t is cluimed hat the charters o.
the banks shall be exempt from all liabiI.
ity to alteration, amendment or repeal, by
the Iawmaking power Of the State. Pri
vate copartnerships, and all the modes Of
prosecuting other branches Of industry
are subject to the correcting hand of lcgis
@lation. But from analogy to the pHsu
med infalIibility of the divine prerogativt
of kings, the people arc to be led to be
Iieve that banks can do no wrong; ant
that therefore, a certain sanctity should
be thrown about their chartered rights
and proceedings, which will place then
above the reach of the rude arm of sover.
Ieign power.
4th: 1t is claimed that they shall be pro
tectedlrom any act on the part Of the gov,
eminent. or private citizens, calculated tC
Impair public confidence in them, mas
much as their success depends upon keep
ing suspicion asleep.
9TH: 1t is claimed that their condition
and proceedings shall, at all times, be ex
empt from examination and inspection by
public officers, Although the public ha
a deep interest in knowing their condition
and mode Of doing business, yet it i
Ihoug't necessary that the mysteries OF
the bank parlor should be scrupulously
concealed from the public eye.
9th: 1t has been claimed that in the8t
times Of extraordinary emergency ani
financial embarrassment and distress, the,
should be permitted in order to relieve
the people and prevent The gold and sI've
from flowing out of the State, to suspen,
specie payments, and thus violate the on
ly condition upon which they were gran
ted the high privilege of converting thei.
promisssory notes into currency.
Such are briefly the leading privileges s
exemptions demanded for banks in thi
State; and it is not a matter of surprisl
the persons who set up such claims shoulC
reject the terms ofthe existing laws, ant
even pronounce them impracticable. How
far these high prerogativcs shall be con
ferred, and by what restrictions and safe
guards the community shall be protected
is submitted to the wisdom Of the Legis
~Iature. The banks themselves or thos,
directly interested in them, arc certain
y not the proper persons TO prescribe tn,
terms on which they shall obtain extra
ordinary privileges and exemptions
Reflection and observation have tended t.
confirm my conviction that time and ex
narianrp will nrova the wisdom ne th,