Hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1843-1845, 1844-10-31
Report Of the Convention ON
COrDOratiOns.

The Report Of the minority OF the Con.
vsntion providing that mo bank or bank
ing corporation Of discount, or circulation.
shall ever be established in this State,
has our decided preference; it is explicit
and manly, the majority report has the
vague Indebtedness Of execution which
grows out Of an anxiety to be at onse in
favor Of. and agains. banking institutions.
It is skulkingly evasive in its whole bear.
ing and while seemingly favoring these as
eociations Of capital, it in fact amounts
to as absolute prohibition of iEcorpora
tions Of this sort as the constitutional
clause proposed by Messrs Hampstead and
O'Brien
We cannot answer for the gentlemen
members Of the convention, they may be
ready to subscribe for the stock of bank
hemmedin as it would be by this chevaux
de frise of loco foco theorising, but when
any considerable portion Of the comrnun,.
ty embark their means on such venture
the sharp promptings Of gain must become
dull and the qnick sagacty OF avarice have
settled into the stupor Of idiocy.
with due humility Of department we
would venture to ask ofthe organized body.
have we not had enough and more than
enough Of this currency cobh!ing7 Have
net your brethren Of Illinois. Michigan,
Mississippi and Arkansas. dealt out their
bard money nostrums to tho fall satisfac.
ten of the whole country? After the wreck
and ruin Of the six past years. the fatal
lapsas Of public morals, the prostration Of
private fortunes and the more corruptin~
influences of violated corporate fait.... by re-.
pudation, is it net time to cause in expe
dents and come back to t!,e beaten track :
We have bad full suf6ciency Of fnancial
star gszing to come down to the sober re-.
gions OF common sense.
Let US reduce the provisions Of this re-.
port to practical operation upon an insti-
tuition hedged in by its Requirement t.. We
proceed upon the assumption that large
proportion If the capital must como from
abroad. or even allowing that We have it
mifi.in- nnrsAi1.s ihnro Is essential differ
ence An iLavidual has in cash $50 900
for which he is seeking investment; he can
loan portion o. it upon bond and mortgage
pnothcr moety can be safely trusted upon
personal security. and with the balance he
wishes to purchase stocks; the Sta tie Bank
Of Iowa is chartered and waits the contri
buttons Of the requisite number of share.
holders TO 20 into full operation. He en-
tiers his name for $4,000: twenty others
having the same amount of means take the
same quantity of stock with himself; the
ba lance Of the capital Of the bank is sub
scribed for by men who are money borrow
ers; they wish to enlarge their business
capital through the agency OF a liberal dis
count line, and mean to enjoy the use OF
their stock in the form Of a permanent
loan with the chance Of oiling their mon
ctary machinery whenever the wheels roll
hard at the Office OF deposite and issue
The twenty one first subscribing, have no
share in the direction and are in no way
morallyresponsble for any Encouragement.
A revision visits the country-blls Of ex-
change come back under protest .anG home
paper lies over unpaid-the current liabili-
ties Of the Bank press home for payment,
specie is exhausted from the vault and to.
tai failure ensues.y The corporation goes
into liquidation and is found to have sunk
its stock entire and to be deficient in assets
100000 and for this 100000 these first
named men are liable, and out of their es-
tates it must be paid. With no share in
producing the catastrophes and having no
benefit beyond the receipt Of a semi-annual
dividend Of 81 per cent, they are still
bound to make up the sinking fund made |
necessary by the incnmpetency or villainy
ofthe men who had custody and control of |
their property.
This is not all-adniitng the whole
business to be we'll conducted and yielding
satisfactory earnings TO the stockholders, /
the legislative grant, called by misnomer
a charter, is liable to revocation at any mo. I
ment during the session Of the legislature,
forcing the bank thereby into hurried adj
justment detrimental to the interest of the
debtors and involving heavy reductions in
the ultimate returns to the original subscri.
bsrs.
lit is the purpose Of the majority to de
prive the inhabitants Of all banking facili-
ties within their own limits and force them
TO depend upon other States for a currency
the Report of the Committee is most admi-
yably calculated for the purpose. The man
who would enter his name upon the stock
books Of such bank as can be created
within the absurdity Of these restric tions.
should have bis property placed under
and his Psrsen put in ssraisbt
jssAes.