Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1845-10-08
Blessings of Banks.

Banks make money plenty. Suppose
a tavern keeper should act upon their
system; should take gill of brandy as
bssis, and then make it plenty by pour
Jog a gallon Of water into it. The BRAN
dy would become plenty to be sure, and
as worthless as irredeemable bank paper
rags. As to banks making money plen-
ty, it is all make believe, as much as
it would be for boy to put cigar into
shoe and call it a steamboat. The
banks make real money scarce, BY lock-
ing ii up in their vaults and shipping II
out of the country.
But banks it is said encourage spirit
Of enterprise-they enable US to build
cities, construct roads and canals. Were
there never any cities, roads or canals,
until paper money banks were incorpo-
rated! And can it be proved to the con-
viction of sober reason that a magni6-
cent city filled with luxury, extravaga ance,
mock Joy and real sorrow, is better than
a fruitful and we'll cultivated country; is
it better to see few rioting in dissipa>
tion and vice, incurring enormous debts
through the instrumsntality of bank
credit which the laborer has ultimately
TO pay, than to see happy thriving
v,riuous population, engaged in the va.
rious branches Of productive industry and
useful occupation? We admit that the
bank credit system does great deal fol
a few favored individuals, enabling them
to build princely mansions, fill them with
gorg eous furniture, stock their cellars
with the choicest wines and load theil
tables with the most costly viands; thai
it enables many without dollar of actual
property, earned by useful toll. to ride
in splendid coach, repose upon couch
of down, and realize all the advantages
of fprodigious wealth. But what does 1t
do for the planter who industriously cul-
tivates his acres and obtains in return
for continued toll, only enough to sus-
tain him in the execution Of his taskl
What does it do for the poor mechanic,
whose lap stone or anvil rings all the
day with the clink of his incessant ham.
mef? What does it do for those who
sre the very pillars and foundation or
which society rests, and without which
society could not exist? Ifgovernmenl
has privileges to give, surely those who
build our honses, and furnish our tables
with food. and fight our battles, are as
much entitled to receive them as the
mere buyer and seller Of silk and laces
or the blower Of stock bubbles, YouI
bank credit system may foster the city
but it ruins the country: it may built
palaces ia the town, but it leaves tn,
cabin 10 the country to fall into ruin
II may afford luxury and profusion to
few, but it spreads vice, ignorance, an,
penury among the many. The pape
money system deranges the whole econ
omy Of life, unsettles the balance Of in
dustry, and leads with inevitable Ger
tainty. at periodical intervals, to sucl
explosions as the one which has nov
covered the land with ruin. The system
in other countries has reduced the lant
owners to tenants--the master first to
journeyman and then to a dependant.
and has finally resulted in bloody revo
lutions. When therefore the Who'll
power Of this country shall be placed il
the hands of few by means Of corpora
tons, when all industry shall be unde
the shackles Of corporate power. VIII
then will vote, who will make the laws
and to what end will laws be nader w
feel il . bounden duty to oppose all bank
except such as the Almighty made
fishing banks and sand banks--and a
shares, but the plough share--U. State
Journal