Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1846-02-26
COMMUNICATIONS.
The following Communication was handed 10 us last
week. bat for want Of room, we were compelled TO
omit il
iron THE srsoTAron.1


Mr.. Editor,-Si,ting quietly at my 6re-side
The other day, rejecting upon the Oregon CUES,
tion and the vast amount of folly, nonsense and
wickedness which had been poured forth IN the
late discu ssion in Congress, along win much
that was sound and wise and PATRIOTIC my cogi-
tations were suddenly interrupted ny the entrance
Of a neighbor. He hardly took time 10 exchange
the customary salutations and be seated, before
he exclaimed: swell, 1 suppose that you have
heard that we are to have Bank :" "Where 2"
asked. l"Whv, here in Ssaunton, forthwith"
I assured him I had not heard word Of it, and
not only go. but that was not at AL aware that
the people of Stanton or of Augusta county had
been taking any steps to procure bank, or that
thew i'm fact stood in need Of bank, or that they
desired to have one, or in short that a commu-
nifty they were at all aware that one was about to
30 established amongst them. My visitor assured
me, nevertheless, that the Valley Bank, upon the
solicitation of some of our citizens was about to
avail herself of authority granted her to establish
q branch here, by an act passed some years ago,
when the country was run mad ON the subject of
banking corporations, and when every little viii
lage in The State thought itself entitled to char
Tor for making paper money.
do not profess, Mr.. Editor, to be profoundly
versed In the science Of political economy, or 10
be specially conversant with The practical work.
ing of our banking system. But had supposed
she following were received axioms, namely
eommercia! communities; that they are useful in
stitutlons in aggrcgating the surplus or unem-
Pioyed capital in a community and divertng it
into the channels of trade; that merely agri-
cultural people, as such, have no need of a bank
amongst them, for if they may occasionally re-
qulre to anticipate the proceeds OF their annual
crop, that constitutes no reason why the bank
should be transferred from the commercial mart
TO which the crop is sent for sale, and set up to
conduct its operations in the midst OF the hus-
baudman's fields, or, what is about the same
thing, in little village where there is nothing
but retail business done.
Will any one pretend there's such an amount OF
heavy any departing mt Of trade, car
ried on in this community, as to require the aid
Of banks here in Stanton to facilitate their ope-
ration Is il probable that such an institution,
90 located, will mainly conhne itself 10 its legi-
innate function of dscounting sound business
papere Or is it not more likely (from the lack
of this proper alimen) to encourage and stimu-
late spirit of adventurous speculation by opera
ting in what is technically called accommodation
paperf Ii this be true, and that II is true the
history Of an hundred villages in our country,
and of some even in our own State bears witness,
then what may we expect to see in tho course of
a few years1 Combining our observations TO our
own town, we may expect. in the first place, to
see more houses and finer ones going up than
there persons to occupy them or purses
long enough Gin the long run) to pay for them.
Then we shall see rents coming down, that un-
failing token of general apathy and decay of bu-
siness. Then property brought under the ham,
mer Of the auctioneer or sheriff, will be seen to
change hands at half its value and far less than
half its prime cost; and so we shall have verified
amongst US an old homely proverb, that 'fooks
build houses for Oise men 10 Hre an"
That may not be thought vain babbler in
this business or an idle alarmist, suffer me to
quote paragraph from very approved work by
Iicko Cd nd poti
mist. mean Professor Tucker of the Unver-
sity Of Virginia. He is decided friend of
sound and wholesome banking system. In his
work on "Money and Banks" in reviewing some
Of the evils of the system, he says:
~. In the same way that banks encourage
overtrading and speculation they encourage ex-
pensive habits. Those who can obtain money so
easily can put OF payment at pleasure, are often
careless and thoughtess of their expenses. We
see proofs of this effect of banks in the great in
crease of buildings, and in the more costly cha
Tacter of the dwelling houses, which is to
follow the establishment of bank in q town !;
and also in the many examples of persons who
have large accommodations at bank, and live ex-
pensively, bat whose affairs, when once fully
made known, show that they have long been in
solvent" p. 1879.
Evils, these, Of some magnitude, surely, and
worthy to be pondered-evis growing partly out
Of too ready facility of procuring accommoda-
error, namely, that banks make money, as if
any thing else than industry and frugality and
intelligence could ever make money or accumu-
late capital. In casting about for the probable
causes which have terminated this scheme of a
branch bank, a scheme we had supposed defunct
some o! 10 years ago, my eye fell upon another
passage in the work already cited, and which |
beg leave also to quote. The author is consider
ing the influences sometimes brought 10 bear upon
the Legislature in applications for bank charters,
and what are the duties Of the law-giver before
conserving 10 grant charter. He says:
''Ihere are two descriptions Of persons who
might be very DESTROYS to see bank established
where it may not be at all needed They are
those who expect 10 be employed in conducting
1t, and those who are anxious to become borrow
ers Against ;heir arts and representations the
Legislature should be on its guard, although
they may have enlisted the cooperation of few
capitalists, as they are sure to do. To secure
the requisite solidity, two things seem essential
One is that the bank should have sufficient a.
mount of capital; and the other is that such capt.
tai should be real, not nominal or borrowed"
Whether the rage for Office that has seized upon
so large part of the American people and daily
urges them TO beg for stall at the public crib
rather than gain livelihood by their own indie
pendent efforts, has begun to extend itself into
our little community. | know not. Whether,
desPairing of further benefactons at the hands of
the Legislature in the shape of public institutions
with salaried officers attached to them, there be
any who are willing to 90 back to the act of 1886
or 1897, hoping 10 re-animate corpora,io- Lang
aimee regarded as extinct, that thereby some may
snugly bestow themselves Or their friends in Of
ace, pretend not to decide. Bot this will say,
for it is NY sincere conviction, that whereas the
institutions already established here are noble in
their design and admirable in themselves, orna-
ments to the State, and honorable to our nature,
the proposed Institution is not required by the
wants of this community nor desired by the great
mass of the people; and so far from holding out
any fair prospect of permanent benefit TO the