Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-07-07

~ There cannot be much doubt that
the farmers Of the country, notwithstand-
ing they have been receiving big prices for
their products, will be pretty efectually
fleeced in the end by the failure of some
Of the banks which have been furnishing
the currency for the dear people,
Although the professed object of the bank
ties in establishing the present banks in
this State has been to afford the people a
sscurrency about which they would know
something still but very small proper
ton of the paper circulation of the state is
of the Ohio banks. The greater part Of it
is on the banks Of the eastern states. AL
ready has one Of those banks (the Water
town Bank) failed, after having got thou
sands Of dollars Of its lying promises into
the hands ofthe people in exchange for their
produce. This is but the opening scene in
the great swindling operation. We may
feel disposed to put afar off the evil day,
but the experience Of the past should teach
US tha, these failures may come upon US in
day and an hour when we least dream of
them. We see the banks making fair ex-
hibits of their condition, nd think, perhaps,
that it is impossible for them to fail, never
remembering that it was while bank Off
GERS were making out statements showing
the banks to be in q perfectly safe condi-
ton, that one bank bubble burst upon US.
The New York Globe, in speaking of the
failure of the Watertown Bank, says:
''It is not improbable that many other
similar institutions, whose soundness is
quite as defective as this, exist among the
banks of this State"
II is estimated that about $26, 600, 600
of specie has been brought into this country
within the last year for the purchase Of
produce, and yet but mite Of this amount,
if any Of ii, has ever found its way into the
pockets Of tho farmers. No, they are en-
titled to "betier currency''-a ''homs cur
rency," composed Of the rags Of the most
worthless and irresponsible rag factories
scattered throughout oil christendom. And
is this the manner in which the people are
benefited by the creation of brood Of swim.
ding banks in this State, for the avowed
purpose of driving home and keeping out
the worthless trash from other States, aad
furnishing the people with currency of
their own?
And OF what benefit have the banking
institutions Of this State been to the laboring
people2 Have they furnished a market
or a demand for the produce Of ,hecountry
Ne. AS we have locked abroad, for the
market for the productions Of the country,
so, also, should we have looked to that mar
ket for the means with which to purchase
them; and thence has it been brought by
almost every vessel that has landed at our
ports, but the people have it not; no, they
have not even the1blessed ssred,baek" as its
substitute, bat Watesioscn und many other
| imihr institutions, whose soundness is
quite as defective as this,' furnish the cur.
rency for the people. But, we shall proba.
bly, be told, as has been asserted thousand
times by the bank advocates, that banks are
necessary to enable tho farmers to obtain
good prices for their produce-that without
banks, sswheat would bring buta shilling a
bssshsl, and labor and everything else would
be down equally low.'' But the last few
months have shown most conclusively that
the price isgoverned by the demand abroad
and the means there with which to purchase.
If the price was dependant upon the d.
mount Of bank paper in circulation here,
why, certainly the price Of grain should
be higher than it has been at any time with.
in the last six months, for there is less grain
TO- be sold, with prospect Of a poor crop al
the approaching harvest, and great sup
ply of bank rags Of the most questionable
value with which to purchase it. Ought
not the price Of everything to be at the
highest notch under these circumstances?
10 The Legislature Of Connecticut ad