Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-09-23
lost by the public from the failure of banks
is aeinailY enormous %

! lost by the public from the failure OF BANKS
is actually enormous
According to Mr.. Gallatin, authority
lha, wings ought not to deny, the amount
lost by the failure of banks in the U. S.
from the first of January 1911, to the first
of fully 1890, was :hirty millions, on
capital of one hundred and forty millions
and he further believes, ''ti,at the pecunia-
nv loss sustained by government on loans
raised during specie payments, and from
bank failures, exceeded four millions OF
dollars" making thirty four millions in
period of nineteen and half years y
| would here ask the wise and disinteres-
ted friends of paper money how long it
would take the benefits arising from
paper currency, to make up for this loss to
the people!
President Wayland on this subject of
frauds, again says. in speaking of the U.
S. Bank of Pennsy lvania: "rhe whole
capital Of this institution, 35 millions of
dollars, has in two or three years vanish
ed, and fear that neither seer, nor pro-
phe,, nor jury, will ever tell us where it
has gone. And this management, or fraud,
was committed by men who were celebra-
ted as models of financial ability, and dis
interested patriotism, and in a city proud
of its mercantile faith 1t is surely not
| remarkable if, with such facts recent in
their recollection, there should arise in the
minds of the people, serious distrust of
banks" 1t must be that if the managers
of that concern whre honest, and models
Of financial ability, that the system of pa.
per money is wrong, or the result would
not have been SO disastrous.
| suppose that the Havre de Grace
Bank, which has just failed, was managed
with the same kind of Financial ability
and disnterested patriotism''-lor the ben
| eft of the-stockholders
The third disadvantage isfuctuataon in
the price of bills of exchange or in curren-
cy. This arises in n great measure from
| the power banks have in contracting and
expanding their issues and is so simple
that any one can understand the process.
When the power is exercised viciously,
immense damage and loss is the result
and that it has been done, is too much a
matter of history to deny.
The Journal is welcome to all it can
make off Of President Wayland and if
his work was in the hands of every voter
in Ohio, if it did not result in the utter an.
Inhalation of every bank of circulation in
| the State, it would restrain them in such O
manner that they could do comparatively
little harm
If banks Of circulation were confined to
their legitimate business, that is, to the
, LENDING OF THEIR CREDIT, the business of
deposit, excl 'ge, and discount or loan
would be carried on by banks of deposit,
exchange and discount. When this sub.
iect becomes to be fully understood !; when
the people find out that promises TO pay
are not money, Cor if they were every one
who could write a promise to pay, would
be as rich as he desired) any more than
promises TO give bread are bread then
paper money will have few apologists,
other than bankers, and those who tawn
on them for places. The day of emanci-
patton is coming. The hand writing is
upon the wall; and we can tell the banks
of Ohio, that when the year 1856 rolls
ever and ever. According to Hunts Mer-
chants Magazine 52,00O,000 dollars in
gold have arrived in tho United States
| within the last eighteen months and the
probability Is that the golden stream will
not cease but rather that the amount in
the next eighteen months will be larger
1t now remains for the people of the Uni
TED States to determine whether this gold
shall be retained in the country, or whether
it shall be buried in the vaults of banks, or
driven to foreign countries to make room
here for more paper money.
EQUAL RIGHTS.