Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-09-02
The Issue falsely Stated.

The question then TO oe oec'ueo al the
,olls, in October, is, whether the people of a
Ohio shall have safe, sound banking sys-
EN-, with bills convertible into specie at the 8
will of the holder, or whether the State .
shall be flooded by the shinplasters and
paper of foreign banks, over which we
have no control, and of which we can know
nothing.-Portags County Wing.
Who has ever made such an issue? Not
the Democracy, sure. They seek not to
do away with banking in this State for the
purpose of making room for the "shlnpias-
ters and paper of foreign banks" nor does
it necessarily follow that when the people
refuse to support swindling system Of
paper money at home, they must patronize
and support one from abroad. The idea
that is sought to be conveyed and with |
which it is sought to alarm the public mind
is that, in the event of the prohibition OF
paper money banking in this State, there
will not be specie enough with which to do
our business, and, while banks are tolerat-
ed in ot!,er States, we shall be dependent on
them for currency, and shall be compelled
to receive "shinplasters and paper of foreign
banks, over which we have no control, and
of which we know nothing" This idea is
wholly false and deceptive. The people of
Ohio depend for their currency wholly up
ON the sale of their surplus productions.
The producer must buy his money with the
products of his labor, and no one expects to
procure it in any other way. There is no
article of the products of our soil or work
shops but will as readily bring the real as
a fictitious currency, and the fact that we
are surrounded by States which authorize
and sanction paper money system, only
serves to facilitate the introduction and es-
tablishment of the true constitutional cur
rency in Ohio, for specie will find its way
to that locality where there is the greatest
demand for it. The total abandonment of
our paper system would create a demand
for an amount of specie sufficient to sup
ply its place, and that amount we should
receive if we had the surplus productions
with which 10 purchase it, and if we had
not we should not have the amount, even
though our currency were exclusively pa
per.
Then, it is said that over this foreign
rag currency sue can haze no control,
and "of which aoe can knov mothing!'
And this scare-crow is set up by the advo'
Gates of paper money in Ohio, in order te
frig hten the people from abandoning pa
per currency which is yearly robbing them
, of the productions of their toll for the bene
fto set Of capitalists who are plunderins
3 the people under the sanction Of law. Blu
/ is not the assertion that eve have no con
+ troll over this foreign paper ludicrous il
d the extreme, coming as it does form the or
J.. sans and leaders Of party who have de
e MED to the people any right or power to in
e termeddle with these institutions in tn
the least degree, and who have looked wit
e horror upon any proposition in the legisla
e ture to regulate or control them. The
have contended that bank charters wer
sacred things, which were above and b.
yond the reach of the legislative power an
,s Of the people. And yet they are shocked s
the idea of foreign currency over whic
:, we can 'have no control' And, pray, whs
do We know of the present banking sy
tenn of Ohio? 1t is true their Statement
or exhibits Of their condition are made an
! published semi-annually, but they are I
:. unintelligible to the people as is the Chocl
! taw language. They always represent IL
banks as in perfectly safe & solvent Co
-. dition, their debtor and credit balanced
= the fraction of mill. So did that old ha
- lot. the Bank of Wooster, so did also Il
~ Farmers Bank of Canton, and SO did {
- the corrupt and swindling concerns whi
have heretofore failed and left the peor
~ with their worthless lying promises in the
~ pockets. The fact is, the people know I
= ally as little about the present banks as th'
did about the Bank of Wooster or any
l., its sister concerns. They were sadly d
~ ceiyed by their statements and by the VI
~ versal cry of the whig leaders that tho
- >, institutions were perfectly safe and ST
- vent"
l,o We have heretofore shown that this prs
- ing about the convertibility of the bills
~ our present banks into specie at the will
II the holder, is the grossest deception. 1t
r.. the main point with the banks in MAXI
.e. loans to get their money into circulation
,e- far from the locality of the bank issuing
Of as possible. For this purpose, they pied
pc those to whom they loan their paper, not
circulate it in the vicinity of their ban
The paper of other banks then comes il
circulation in that vicinity, and if the p,