Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-08-12
An Objection Answered.


One of the principal objections urged by
wings and bankers to the return to the Con-
stitutional currency of gold and silver-the
only currency that possesses intrinsic value
and that defrauds no man-is, that there is
not specie enough in the country with which
to do its business; and many an honest la
borer has been half frightened out of his
senses by the miserable pretence and buga-
boo story of the bankers and their advo-
Gates and apologists, that the democrats
were seeking to depress the wages of labor
to the standard of labor in foreign countries
where the labor markets are overstocked
and where capital has supreme control o.
yer it, as it soon will have in this country
unless the power Of the Legislature is soon
interposed to prevent the plundering of la
bor by combinations of capital under the
fimsy and false pretext of augmenting the
price of productions and increasing the re-
ward of industry. What is most surpris:
ing is that while the banks are reaping the
rich harvest of 16 and 20 per cent. upon
dead unproductive capital, without the ap-
plication of labor, the investment Of like
amount of capital in agricultural and me-
chanical pursuits, with the requisite amount
Of physical and mental labor to manage it
and carry on the business in which is en-
| Io1a 81 flo,,
4 or per cent. per annum, and laborers
are receiving barely the means Of present
subsistence, so many of them should be so
anxious to be deceived by the syren song Of
the money lords into the belief that banks
are instituted for the benefit Of the people
or that they can by possibility result to
their advantage. And yet, SO much inhu.
ence has this hollow hearted pretence, that
there is not enough specie in the country to
do its business had, that notwithstanding
the people have been most severely feeced
in times gone by, yet thousands are anx.
ious to noursh the viper that has stung
them.
The Toledo Republican, in reply to ar
article in the Detroit Tribune, in few word:
: answers this fimsey objection and shows
, that the people can as well have specie
f currency as a miserable rag one. The Re
publican says:
"The Tribune says there is not banking
, capital sufficient in half of the state of Mich
igan. This is great error of the Tribune's
The surplus wheat of the Western State!
sells for specie currency, in the Eastern cit
les. 1t will as readily command eagles ane
E halfeagles, as bank paper. The only rea
S son why coin does not flow into Michigan
= and the Western states, to the extent o
: their surplus, is that the banks intercept it
r flow into the hands of the farmers, su bsti
!, tuting deprecated and doubtful paper mo
: ney, for gold and silver. The banks ge
C the gold or silver, and the people get ly
7 ing representative of tive will thanl
: the Tribune to inform the public how th
increase of paper money in Michigan is Il
0 add 10 the value of the surplus products o
!, that State? Your surplus sells for coin
a Why is the agency of paper money in tn
: slightest manner, necessary to aid the far
f mers in obtaining the full value of thei
i products? Exchange agents. or privat
: bankers, as we'll as forwarding and com
J. mission merchants are necessary and legit
S innate agencies in transporting produce from
S the hands of the producer to the consumer
= but paper money banks, have heretofore, il
;. Michigan and other Western states per
J, formed no other part than to rob the pro
d ducer of his earnings"