Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-09-23
From the Ohio Statesman.
The Journal on Banking.
NUMBER III.

assuaned in its second and third articles, to
be falss, wherein il portrays in glowing
coiors the evils that are to result from the
return Of the country to the honest curren.
cy of gold and silver, we will now notice
wha, il says in.i,s fourth article: g.
Banks we suppose 10 be natural
growth-an instrumentality Of commerce
Wherever commerce is active, and the peo'
pie free 10 chose their mode OF doing busl-
ness, there are banks. They were origin
ally ggested by the wants OF business
men. and have grown and multiplied with
the esowth of business. We propose to
publish a few chapters from philosophical
work written by the President of Brown
University, and adopted as text book no.
ouly in many of the best a1stl!nt'ons Oh
learning, but by statesmen who have han
occasion 10 study the subject 1t is mod
ern book. and as we'll posted up on all mat
ters of real political progress as any 9th
or, and the subject is presented IN such
plain, clear, and forcible manner, that no
one can fail TO understand it, aud in COM
pass so brief, that it can be read without
fatigue or loss of pat ience.
We fully agree with the Journal in all
it saws in ihe above. But we are perfect
" as,onished at its brazenfaced efronle-
~ in holding out the idea to an intelligent
people,, that the democratic party are now
or ever have been opposed to banks Of de-
posit and exchange and of discount or
loan! AS before stated, in number one Of
this series, we consider these banks ben
eit, for the reason that they keep the cop.
r in cir n
What barefaced impudence then is it, for
that paper and that party, to endeavor to
make the people Of Ohio believe, that
because the democratic party are opposed
to all that is bad in baLking-that is, to
giving i privileged fsw, legal right to
make their debts circulate as money-that
they are opposed to all that is good also.
believe banks of deposits and ex-
change and Of discount or toan, to be
q na,aral growth-instrument of COM
merce.s But we believe banks of circmla-
tion OF iissae 10 be The offspring Of money.
wizza,ds, who with the ingenuity Of con.
jurors have, by "A singular species of
legerdemain, contrived to make their debts
bring them in large revenues; thus rever-
ring the rule, that s'the debtor shall pay
intsresi 10 the creditor" Banks Of this
Kind live on debt; it is the very source of
their existence. They are Of comparative
ly modern date, as short history Of bank
ing will show: ,y>e-szs5zs..t
'.lhe Bank of Venice was the first
banking establishment in Europe. 1t was
founded in I'LL, and subsisted until the
subverslon Of the Republic in 1897. Ii
was deposit bank only, and issued no
notes. The bank of Amsterdam was
established in 1909, and that Of Hamburg
in 16l9-lhey were deposit banks only
and issued no notes. Yet the countries in
which ihey were situated, were the leading
commercial States Of the world. The
Bank of England was incorporated in
1894, and was the first TO issue bank pa
per. The issues did no. spring out of the
natural and legitimate wants of commerce,
but outofihe necessities of the govern
rent Of great Britain, which had become
deeply involved in debt, and which there.
fore resorted to this artificial means of
creating wealth. The Bank of Scotland,
established the next year after the Bank
of England, was the next Bank that issued
paper money. With these two exceptions
"a few private companies and bankers in
London exceptiug} they were the only
banksthai ever issued notes as circulating
Inediuansor money, as q Substitute for coin,
prior 10 the eighteenth century. Paper
money is therefore modern device,
established s,oss maintain an illegitimate
credits -: #
"Strango to say, the American States
have persisted in following this bad exam
pie Of Substituting artificial for real wealth,
without the excuse which existed for it in
Great Britain; and in no country has
iflsgitimase,a or paper money banking,
proved 30 disastrous -
The ssubstance of the above will be found
il Hunts Merchants Magazine OF late
date. We wish that every man in the
land could read President Wayland's aUhole
article on banks and banking. He would
find that all the advantages of paper
circulation over a metallic currency, are
set down to the credit of economy and
conuenisnce. The economy is this:-
s'if the tchole of the metallic circulating
medium we're exchanged for paper, we
should have tho benefit Of the interest of
this u1sole ausount. If one half of the
gold and silver is exchanged for paper,
then we would be benefited to an extent
equal TO the interest on one half of the
circulating medium. The snconueniences
apply merely 10 the carrying about of gold
and silver, but chiefly to silver And
these are all Of the benefits TO the people!
But bankers and reg barons receive all the
profits, of lending their debts.
Let Us now see what the Disadvantage
Of paper currency are. They are, &C
eardfng q Presiden, Wayland, .*its liabi-
ity to forgery, to fraud and to tuctua-
He thinks the risk from forgery s'is con-
siderable and says: IA bank, which,
to save expense, uses a worn-out plate,
enriches itself al the expense of the public.
! ~ae no reason why bank which issues
bills Of This description, and thus takes no
pains 10 secure the public against fraud,
should not be liable 10 pay the false as
svaH o. fr,,r 8