Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-02-23

be perminent; another that remhrkslAe favor-
able condition of the public health should nok be
interrupted by sickness; and third hat all men
should be henceforth honest; we should then ask
them to seal the evidence Of their lunacy by q
fourth, and that should enact and declare that
bank note should always be worth the amount it
processes to represent Admitting the suficency
of the Legislature for the three first, we should
take the last for granted. And thenit would be
wise to abolish specie, put the banks up to their
whole horse power, and grind out paper dollars
by wholesale and retail. We should all be rich
then, in due process of machinery, end "manfest
destiny'' would be an accomplished fact.
1t occurs to US, that the arguments we meet
with in behalf of the "repeal' of the small note
law as it applies to the banks of Maryland, are
mostly based upon such Legislative endorsement
of paper money as this. Or at all eveEts upon
some miraculous agency elsewhere, which is to
effect the same purpose. We admit all that can
be said about the convenience of the small notes.
We admit all that can be imagined about the pop
ular objection TO the gold dollar, though e1-
perience is not equal to that of others. We ad-
nit, you please that majority of the merchants
retail dealers, manufacturers and their employers
are in favor of :'the repeal'' for the sake Of the
argument, and what then? Why it proves that
under their present experience they are unwilling
to plant themselves upon those principles which
the experience of another day may prove to them
are alone safe and enduring So that admitting
what we will for arguments sake, we hold in re-
serve the assurance that the time may come when
all these people might be induced to think, if
not to say, "would that we had stood firm by that
abstraction of 1852 and abolished forever this
pest of small notes.
'Abstracton!'' Yes, if you please. Call it
what you will. Abstraction is about as meaning
term any other. Republican government was
an abstraction until it was tried. Vote By ballot
is an abstraction to those whose interests are
linked with uiva uocs suffrage. A tariff for rsv-
enue was most pernicous abstraction few
years ago. Free trade and direct taxes are sb-
stractions to many in 1853. The abolition Of all
law for the collection of debts is an abstraction
now. Homestead exemption--the distribution
of the public lands to actual Settlers and the
tinction of small paper currency, we may say.
all paper currency--are hideous abstraction in the
estimation Of many. Some of these abstraction
have become realities, and all of them will In
process of time, and each of them with which the
people have an experimental Familiarity, has pro-
we'd an important adjunct in the deyeopement Of
republican principles, and conductive to the pop
ular welfare So much for distractions.
In the matter of convenience, thare is some
plausibility, but even this admits of difference
of opinion. One argument We have met with,
however, seems to include the whole issue; un-
fortunately it is about equal to The suggestion we
made above that the Legislature shall pass law
to make bank paper equal to specie under all cir
cumstances. It is sagaciously urged, that with
our currency as it is, those who prefer gold can
enjoy their preferences, and exchange their pa
per for that precious metal. This is the gist of
the matter. We say to those who thrust this con-
sderate alternative before the publc--only IN
sure it, and there is an end Of controversy.'-
Without such an INSURANCE., however, it Is not
worth straw, and is on level with any other
argument which the question: has hitherto elected
What it is worth is already apparent. Whers
shall we go aoo to get our dollar note converted
into silver! To the bank' Why the fabricators
of the argument sngger in their sleeves at such
verdancy. Does any body doubt that every piece
of silver coin finds its way into the vurlts Of
bank, nowadays, remains there; or suppose that
it passes out, less the current premium? Sc
| then we can't get sIter for paper noo, less the
market price. "Oh youcsn get gold" Yes,and
now!
We say again, that no man can assure the
people against the reverses Of monetary specufa-
ton; aganZ the injudicious expansion provoked
by commZrcial rivalry; against the reckless in
crease of banking capital by any Oft the States Of
the Union; against the reaction inevitably ettcn-
dant upon inflated values; and if the people cannot
be insured, against consequences they have not
provoked, aoe, in their behalf, stand by those
principles which can alone protect them. In the
event of a serious monetary catastrophe, the banks
may be driven to extremity everywhere; and un-
der such circumstance nobody will pretend that
they are the proper sources of sound sircula-
ting medium. Their paper may be in the COM
munity to an extent. but shall the people be able
to secure gold dollars for it! Will it depreciats
one per cent, two per cent, five or ten per cent?
And how long will the community then be sub
ject to an exclusive shinplaster currency and spe.
Gle brokerage, in consequence of legalized pa
per. Who shall say!
We contend that this is the tme-a time of
apparent and real prosperty-for such Legislation
as will induce ar approximation to real values.
And one of the most essential things to this end,
is to establish sound specie currency, for all
the ordinary transactions of the people. Objee
tons respecting the convenience OF paper and the
inconvenience of the gold dollar, rest exclusively
upon the present state of the currency. Every
body will prefer gold dollar to deprecated pa
ner one. And our nafinnal lenislalion contain.