Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1853-02-16
Small Notes in the District OF Co
lVsnbia.

The general use Of small notes in this Dis.
trict has given rise ts n system of fraud .xh Il
demands exposure. We have special friend
ship for banking institutions of any kind; and
when we hear Of well regulated banking sys-
ten, we are forcibly reminded Of well-regu-
lated whirlwind, or a wcll-reguated earth
quake. But yet there are degrees of compari
son with regard to banks as we'll as other
things, and the worst of all those institutions
are those who issue small notes that come in
more direct conflict with the specie circulation
of the country. 1t is not our present purpose,
however to put forth dlsgnisiton on banking,
or to define our position in that behalf. IT is
to call public attention to wholesale system
of fraud practiscd.
The fact has become generally known
through out the county that this District, and
even the Neghboring States of Maryland and
Virginia, have been flooded with small notes
issued from this city Such notes have been
received at points where nothing was known
Of the establishments which issued them, be-
cause small establishments and men of limited
means are not, as general rule, extensively
known in the commercial word. Dishonest
men have taken advantage Of that fact, and
have arranged a systematic plan of fraud
which they execute by putting forth in distant
portions of the country small notes purporting
to be issued by banking establishments in this
city which have no existence whatever, bear,
ing the signatures of Presidents and cashiers
who are not known in this community. We
have received in payment for subscription to
our Journal fifteen or twenty such notes within
| the last two weeks-one from the western part
of North Carolina, another from Detroit, anoth-
or from Maine, and others from places equally
remote, showing an extensive scheme Of opera
tions by which persons at a distance, knowing
that small notes form a large portion OF the
circulating medium of the District of Columbia
are imposed on and defrauded by small notes
purporting to be ISSUED here, well engraved,
with handsome signatures, and fair to look
upon. We hardly expect that the persons en-
gagged in these frauds will be detected and
punished; but if Congress would take the
matter in hand, and by efTectual legislation
prohibit such issues in the District, then every
community III JHC Ih'V" "'h'" '' u"iy hotiiieo
not to receive and circulate such notes as those
we speak and no one, except through his owr
negligence, would receive the spurious paper
of imaginary banks of this District, bearing
the signatures of fictitious personagcs and o.
pretended officers, who, if they really have the
name, yet have no local habitaton. Unparel
eIed prosperity is producing too much conf
dence by destroying necessary caution; and th'
success with which the bold ard naked frauds
we have been speaking Of have been carried or
makes us fear that fictitious issues and exten
dcd credits ma7 infict sharp and severe les
son--a lesson which monopollsts and the mer
who caused it viii be the first to misrepresen
by referring it to causes which even tended t.
prevent it--W ashington Daily Union.