Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1854-02-11
CAN'T WE HAVE A BANK2

The necessity OF a Banking Institution in
this town is so pa|pabls to all, that it is hardly
necessary TO produce any argument to prove it.
There is not a day that does not bring forth
numerous instances which in themselves ur.
gently plead the necessity of a Bank-scarcaly
a day that some one or other of our citizens Of
the various pursuits followed here, do not have
occasion to exclaim, Cant we have a Bank "
Those who assert that Banking or Banks has
ceased to be y question of party or a political
question, are sadly mistaken. The bank ques-
ton here has grownto be a very strong politi-
cal question-so strong, indeed, that it swaI.
lows up the support Of both parties! We
have heard no one declaim agains, the exis-
tence of a Bank here. whenever the necessity
OF one amongst us has been introduced in con.
versation; and we have no doubt that if one
should be established here, its vaults would be
equally dipped into by the needy, and We know
OF no party which does not contain a portion
OF this class, at all times ready and willing to
be assisted ont of Il pecun;ary embarrassment.
and it is for this purpose mainly that banks
were instituted.
The prevalence Of the credit system in a
community (and where is The community in
which it does not exists renders it imperatively
necessary that that community should have the
benefit of a bank, from which all could procure
money who owned property or could give pro.
per security. A person doing business on the
credit system may often be in critical pecuniary
stats, when, from the showing of his books,
he may be in excellent circumstances. And he
may not only be in temporary difficulty, for
should he be a merchant for instance, and his
creditors not being disposed to be l~enient,
should press upon him at times when from one
cause or another he could not make his coI.ec.
tons, his ruin might be the consequence. A
retail merchant in the country who purchases
on credit-and the custom is general, no whole
sale merchant expecting to sell wholly for cash
always calculate even to within a few
weeks o! the time when his bills against GUS
toners will be settled, that he, likewise, may
be enabled to pay the wholesale merchant. A
bank, then, in such community would be a
great relief, where the necessary amount of
money could at once be procured to make up
the sum due by merchants. upon goods pur.
chased, and they at the same time be relieved
OF their troubles, their doubts and fears.
Let Us instance a case in point TO prove the
inestimable value Of a bank here to assist those
engaged in commercial business-for, although
the benefits of a bank would be felt BY all,
yet the merchant, we must acknowledge, has
often the greatest need for the 60 days favors
and "renew" WHICH it is its business TO grant.
Al the presen: time, Bayou Plaquemine is so
up with the drift, that navigation be-
Fween Bayou Crosse Tete and New Orleans
Is entirely cut of. The merchants on that
Bayou have no doubt purchased goods in the
city upon the understanding that they would
pay for them on the first rise of water, when
planters could get their sugar and other pro-
to market. This obstruction TO nayiga.
ion not only greatly Injuries and nnnovs the
but it is even more injurious to the
whom he owes and is unable to nay.
3at this is not all; many others who are, d.
ectly and indirectly, dependent upon a planter
of his crop, is necessita,ed likewise
o withhold payment from the merchant from
'hom he has been getting his goods for a year
'r himself and family; and thus the merchant, =,
eng in danger Of becoming the victim Of the
edit system through an unavoidable misfor- I
Inc, is thrown upon his own financial genius
extricate himself, or upon the mercy Of his
in New ORGANS. In such an cmer-