Burlington tri-weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1852-1855, 1854-11-25

one that has and will affect the ruin Of thous.
ands. Many have lost the accumulation Of
. life time 1.-The little savings that have been
eked out Of their daily wages, yearly sala-
aries Or put by from business. While 9TH
crs have made princely fortunes. The great
cst distress will be found among the small
depositors in cities who have lost their all BY
the stoppage Of banks and brokers. The
loss to bill holders has been very great but
it has been moro equally divided and been By
persons better able to bear it. Depositors
have in two many instances lost their all,
and the loss to tho bill holders, can be made
up BY few months extra toll, perhaps.
Have We seen the worst Of this crisis is .
question Of much interest, but one hard to
answer There is a diversity of opinion.
Some are Of the opinion that we are vet to
have suspension Of specie payments, with
all the evils attending upon such State of
affairs, Is in 1888. While on the contrary.
many are Of the opinion that we have already
passed the crisis-that another crop, with
the influx Of foreign coin and our presentre-
trsnchment, will soon put usagain upon our
course of prosperity and progress.
One reason for hoping that we may at this
time come abort of the calamities Of '38, is
the difference Of the manner in which the
country is involved. AT that time the credit
system had been extended much further than
now. Even the agricultural classes, the last
to feel the spirit Of speculation, were then
not only borrowers at the counters Of the
banks-but when they had invested all they
could in land and lot speculation-they still
operated on time, and also run up large bills,
with merchants and mechanics, to be paid
out Of their spcculations. This was true of
oil classes.
Onthe contrary,at this time so far from be-
ing in debt, the farming classes have been
accommodating rapidly, and although some
have been greedy, and exhausted themselves
in purchasing lands, yet if feasible plan
for making money is presented, most of
them are atls to hunt up little of the ready
put away in odd corners. And this is al
so true of large proportion of business men
and manufacturers. There was less specula-
ton, and more wealth, less imitation, and
more actual capital, than at that time. Then
society was involved in one tangled network
of debt and almost hopeless bankruptcy
Shile at this time, the whole indebtedness
or nearly so of the country is upon the rail-
road, city, and county bonds and on the part
of contractors, bankers, and brokers, who
have become involved in Rail Road operations
The prostration Of this class Of men, although |
it will effect the whole country and produce
much distress will We think come far short
OF what we experienced in '38.
What do the crashes of '38 and "a teach9 |
Have they no lesson for the Statesman? Do
or do not banks have On influence in bring
ing about these great panics? Is the expan-
sion and contraction of the currency mat.
ter over which bankers have control. and
which they can turn to their own INTEREST,"
Banks have been in use for many years
in most Of the civilized countries If the world
and have undoubtedly conferred great bene-
fits, and afforded great facilities for trade
and commerce. But they have never been
perfectly guarded against depreciation, even
under the most favorable auspices. Ev.
en- the Bank of England, backed by the
wealth OF the nation, has been unable at all
times to keep its notes from depreciation.
In this country with over thirty sovereign
States, every ono at liberty to furnish for it.
self and Its neighbors just such currency as
it pleased, and make just such charters as
''oysters and champaign" would buy, can we
look for stable and uniform cur
rency? Are we thus likely to have currency {
n which we can repose confidence !? /.
Our experience in banking has cost great
Zeal, and should afford sufficient light to the I
future legislator to enable him to steer clear $
# many evils attending the creation of Banks :
It issue. No individuals or corporation :
ought ever to be allowed the privilege Of fur. r
fishing . currency, unless the safety and |
alue Of that paper was placed beyond the Q
cmotest contingency of depreciation. When .
YER government confers upon individuals +
UGH nm important power as that Of furnish b
ng currency which is to measure the value n
( property, there should DO ample security i
gainst the abuse of the power, as well by E
aud, 10y mismanagemsnt and IMPROVE r
ence oiepeculation. o
Il i in the nature Of earthly riches to take !.
themselves nings-thisves have always
oxen through, and moth and rust destroy r.
!. And it may be that no such banking ri
. ~