Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1854-12-15

uceo, ;tne panksf manage ID keePll ~
far of as aspossible. Hence none bu'
Bankers who do nothing else. nor all O
them, can tell the solyency u distant
or even neighboring baDks.is 80,
The more modern and more popular
System, is the deposit Of State Stocks
as security. While this hassome .ad'
vantages. SO far as security to bill hol-
ders Is concerned, il is not sufficient,
besides being. as we shall show here
after, one of the most Objectionable
systems otherwise. We need not at
tempt 10 prove its insecurity. The
thousands of dollars Of Connersville,
and Northern Bank. &c., that have
been sold at from 55 to as cents or
the dollar speak sensi5iy to many read :
ers. While writing, arises strong ar.
gument from our almost empty pocket
entirely empty but for 81 of State
Stock that tfirty-six hours ago was
"as good as the bank,"s but now can
not be paid out even for taxes, to the
state that made them money. And
the reader is fortunate, il our objec-
tons to banks-to free banks in par
ticular-to "Trust Companies" and
Safety Fundse' especially, do not find
corroborations' from the same source.
We assert that 'sStocks'' do not and
can not make the bill holder secure,
under our present law. and we believe
they can not under any law that is like
ly to be passed.
The system of depesiting stocks has
been..tried several years, yet with all the
experience Of at least ten years. stock
money is at discount, almost every
place, and we predict that no amend
ment of our own law this winter, that
does not wind up at least nine-tenths
Of the Stock Banks, will make our
money, money every whore, or even
at Cincinnati.
The issuing Of notes, as circula-.
ting medium. rendering the bin holder
liable 10 loss ali the time, is, then, no
inconsiderable objection to the system,
yet it is a minor one, in our estimation.
A third minor objection to paper
circulation is the fluctuations it causes
in prices. When the tide is rising, as
it has been for the last ten years, pri-
ces advance, and the higher the tide
the higher the prices run. This is at
tended with innumerable evils. In
more moderate times, when moderate
wages could be realized, men were viii
ling to work for wages-when the pro-
ducts of the soil or the shop comman-
ded but moderate price, men were
dilligent in driving the plow or swing
ing the hammer. But when prices ad-
vance, mania for speculation prevails.
If A made a thousand dollars on lot
of corn, by advance of price. B must
try the same. If c made a thousand,
on the advance on piece Of land, d
must try it also; for who would work
at farming or trade, when more mo-
ney, with less labor. can. be made by
speculation? When the tide is "com-
ing in" blessed is the man that is in
debit II he bought thousand bush
els of corn, on credit, at twenty FIVE
cents, last year, he pays for it this
year with six hundred, and "clears"
fine sum in the bargain. AS the
tide is yet rising, he tries his luck a.
gain, and his neighbor tries it also,
and again he succeeds. Tho tide hav-
ing been swelling for some ten years,
flor that is about the time II takes
this tide to rise to "high water,")
he tries again; but, alasl the tide has
begun 50 recede; prices fall; losses
follow; and failures and assignments
become the order Of the day Now
the speculator who has been so unfash-
ionable as to really have capital, must
pay the proceeds of two thousand
bushels of corn, for the thousand he
bought las. year, while thousands who
were counted wealthy on borrowed
capital. and who had bought on cred
it, or who had borrowed OF their slow,
plodding. unenterprising. hard-work-
ing neighbors. or who had obtained
endorsements from them, become
bankrupt, and leave the victims Of
their wild, motto say dishonest, schemes
to suffer. The rcceding tide carries
off with it. not only the lazy and sche-
ming speculator. but thousands of
widows and orphans, and hard-work-
ing, economical men. Through these
every person suffers, more or less;-
yet this is only one of the minor
objections to our system Of banking.
It is an objection that is inseparablc
from the system. Even if the other
evils alluded to. may be avoided, this
can not be. In vain has been all past
experience as to the receding tide; il
is SO slow and so long in swelling. thai