The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-11-15
rHE EvfEs or naNKTNc...LEr
THE PEOPLE READ AN PONDER.

bgeiing up of rag-factories, and yet,
.ilstsad of setting their faces against
them and the party which advocates
their continuance, they quietly submit
to have a new batch created to ssmake
money plenty " and the times easier ;"
What nonsense-what infatuation! The
whole system is wrong in itself. In the
language of an intelligent contemporary,
" the whole thing is a legalized fraud
a stupendous humbug-tbe curse of Ia
Dor, and the disgrace of the intelligence
of the nineteenth century" It drains
the country of its specie, and, in return,
foods it with millions of parchment
" promises to pay )" that are good only
so long as the rag-barons see fit to make
them so. It depreciates credit-plunges
us into hopeless insolvency at home and
abroad-spreads devastation and ruin
every where, and benefits nobody It's
a curse to the people, and a curse to the
country. Why, then, in heavens name,
will we not have dono with it Why
not have the money of the Constitution,
which never depreciates-is good every
where, and defrauds no man?
"a All . say our Wing friends, q that
would do very well if we only had Gold
and Silver enough to supply the wants
of the people; but we hav'nt, and SO
what's the use of talking about a thing
that isn't to be had 2" Well try and
answer the inquiry. Month after month
the California steamers arrive at New
York, freighted with millions of the pre-
cious metal. Where's it all gone to {?
Sent to Europe to pay our heavy impor-
tation bills of jewelry, silks, Go, &c.
It's a fact which no one will deny, that
our importations have been altogether
too heavy. The market is overstocked-
the supply greatly exceeds the demand
goods have deprecated in value
great losses have been sustained, and
business men have failed. What has
caused all this reckless o~vertrading9
Easy times and plenty of money. What
made money plenty? Banks. Now, as
the Banks have led US into these diff
eulties, it's but fair hat they should
help us out. We present our "promis-
es to pay y at the counters of our Bank
ing friends for redemption, and, as they
hav'nt the specie to pay, forthwith they
burst up. And here We are with our
wallets full of worthless rags, the specie
insEurope, and we areleft without any
money, comparatively. Now, if we had,
in place Of this extra supply of foreign
fabrics the Gold and Silver which we
paid for them, who supposes that the
present money panic would exist? Oar
true policy should be to let our surplus
produce pay for u foreign fabrics, and
keep our Gold and Silver: in circulation
here. After all it is the crops that reg
ulates trade, and when they fail all kinds
of business is at a stand. We consume
m proportion to u ability to pay, and
so it must continue.
Take another view of the subject.
Banking is either safe or unsafe. If the
Banks are able to redeem their notes
then nothing is added to the currency,
for the dollar in paper which we hold is
unless it will draw the specie
at the Bank. And if one is only good
when the other is in the vault of the
Bank to redeem it, why not discard the
Banks and their worthless paper and put
the specie in circulation Where the
safety inmaking two dollars out of one ?
Hero; then3 lies the secret of our Bank
failures and money pauics. Instead of
retaining the specie in their vaults for
the redemption of their notes, as they
are in honor bound to do, they invest
It in stocks, railroads, and a thousand
other speculations, then burst up and
leave their rags in the hands of the peo-
pie. The money finds its way into the
hands of eastern business men, who invest
It in European fabrics, and unless we
have a surplus of produce to export and
bring the specie, again into the country,
the people are left to suffer. Now, if
we dispense with Banks, the specie will
remain in the country and our produce
will pay for our supplies; and when orr
crops fail we will do without foreign
rics, simply because we couldn't pay for
them if we had them. Tothe argument
that paper is more convenient for public
use because less weighty, we answer that
the evils arising from its use far overbal-
iances the benefits arising therefrom.
The policy Of dispensing with Banks
has been most satisfactorily demonstra-
ted. In most of the European countries
papercurrency is almost wholly unknown.
But we have a. better example nearer
home. Our Government receives moth
ing but Gold and Silver in payment of
duties, and discards paper money alto
gether. Here, then, is a startling fact.
WRilethe people in the respective States,
tsgfsLating for themselves, have discar-
ded Gold and Silver and adopted the pa
per currency, are now suffering immense
ly from their own folly, the finances Of
the General Governnseat never acre IN
a better condition And yet, with this
fact staring them in the face, people talk