Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-04-12
The Currency.

The Currency.
The following extract from a financial srti-
Gle in the y. Y. Herald, is well worth read
ing, though we do not undertake to endorse
every statement in it:
During the progress of the revolutionary
war, the country was without any system of
finance or commerce, and at the conclusion of
that struggle the government was in a deplo-
rable state of bankruptcy. The convention
which formed the constitution was thervfara
filled with advocates Of the hard money sys-
TEN, and their principles prevailed. The
constitution gave 10 Congress the power to
regulate the currency; 70 provide WAYS and
means TO raise revenue for the support of the
general government and 10 form a general
bankrupt law. In. granting these powers to
Congress, the object was to make them gene
raj; to have them enforced alike in all sections
of the country, and to prevent the different
States from interfering in those important
financial and commercial affairs. Ii was to
guarantee TO the people one uniform system
for the protection of all That constitution
has been in operation sixty-eight years, and
now let us see how much of that part of it
relating 10 the currency and commerce has
been enforced. We have had two general
bankrupt laws within that period, but at the
present time have none.
Congress has, in some instances, passed the
law for special purposes, and when that Was
accomplished, repealed it. The consequence
is that each State in the Union has been COM
PEELED to provide its own bankrupt laws, and
we have as many different kinds as there are
different States The currency has been
left entirely 10 the regulation Of individual
fnanciers. The government has, it is true,
had its own bank and it has monopolizel the
coinage of gold, silver and copper but it has
not monopolized the manufacture of metallic
representatives It has left the paper cmien-
CIV of the country TO the different States, and
they have avoided any Infringement of the
constitution by chartering hosta Of banks, and
delegating the power and privilege to them.
We have therefore dozens of banking sys-
TENS, and an aggregate Of twelve hundred
banking institutions, all actively engaged in
the laudable occupation of providing the
people with a sound and safe paper currency
So for the purpose Of doing away with the
necessity of carrying about weighty and tnou-
blesome metals. Congress has quietly set
tied down into a political machine, merely
looking to the ways and means for providing
spoils to the hosts Of hungry applicants
Congress has wisely looked TO the reyenme.
| As it could not exist without such sinews, it
has been forced 10 look TO the sources of in
come. and the levying Of duties on imports
has received much attention
Not satisfied with obsying the constitution
in this particular merely to the extent re-
quired by the wants of government it has
exceeded its power and duties, and under
taken to protect certain local interests at the
expense and injury Of Others, and extracted
at times millions upon millions from the puo-
lie pockets, upon the plea Of providing ie-
venue for the support Of the government
This has been the NEST prominent feature in
! general legislation, and il has at times been
: carried so far as to raise up party lines and
become the test question in Presidential cam
paigns. While all this was going on. the cur
rency was left to the swarms of political fnan-
ciers who congregated about the legislative
halls of every State These cormorants, sciz-
ing upon every opportunity TO bleed the pco-
pie, found no more effective method than he
erection Of banks, and they soon spread
broadcast over the country hundreds Of these
institutions. AT once an unregulated, unre-
deemable and unsecured ps1er currency le-
came abundant, and an ex b8niop Of individ-
nal credit Immediately fdItrked. Specula-
ton was not long in developing ITSELF sl't
| for time the community believed that the
most perfect system Of finance possible for
the human mind TO conceive, xisted and was
permanently fixed.
A few years Of apparent prosperity was fol-
lowed by aterrible revulsion, and ruin over
took those who a few months before felt Sc
cure Of large fortunes. The fine visions Of
spectators vanished, and desolation and des-
pair covered the face of the Union. II was
then seen that without q uniform system Of
currency all was without form and void Not
withstanding this, Congress neglected to ap-
" the proper remedy; but in its efforts tore
stores credit and put in motion again the
wheels of commerce, it went to tinkering the
tariff, under the belief, no doubt, that all the
trouble was caused by the imperiections Of
that innocent and unimportant measure. Ever
since the first great revulsion, the tariff has
been doctored whenever any disease ap-
peared in our financial or commercial systems,
and we fear it will be a long time before
members of Congress become sufficiently en-
lightened 10 seek for the real cause Of all our
financial difficulties, at the place where it
actually exists-in the currency.