Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1857-12-10
Old Bullion on Banks AID Banking.
AN ARGUMENT FOR HARD MONEY.
Dire Tdration of .SmW Votes Recomn,en-
dcd
w AsuuNGToN, G SrREET.)
November 10, 1874

WAsHuNGToN, G STREET,
November 10, 1871
To the Editors of the ,tonil Intclliscnccr:
GENTLEMEN: Many papers, dcSirous Of
the establishment of a national bank. arc
quoting what Gen. jackson said in favorof
such an institution at the beginning of his
presidency. | have TO remind all such pa
pcrs that what was 50 SAID was said before
Jackson saw Il pro pct of restoring the
currency Of the constitution, ami that, af-
ter he saw that prospect h sail nothing
more in favor of Btrks, national or state
but the contrary, and Iabored during the
remainder of his public lie to restore an
preserve the hard money currency which
the founders of our government had Sc
cured (aS they bclicvcd) for us. The plan
of that restoration and preservation consist
ell of FIVE parts, namely: |. 70 revive
the gold currency bv correcting the GRO
neous standard of i19l , 70 create a de-
mand for hard money by making it the cx-
elusive currency of the federal treasury.
3 To make sure of this hard money by
Keeping it in il own treasures l. 70
suppress all paper currency under twenty
dollars by Il stamp tluty. >. 70 wind up
all delaulting banks by bankrupt lax
against delinqucuts.
The first three of these five part, were
Il accomplished, AMI to these We are inleat
e. for twenty years cxempton--from
lS31 to 1881 from bank suspensions an
deprecated currency; also Tor carrying the
country tlro,tgli foreign war--the Alex-
irau-without paper money, and with the
public securities above par; asr, for hav-
ing in the country at THIS time full fifteen
times as much hard money IL; we hal in
tn, time Of the late Bank Of the United
States; and we are indebted to the want of
the latter part of the plan for what we now
see; nearly two thouSan banks in the
country, a great part of them ftaulS from
the beginning. anl the bad governing the
goo |; a general suspension in season Of
peace AMI prosperity: people forced to use
depreciate paper when there Is more hard
money III the country than lis business
could employ: mon an women begging
for work and unable To obtain it. wIen
the country needs all tn, work thcy can
do, AMI has the IN ans la pay for it; fam
HES crying for breai when Il hountitul
Providence ha, given the most cxubcrant
crops that ever were seen; the business OF
twenty five millions dcranged, disorlcre |,
anl thrown ont of Joint: and this the w ori, OF
the base part of tn banks, falling down of
themselves for want of foundations, and
dragging the soil ones after them. For
it is in this ease OF bank suspensions as it
is with ships sinking at sea, where, those
who cannot swim drag down those who
can. \ stamp duty on their notes and
bankrupt process against themselves,
woad have saved the country from the
caiamtics it now cnlureS: for many oi the
base order of banks would have been unable
to "make currency" for want of money TO
pay for stamps on their notes, and others
would have been proper subjects for the
bankrupt process in the first few days of
their existence.
The restoration of the gold curren'y was
Effected unler 6 ,neral Jackson'S admins
tration; the establishment of the hard mon
ey currency for the f. leral government and
the keeping of It's own money in It's own
treasures was accomplished un lcr Mr. Van
Burcn. both of which Presidents took the
full responsibility of recomm 'nling these
three measures, an also the two Others
the two for the imposition OF a stamp du
ty on all paper money under twenty dollars.
and for a bankrupt at against delaulting
banks. Bills were repeatedly brought be-
fore Congress for both purposes. but were
always defeated by the paper money wing
of the Democratic party.
The most plausible OF the open objections
made against the stamp duty was in the
expense and the extensive machinery for
It's collection. That was answered by
provding a cheap and simple process for
both purposes--a clerk in the treasury de-
partment for supernten lent of the bus-
ness, and the clerks of the federal courts to
deliver out the stamps which they received
from the treasury. The amount of the du
ty, and whether it should apply to all notes
or only those INTENDED to be suppresee
were questions on which there was room
for some diversity Of opinion. The pre-
dominant opinion was that there should be
duty upon all notes isSuci as Il currency,
(for what more tit to be taxed than the
moneyed power?) the duty being the same
on all notes. AMI such as the la}ge ones
could easily carry and the small ones could
not. The amount of the duty was held
necessary to be large-far greater than in
Great Britain; for there no note is rc-issued, +,
no one goes out of the Bank second time,
so that the duty in England is paid every
time the banks puts out note. Not so in
the u. States Here note is reissucd un
til it is worn out until it has become too
ragged to hold together, or too filthy to be
decipherod A small duty is, therefore,
sufficient in Great Britain; it would re-
quire a very heavy one to be its equivalent
in the United States. Among the penal.
ties for violating the act either by issuing,
receiving. or passing the unstamped paper,