Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-10-24


Specie payments were suspended Panic ard dis.
may spread through the land-so deep and durable
was the impression that the credit Of the bank de-
pended exclusively on the punctuality Of its pay.
ments.
In the midst Of the alarm, an act of Parliament
was passed making the notes Of the bank legal
tender and, to the surprise Of all, the institution
proceeded on, apparently without any diminution Of
its credit It's notes circulated freely ever and
without any depreciation for time, compared with
gold and silver; and continued TO do for up.
wards Of twenty years, with an average dininution
Of about one per cent per annum. This shock did
much to dispe the deuson that bank notes repre-
scented gold and silver, and they circulated in
sequence Of such representation, but without en-
tirely obliteraling the old impression which had
taken such strong hold on the public mind The
credit Of it's notes during the suspension general
ly attributed TO the "tcndcr" act and the great and
united resources Of the bank and the government.
But an event followed of the same kind under
circumstances entirely different, which did more
than any preceding to shed light on the true nature
Of the SYSTEM and to unfold its vast capacity to sus.
tain itself without exterior aid We became invov.
ed in the grand political struggle thst was going on
in Europe; having declared war against Great Br-
tain in 1912 and in he short space Of one year
our feeble banking system sunk and suspended I'M
der the increased fiscal action Of government
We could resort TO no tender act; we had no
s'eo' ee"'oI 'esu'e',n6 Po"e', INV wv Jam W
England and the credit and resources Of the gov.
eminent were comparatively small Under such
circumstances, q sudden and great depreciation Of
bank notes was expected. To the general surprise,
however, they sustained their credit, without any
depreciation ior .he ron tue shoch' A"e sys'
TEN cohta'heu "'tn,n ''se'i seii'susa"'ne power
"eie was oe'"ee' 'ne cans anu ,''o s ,.
ma'uaii y ,ne reatoh o, ueotor anu c'eu'orI'he,e
being at all times something more due to the banks
from the community than from the latter to the for
mer. IN ms Iec,p,oca RELATION Of oeo's anu c1eu.
ns, ,he uelanu o .ne oanss Oh 'ne oo'i''n.y Mas
greater ina" 'he ahou"' VI ,he'r no'es rs q, uuv"
eou'o hee' anu 'onsed"en',y, 81 'o"s 40 .. ~
.ors were soVent ano oou'o 10 pay =. s,o't pe1Iua
ene" i,o'es eou'u nv ,a'. W apP'oA"'e ". '"' v
OF goia ana s,Ner AS tne'r aeoto'h were pr"e'pay
merchants, these would take notes to meet their
bank 'eots; and that winch the merchants ana inc.
government who are the great money dealers, take,
the rest oil the community VIII also.
Shortly after the termination Of the war Of 1872
specie payments were coerced with us, and ew
years afterwards in Great Britain, by statute. In
both countries the restoration was followed by wide
spread distress as II always must be when effected
by coercion; for the simple reason that banks can
not pay unless their debtors first pay, and that to
coerce the banks compes them to coerce their debt
ors before they have the means to pay. 1heir ia-
must be the consequence, and this involves the
failure OF the banks themselves, carrying with uni
versal distress.
Although specie payments were restored and the
system apparently placed where it was before the
suspension the great capacity it proved to possess
of sustaining itself without specie payments, was not
! forgot by those who had its direction The impress
sion that il was indispensable to the circulation OF
bank notes that they should represent the precious
| metals was almost oblitcrated and the latter were
regarded rather as restrictions the free and prof
liable operation of the SYSTEM than the Of
its security. Hence feeling of opposition to gold
and silver gradually grew up on the part OF the banks
which created an esprit u corps followed by moral
resistance to specie payments, which, in fact sus-
notes into the precious metals, long before the sus.
pension OF 1897 and the present one sudden ana
vast increase OF the system, with e''a. d',"a"o"
Of the metallic basis IN proportion 10 oa"h u'nsao
tions followed The privileges OF oAnkne ,ns'saJ
of being confined to few institutions "ere
to many, IN treat brltah ana III ,lls .oun' ,nLs
restraint on the system was rel'oreu, "n" LanI.
shol up IN every areo.on' cor wh;ch nrostratcd
eHoePt .ho o Az, ..,ou, b.s roncbed the
80 many y. .".n u.' ,.h,h we wilncss now
''"Po"'o'' ""e .''' -.o,,.., -,
With the present great ca,as,ropne
| era OF struggle, conf'ct ana change. ine sye'e
can advance no further in our country without srva'
and radical changes. u mas come 10 s."n'
CONNECT between he'a' a'u o" ~ .o,rso If Tina
Is ,nhereh, W ule Sys'e'n nus ~ ho,om,a co do.dy
anu WIN .'e P'os''e' VI ~ ,ha o,bor ali
1mat ,hey mus: sePa,a., an" 49, rooious metals
me uegene,auono y, .ne srpn ,hcr ,nnro'
ana the'r almost en're enpu's'e" h.no ,nd ,ho
pirate sphere as 'he ineuIun ., e en' AL tho ma.
STANDARD OF Value' nave eone 81 "1 A., ho, aro No
cessary operation o. .ne systeil ,l"' lay v
longer suicen, 70 form OASIS o. .ne m,u ,
ded system OF banking. FROM .ne "'s;, ms
'at'oh OF tne system nas uee" ~ G"o ,1tai. al
aspense pI'" Me u sL me pn, .'; tbeir notes
hehce, from oeng 'ns Iepresen' iu va a;,nar md
pave become me SUBSTITUTE 10. s",, az" om n"ro
hehce' nhalV, ls present 'enus ~ " ,h a,o,s
paper engine 'o'a'y sePa'a'eu ''0n' wv "''''''
The intelligent political scholar viii not ia'i 10
have recognized in the foregoing paragraphs, an an
brevation modified to suit the present date OF the