The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-11-14
s ERTs = % BIZ - 2
A National Bank.

establishment OF National Bank, az the
best and only permanent remedy for pre-
serving the financial equilibrium Of the
country, and preventing the misfortunes
which are periodically brought about by oul
present system of irresponsible banks. Al
though the Enteuigencer has set out upon a
hopeless undertaking, its arguments are
sound and logical. The people of the Uni
ted States, in their wisdom, have seen it to
decide against an institution Of that kind as
unsafe and dangerous to the country, yet we
cannot but think, that if the subject could
be Invested of all party prestige and 'inau-
ence, and the people would cease to be
frightened by the scarecrow deformities in
which it has been pictured by partizan lead
ers, and become aware of the real merit to
which it is entitled, there would be pretty
general favoring Of its re-establishmcnt. -
We publish below portion Of the article
from the Inteuigencer, that our readers may
see how much Of truth and right there is
still to be found in one Of the good old Wing
measures. @ .se @ s@
After remarking upon paragraph, from
the N. Y. Journal Of Commerce, in relation
to the financial sagacity of NICHOLAS BID
DIE, the Intelligencer says: o&a.l a.i..r
And it were we'll also to remember that
NICHOLAS BIDDLE, if he acquired any author
ity as a teacher and expounder of finance,
(as would seem to be admitted by this DEM
ocratic testimony to his sagacity, acquired
it mainly by his connection with the control
of an institution which it has become COM
mon, in these latter days of superior political
illustration, to pronounce obsolete. nm
the mere name of which many, iii =
respondent above cited, would seeni INK
in ill-disguised terror, as from some sshydra
or chimera Dire" We allude Of course to
the UNITED STATES BANK. - @r0 .1""'
1t was with perfect historical truth that
Mr.. CLAY could say, in the year 1887, that
prior to the series of unfortunate measures
which had for their object the overthrow IF
the United States Bank, and the discontin-
uance of its fiscal agency for the Government
no people upon earth ever enjoyed better
currency or had exchanges better regulated
than the people Of the United States. The
combination of United States and of local
banks presented true image of our system
of General and State Governments, and was
found, in experience, to work quite rs we'll.
Not only within the country had we local
and general currency, perfectly sound, but
in whatever quarter of the globe American
commerce had penetrated there also did the
bills of the Bank of the U. States command
unbounded credit and confidence. The cir
culation Of this Bank, indeed, produced such
UNIVERSAL confidence that it was rendered
practically useful for all commercial and
domestic purposes, from one extreme of the
Union to the other, at its nominal value,
without any discount whatever, while it SO
regulated the course of foreign and domestic
exchange that by the former the people were
able to transmit funds from one distant place
to another in our own country at almost no
expense; and, by the latter, the export of
the precious metals could be checked when
the rate Of premium, owing to large impor-
| tatiOns or other causes, was advancing so
as to tempt to their expectation. Its vast
means enabled it to expand its issues and
the line of its discounts during periods of
commercial pressure, which have since been
invariably found to cause rapid contraction
of the means of local banks at the very time
when their aid is most required by the COM
munity. The Bank of the United States ex-
crcsed wholesome check on the emissions
Of the State Bank whenever those emissions
were excessive, and were tending to intro
duce or foster spirit of dangerous specu-
lation. How influential and how benefcent
had been this function of the Bank of the
United States was sufficiently proved by what
cnsued after its destruction. The State
Banks, relieved from the restraining power
so judiciously exercised by the National
Bank, soon began to grant unreasonable
increased tho paper circulation Of the coun-
was thereby given to all classes Of society
an unnatural rise took place in all species Of
property, while, rs an index that measured
this rash expansion and speculation, the
sales Of the public lands were increased from
81, 800, 900 in 1880 to $24 SOC, 600 in 1886.
What followed in 1887 we need not recapit-
ulate, especially for those who refuse to sec
any connection between the reyulsion Of
that year and the causes which had sprung
up to produce it, on the ruins of the Bank
Of tho United States. =. r.,
Since the year 1887 other ssspanics" and
sspressures'' have ensued-all, however,
preceded by the same phenomena as those
which preluded the disasters of that year.
The State Banks without the control Of q
National Bank, which was directed by fnan-
cial wisdom and skill, have been found in
capable Of sustaining well-regulated cur
rency, and of furnishing medium for
regulating the foreign or even the domestic
exchanges of the country. And this want
Of national, uniform, and stable currency
has been most severely felt by the poorer
classes of the community.
Still we shall doubtless be told BY the
partisan who fulflls the old saw, that none
are SO blind as those who ,ciH not see, tina,
all these financial vicissitudes and misfor.
tunes spring from causes which have nc
connection or relation with the fall Of thu
United States Bank. 1t is true that they
were all foreseen and predicted at the time
but party exigencies demanded that Tho
voice or warning should be As UNDECIDED a,
Cassandra's, even though the event should
prove them to be as well founded as hers
Since the year 1888 we have had no United
States Bank to which these revulsions cor
be imputed. The tariff for protection ha,
been pronounced obsolete, and its schedule.
have been more and more appropriated tc
the line of free trade. And what do we now
see as the effects Of these much vaunted
notifications in our national policy?
At a time when oil branches Of productive
industry were most fourishing when thu
harvests for series of years have been thu
most bountiful; when California has beer
annually pouring her golden wealth into oul
lap, we are suddenly arrested in our ca.
reer BY Q "panic," . sscrisis, }" and a sspress.