The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1857-10-22
BANKS AND BANKING.


most determined adyeIsaries. Should the fail |
ure become general. no inyidous comparisons !
could be drawn. But as there are very many
banks and bankers who will not fail efforts are
being made to all injurious effects upon the rep.
utatouof such as have actually done so. Hence
we see it statedin the papers, and hear it in the
streets, that their Suspension tcas intended
measure ofreliefn' 1t requires great e!lrontery
to make such assertions, and almost unlimited
eredulity to secure their belief Those having
knowledge of business and who reflect upon it
will never credit such an idle an absurd asSlmp-
ton. IfSuSpeuSion is a relief measure, the
more extensive the greater the relief Debtors
as well as banks should suspend. lrsuspension
By bank relieves its cuso omers, of course, the
suspension by the customers must relieve the
banks. Banks never suspend to favor their
debtors, but to relieve themselves. They he.
come involved lorwant of capital, or because of
bad management, by setting the ordinary rules
Of banking at defiance, and cannot meet their
engagements, and then stop payment. Who
then is relieved? The banks relieve themselves
by refusing to pay. This is a measure of relief
to them, but to nobody else. Instead of thisre
lieving their debtors or the public, exactly the
reverse happens, They require all owing them
to pay AS fast as they can draw money from
them. They contract their credits, sacrificing
those who owe them, when not prompt, without
n Scruple.
When they have drawn in from the commu,
nifty as much as suits their purposes and have
retrieved their errors in banking, and money be-
comes plenty, they commence to pay their own
debts But they do not allow their debtors to
delay until they have retrieved their affairs and
money becomes abundant If merchant al
lows note to be protested, his character is gone
and he can get no further credit. He is tcld-
graphed as having failed. He consults his cred
itors, il he is honest and wise; offers them the
control OF all he has, and abdes their direction.
He compromises, gets an extension, or goes on
as they devise. But banks consult not holders
of their bills, or their depositors, creditors, or
the public, who are affected by their acts but
the managing cotcre Of the directors
room, and consult their own interests, and de-
termine and act accordingly, let it hurt or ruin
whomit may The exceptions are few; and
tend to establish the general rule. If the banks
have real solid capital, and are well conducted,
they can and should pay their debts as well as
individ uas. If they have no capital, or are
badly conducted there is no good reason why
they should escape the natural consequences Of
their condition.
When a Merchant owes in New York or Lon
don, and has accumulated bank bills with which,
to pay his Indebtedness, and the bank refuses to
redeem, and he is compelled to sell them at u
discount Of five or ten percent to procure mon
ey with which to pay, is the bank suspension a
relief to him? II one wishes to travel, and, ow,
ling to bank suspensions, is compelled to give a
hundred dollars in bills for ninety in gold, is
this measure of relief to him? Importers pay
to the government some seventy millions an
1 H., lN, th,,,
loose five or ten per cent to get the specie, thus
loosing three and half or seven millions. viii
those who are compelled to submit to loss OF
three and half or seven millions, think the
suspensions measure of relief to them? Look
at stocks. We have several hundred millions
of them The quotations show that they have
fallen in value from ten to twenty per cent.
since the present suspension commenced On
five hundred millions Ga low estimate) at ten
per cent the loss on stocks alone is fifty mil
lions ofdollars. On ten millions, the probable
r amount of State and railroad stocks alone, it
would be one hundred miilious--a sum larger
than the cag;taI 0fali the suspended banks.
Are the holders, who loose this amount by no
act or fault Of their own, relieved by suspension
Almost every description of property has de-
preciatcd. lhe quotations for land warrants
issued to those who served our country in heI
, wars show falling off of more than ten percent
+ in price. The loss on these alone will amount
to very large sum, 1t cannot be denied that
the price of real estate has fallen in some places
l more and in others less. The average cannot
be less than five percent This alone would a
mount to millions upon millions. Even at one
percent the loss would be enormous. The quo
tations of1lour, grain, and produce show very
great alling off in prices since the suspension
t If this were limited to depreciation of five pei
cent. the loss would amount to many millions
The effect upon farm stock, lumber Manuac
> lures, and ships, a., has been very considerable
a This catalogue OF heavy losses has resulted from
improper management on the part Of banks ant
their suspension, and amounts to more than al
the real capital of all the banks in the Unon.-
Can those who loose these millions upon mil
lions say that suspension is a measure Of relief
It These are only POI ltlon of the consequence
of having banks o i sue. When money mat
ters are easy the profit on vending their credit il
the form Of bills, temptS them to great eXpan
! sions Instead ofdlscounting genuine busines
+ paper, they make loans of their credit to al
o. sorts Of spectators, few of whom escape event
g ua bankruptcy, thus inA;cting losses upon tn
II community and often upon the banks themselye
. This expansion Of the currency raises prices
IS people freely buy property on credit, and th
whole community becomes involved. Whe
these operations become sufficiently extensiv
and numerous an explosion follows, and banks {
v issue suspend. Property falls in price, and th
t debtors have to struggle hard to pay. Men con
n tract debts in easy times, and pay when the
v are hard; but pay they must while they hav
4 the means But the banks suspend AMI set tn
n laws and their creditors at defiance until the
e can pay without loss, and then have the assur
d ance to attempt to create belief that they sus
d pend as measure Of reliefto the suffering com
O munity.
s UntiEit eau be demonstrated that depreca
t ting the price of nearly everything having val
= ue, amounting in the aggregate to millions upo
d millions, is a reliefto those who sustain loss
0 this draft upon the ecredulity of the people mus
It fall, however boldly aud confidently it may b
If made. The failing banks, by defying the law
and their obligations to their creditors, have re
t lieved themselves, while the people within thei
q influence have lost many millions by it, With
out any fault of their own the people who hav
no dealings with banks have found the none
bills) in their pocket deprecated from four to-
" ten percent, as in this County, and all the
!. other property equally, if not more, deprecated
r and then they are gravcly told that the cours
/. of the banks producing this result did so as
n measure ofreef to the public. Those who viii
i consult the sufferers will find how few believ
It these brazen assumptions.
q 0~YFanny Fern, it is said, receives $1,000
9 year for her writings for the New York Ledger
9 Mr. J. Patton, her husband, is writing the Liz
q Of Aron Burr.
! 0NrThe Erie tPa.) Constitution sassy that th
!. cashier of the Erie City Bank has been arrested