The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-10-15
THE MONETARY cTlsIs.

THE MONETARY cTlsIs.
There is no change for the better in the
monetary world. The panic an presssre con-
tinue: there is prevailing APPREHENSION that
the worst has not yet come. Since our last,
soma of the New England bal KS haze given
way; several of the country lssnks of New
York, and one or two city b AXIS, have sus-
pended and in the South, the sd State Bank
of Charleston has yielded to the pressure, un-
able to meet the demands upon it.
Ii is said that the banks of Iioston are aid
ing the merchants a little, but taere have been
heavy failures in that city ana in New York
the failures are astounding TAs Harpers, for
example, have suspended, with million of
assets above their liabilities. The banks have
promised help, but the universal complaint is,
that no help is granted. Men df ample means,
with warehouses stocked with goods, can OBJ
tain money at no price. The banks seem de-
termined to save themselves Nut their ability
to do even this begins to be doubted. 1t is
clear that they continue to eSiat only by the
forbearance of their denositors4
The Legislature of Pennsylunis, at its extra
session, is about to pass bid if it has not
done so, repeating the penalties of the existing
laws against bank suspension, and providing
for the resumption of specie payments by the
first of next April.
Everywhere in the Atlantic States, the dis
tress is all-pervading. The currency is disor-
dered, money has disappeared, the best houses
suspend, business is psralyzed, laborers are
losing employment, the 3anic is universal.
Thus far, the West ha4 been less shaken than
was spprehended. The State sahks continue
generally to pay specie, and there have been
comparatively few failures .arAong prominent
business men.
Now is the time for speculaticna upon the
crisis-causes and reme3ies. sOh if we had
United States bank, Il is evil would not have
have come upon u.s." 'We wApt head, alb
solute and despotic, to our financial system"
GThis comes of Free II ade-t Protective Tar
is, the country has been drained % pay the for
eign manufacturers"
with such fancies. WI ereever there is paper
money, there will from time TO time be Just
such evils as these we wv labor under. Banks
Of circulation are grea3 conven ences, but at
times they are great urses. u has always
been 80 it will always ,e so.
Wherever any man o. set Of r zen is author
lied to issue, promises pay; - money, the
inevitable tendency of q 1ch issue is always to
excess, and in seasons o. prospar' y this tenden-
is aggravated. The Gus omers of the Bank and
the Bank itself are aliks, tempted As money
paper money-increases ,pricef 6 up, and spec
ulation is stimulated. lien spAc late in tobac.
co, sugar, land, railroa g, stoak foreign i'm
ports. Indications eveS fwhere lound of high
prosperity-Banks issu, plenty { { their prom.
ises to pay: the Peopls will hfu it so, and the
Bank is delighted to m. ke so fot eh on its cred.
it. With twenty five Ii ,usand liars worth of
specie in its vaults, it g is or per cent. in.
terest on its hundred ar fifty III .usand prom
Uses to pay, or sc or 81 per ceat on its actual
specie! Why should not dI count? And
when the Spectator Gao get large loan of
promises to pay from: the Bark, to buy ND
sugar, and carry up pr ,es to all extravagant
point, where he can mai twenty Eve per cent.
or to buy up vast tract of wsld lands, which
are to double or treb3e in value in few
years, under the oper ,tion ef railroad to
be built by help of dos atoms from Congress.
why should he not do so? So they harmo
nize-sct and react, u, til fnslls some great
operators fail to meet their notes, aud then
some unlucky Bank fai to mesljts notes-and
then all the Banks tai e frighs, and draw in
their loans, and specnls DTS take fright, and be.
gin to sell out. Prices 20 down men fail, and
go down, crying to the Banks to help them
and Banks fail and go own, crying to the Leg.
islatures to help them.
The bubble has burs! paper. expansion has
done its work-fortunea;a ruined. or CHANCE
hands-the currency . in chsos-no man
knows what he is WORT universal panic and
want of confidence pree,il.
And you, venerable champion of a United
States Bank, think cha. could hive been pre-
vented by such an ina itutior Can YOU find
any set of Bank Direcl DIS in,icc, ssible to the
magic of coming moEsy out, of promises to
pay? Twenty-Five per cent. itaiIs have won
drous charms
And, think you, Prott ctioniss, tat by cutting
Oh foreign imports, yot could cure the evils of
paper EXPANSION Hig prosperity is the stimu-
lus to those evils-but y1u tell ts that Protection
would make the countrss more prosperous than
ever. Suppose you iso! ate the. ccsntry, annibi-
late foreign commerce, you avs only closed
up one avenue OF spec qlatioD Stocks, Land,
Grain, SugS Toba lco and all those
fantastic notions repres ,nted BY TIE Morus Null
ticaulis, remain. Let PrOmiies TO Pay be le-
galized, or authorized BY PubE@ Opirion, as
money, and Speculation and B,xtzavagance will
always find the mean for taneine riot. and
bringing on as a con, equenee periodic crises
Of reverse, distress, nd enforced economy.
England, in the cous 70 of enA generation,
rom 1898, went throu ii nesslyAa dozen
periods of bank-expSusion, bank
bank-suspe ,sion, snd general bank
ruPtcy. One of the VIC tst wae dtsing the high
tariff on grain, and wat chiefly attributable to
Wild sPeculations in tbs very article, protected
BY heavy dutiesI
We shall recover Fl, m this present agony.
Men will begin to asce, ain where they are, and
how much they owe. ConGaeBse will come
back slowly. Our Gun ,eney aTs become fxed