Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-11-04
From the South Caroinian.
SOTTUERN COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE,

mercial enterprise has been so deficient, tina
conventions have been called to discuss ant
advance it and speeches made, and our papers
been filled with editorials originating and urg
ing schemes 10 promote it. The planters o
the South, with crop OF 100000 bales o
cotton with 100000 900, have been depen
dent on New York for its sale; and the con
centration of all trade in the great emporium
Of the North has held the South in bondage
and it has quietly submitted to the yoke. New
York funds and specie have been synonimou:
terms, and the banks of New York have beer
the regulators of commercial intercourse. But
what spectacle is now presented? The very
banks which should have been the guardians o.
commerce and the conservators of public conf
dence have, by sudden, unwise contraction o
their issues, caused rcvulson in the monetary
world, and been the means of destroying the
business of thousands and deranging the whole
commerce of the country. It's unnecessary
to 90 into an argument on this subject, the facts
are painfully before us in the stagnation OF
trade, the want of confidence, and the want OF
money in the community. The great staple Of
the South, which has become the staple of the
world, is in no demand-the hopes of the plan
ter, so recently buoyant promising, are chilled,
and the produce of his fields is lying almost
valuelesS on his hands. And why does he sub
NIT to this state of things-to this slavish de-
pendence on Northern banks-whcn his pros
perity is in his own hands? why do Southern
banks submit to the thral;lom Of the North,
when the remedy is present for removing the
cause which has so op:nly shown itself, and the
opportunity now occurs Of efccting it to their
own advantage. Why Go the merchants Of the
South neglect the golden chance Of seizing with
avidity direct trade, which has so long been
urged hy politicians and editors, and now is
within their grasp? Why do they not imlne-
diatclr start line Of steamers from Charleston
and Savannah and New Orleans, to carry to
those WHO want it our cotton, which they must
have at any price? Why do not our merchants
anil banks take immediate measures to secure
tp themselves foreign exchange, which has given
New York supremacy in our commercial world ?
What we have long been anxiously inculca-
tng with the pen has forced itself upon US, and
tue present revulsion in the North has shown
lis our heretofore entire dependence, end pre-
scnted lis the opportunity of severing the con-
ncctior and setting up for ourselves. While
discussions have been going on, grave and i'm
portant changes il the South, from wild specu-
lation, have prccipitated upon lis the necessity
Of direct trade, which is now palpably our COM
mercial regeneration. Heretofore our freedom
of commerce has been the privilege of paying
tribute to the North, and having Northern capi-
tai to govern us. Our banks and merchants,
instead of furnishing means to ship our produce,
advancing bills tor that end, and taking drafts
on that produce, thus securing foreign exchange,
have allowed New York to enjoy this advantage
at their and our expense. Our banks, many Of
them, have invested nearly all their capital
their cash-in New York, and sent their;pro-
miscs to pay to Western States, abandoning the
legitimate business of banking for the benefit
of tie community, and depending on its neceS-
sites in New York to advance the banks profits
Our people have been asking more banks to
assist in encouraging enterprise and developing
the manufacturing and other industrial interests
of the country, and as soon ai they are char
terrell, they become Spectators III exchange IN
Northern cities. Our crop of cotton is worth
about SlGO00O, coo, that OF tobacco and rice
3O,O00,O00, sugar $50 000,GG0 and grain fully
S;3O,O0O,O0O more-S2j0, 100000; on this the
exchange is worth nearly $50 100000, one half
or the whole OF whici, the banks and merchants
couI, now invest in shipping, to carry forward
directly the prodGce Of the country to foreign
l,nr;s without any connection with New York.
By 50 doing present losses would be made up
and tine permanent advantage of exchange Tor
the future, would fit the prosperity OF these
banks. and OF the South.
One Of tie earliest advocates Of the Sub
Trcas,,ry-a wise Democratic measure, which
has made the Government model OF financial
safety-sr,gscstS, and we taink very properly:
that the blIrks should memorialize the South
ern Legislatures, TO prohibit hereafter the issue
of bills of $40 anu unlcr, so that the lower
channels of currency in daily use amongst the
laboring class should be filled up with gold and
silver. This would finally Benefit the banks
themselves, because it would give this lower
stratum of gold and silver to fall back upon in
q commercial convulsion. and enable them to
buy gold and silver at reasonable rates, be-
fore it cot too dear, to replcn;sh the specie ba-
sis; and it wonld in fact make the community
the keepers of specie, instead Of forcing them
to keep it idle in vaults. As it is now, all gold
and silver is driven out from the under-chan-
ncls of circulation. and when convulSlon comes:
it is tuo dear and too distant to be procured Tor
sudden emergency. This would make the
banks popular, If they proposed it themselves:
and strong again, and enable them to secure
the whole profits Of circulation in the larger
r,f,.c of commercial transactions; and by res
cniI,r Southern produce now in this emergency
from tic tribute to the North, they will also
secure all the profits Of foreign as well as the
domestic exchanges of the country in all time
to come, and they will be looked upon as patrl-
otic and devoted to the interests OF the country,
instead of their own exclusive sclfisEneSs eX-
citing bad feeling towards them.
II the bankS\do not meet these great Issues
now, they are gone and forever. we have
passed. through ore great revulslon in 1851, and
the producing classes were swindled out oil
millions. The country will not bear another,
and the Legislatures about to meet III the
Southern States will institute new system,
and banks of discount will be separated alto
ccthcr from banks of circulation.
4 heavy responsibility now rests on the
banks--theY arc accountable for the present
crisis, and tile prostration of trade, and reduc-
ton of the price of our staple. True, the
Northern banks-or rather those of New York
have to bear the burden Of the monetary dis
order. but this the more makes it incumbent on
Southern banks to separate themselves from
them; with less dependence on them, they
could now protect the Southern planter, and 1t
is their patriotic as we'll rs interested duty to
come forward freely with assistance to get the
crops to market. The banks Of the South, rs
well as the merchants and planters, have de-
pendod too much on New York-now that New
York has shown its bubble existence, and the
South stands up in her true position of ability
to sustain her commercial independence, lei
her people plant themselves on the rock OF hcl
stapic productions, and show the world her ele
mcnts of strength, which belong to her soil anc
her "peculiar institution.