The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-11-10

me 10 maintain this position ly arguments, priw, and
prove that this bank with capital OF thirty millions,
could not control the issues Of thousand State banks
whose combined capital is than ten times that
amount but reasoning would be only waste Of time,
when this conclusion has been established by well known
facts In 1886 the Bank OF England clearly ioresaw the
approach OF the storm which afterwards spread ruin over
that country well this The foreign exchanges were
against England and specie was exported me paper
currency had become expanded that the prices OF all
domestic productions high and consequently IL was
the interest of foreigners 10 sell everything they could
in that country and buy as little there ms possible uh
der these circumstances the Bank OF England determined
TO put forth all its power IN order to reduce prices ana re-
store the equilibrium of the foreign exchanges IL ac-
cordingly commenced system OF rapid curtament Of
its loans and issues in the vain hope that the ointtock
banks of the kingdom would be compelled TO follow its
ample Much 10 its astonshment, 1t found that us 1t
contracted they expanded and at the end of the process
there paper money in circulation than ut Its
commencement So entirely satisfied well-informed
in England that their national bank, even with
capital of seventy millions OF dollars cannot control
these expansions and contractons of the currency that
they seriously think of combining the issues of paper
money to bank TO be under the control of the gov
crnmen and OF excluding all the other banks OF the
kingdom from the enjoyment Of this privilege And yet,
i'm the face of this we'll known fact II Is seriously con-
tended here that this bank Of thirty millions will possess
the to control the loans and issues OF the thousand
banks scattered vast country Ii will do no
good in this respect but much evil
During the period of the late bank existence, II was
the primary and efficient Of all the very great ex-
pansons which afflicted the country. shall mention
but of these though might refer to those of 1928
1881 and 1884 In the years 1916, 1917 and 1878 the
first three years after the date OF its charter what its
course Z IL was a mere specializing machine. 1t cx-
banded the currency to such oxtent and made money
plenty that everything to price In
the county where reside, land commanded from two to
four hundred dollars per acre and in one instance
know tract to have been sold for 81 500 per The
expansion of the Bank of the United States encouraged
all the hanks to follow ita and bank
notes became cheap that 1t required large amount of
them to purchase any article OF value. The bank thus
literally stimulated the spirit of speculation to such
high degree almost to produce general arrangement
of the public mind Such extravaganza never wit
messed before,
The revulsion came as come II always must and the
bank, to all appearance was in the last agony 1t was
then that Mr. Cheves called to preside it, In
order to it from destruction he compelled to re-
uce its loans and curtal its issues with uexampled IA
pidty; and in consequence the years 1919 1920, and
1921 the most disastrous that this country has
experienced since the revolutionary There was more
individual ruin property changed hands by forced
sales during those three years than have witnessed
in similar period before since and all attributable
directly to the influence and example of this great ra
of the currency In 1921 tho price Of flour sunk to
So IS per barrel in Philadelphia and far west the
State Of Ohio it scarcely commanded any price There is
thing under the sun, and should this bank
get into successful operation from the very law of its
tre 1t will follow in the footsteps of its llustrous pre-
decessor II will be powerful to do evil but feeble to
produce good.
The last reason which has been given by the senator
from Kentucky why should establish Bank of the
United States is that other nations have national banks,
and therefore that also ought to have such nsttu
ton. Let say, in the first place. that other nations
have such bank the which propose to estab-
ish The Banks of France and England belong to ndi
vidua and part of the stock of either is held by the
government But under this charter, republican
government is to ally its interests with those of the money
power BY becoming the proprietor of than half of
the whole capital of this bank Does the senator suppose
that if the Bank Of the United States had continued to
st under its charter from Congress until May, 1887,
1t would then have welthcred the storm Far different
would have been its fate. 1t would have been the first
to fall under the Revision of that fearful crisis and for
this very reason that being national bank, its
ion with England would have been more intimate and
direct than that Of State banks. The blow which then
Frustrated banking institutions from that coun
try, and it would have fallen with redoubed force
national bank it did the Pennsylvania Bank of the
United States, which then occupied smila, position.