The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1857-10-21
The Banks Of South Carolina-General
Suspension advised.

lhat the sDaaR OF the State of South Caro-
lima, ut Charleston, had, on Saturday lO,h
inst. declared it's inability to continue fur
ther specie payments. That this Bank.wi,h
the largest capital of any, was the frs, to
suspend naturally excited surprise; but when
1t is considered that il has been more liberal
IN It's accommodations than the Others and,
~ consequence, has more bills in circulation
and discounling upon longer time than the
othcIs Was thereby prevented from gather
lNg lis bills as fast, this seeming weakness
/ upon ihe part Of the Bank Of The State is
accounted Tor How far the other Bank ;
may have prrriptatrd the act of suspcp.
sion upon the part al the Bank Of the State
placing his nsiilution IN the }0reground
of He'r"rn "bemiiHg can. Tor the pres.
| ent. only surmlse The bills of thi, Bank
were rrfnsrt by some of The company
Banks. on the day before, and this i, was
'bat eNciled the apprehension of bill holders,
inducing The suFi"us panic and run upon it,
and which resulted in its suspension. We
had been assured by the press of Charles
ton that the Banks there were acting har.
monouslv--by by conference and in concert
with each other, Lut now the converse is
shown TO bc true and each, actuat ed by sell
alone, is working n way to prccipitutc
The destruction Of the other.
1t VIII be seen by an article from the
Charleston Standard, on our first page, that
The Bank of the State WAS not reduced 10
the last extremity when it SUSPENDED, and
might, probably, have wcathcred the storm
ut gIc"t sacrifices and we wish sincerely
for the honor cf 'hc State, not less than
i"r the go"d of the pvople-shuiit had con
lnued le red, en- ils bul& uni the last dol.
lar had been paid out and the las, uvaia.
hIe assets had been reduced t. coin, if such
length had been required of il. This ar.
lIcIe i"m the Standard ito " hIch We invite
uttcnt"ny also shows, conclusivuly, that
huNcrs of bills upon this Bank need not
fear ultimate lossfor IN addition to the ann.
tllude Of the assets Of the Bank the
State is responsible for tHc eventual liquida-
tion Of all demands against it. We would
prefer To receive these bills. dishonored ns
they are, 10 any others in the State, wheth.
er upon the Banks that have alrcad, sus-
pended or upon the others that are possibly
lettering upon the verge Of the same uu.
fortunate prcdicamcnt.
After the Suspension of the Bank uf III.
State, the run upon the other Banks in
Charleston WAS ~ course increased, and on
Monday following, both the South Western
Railroad Bank and the Bank of South Car
oIina suspended, and on Tuesday lIlh, the
Peoples Bank followed suit At the pres
ent time of writing, we have not been in
formed, positively, Of any other in this State.
though i is exceedingly probable that re-
ports OF other suspensions viii rrnrh Us DC.
tore our paper goes to press. Private rumor
says that the Planters Bank Of Fairfield
has suspended, and whether true or MOTIVE
know that bills upon This Bank have been
refused, within the last day or two, at the
raiIro"@ depot at Camden.
We will, by no means, be surprised, il
Nithin Il week or ten dave, every Bank in
the State, that has rot already done so,sus-
prnds and why' Not because they will
BE- positively forced to it but because it il
TO their interest TO do s0-because the
course Of the suspended Banks have been
appIauded rather than condemned --beeausc
the mercantile community, by whose i1iu.
ence tI'e Banks are Immediately surrounded
and to whom it would afford temporary re.
fef, are cIamorous for suspension. and the
press of Charleston, we are amazed TO see.
with the exception Of the Ne,os which gal
lanly stands by the whole people ynrc coun-
selling general suspension! But The pro.
pie grnrr ,lfy-ihe planters and laboring
classes. against whom general suspension
will rebound with terrible effect, have not
yet had lime 10 raise their voices against il.
We are told that the bills upon these
suspended Institutions are good-,hat they
have specie in their vaults (Which in our
opinion, magnif"s their offences that their
assets are abundant To redeem, in the course
Of time, every bill that they have out and
th at these bills ARE sufficient now to answer
all our local purposes. This we grant in
its fullest sense, but what are our local uses
for money? Is our clothing, our shoes our
cotton and wOolcn goods, our sugar and
coffee and pork and -four and nccessarirs Of
every kind, raised or manufactured in South
Carolina IL the country merchant no.
cepts our bills for these articles, will they
pay his Indebtedness in New York or Char
ieston; or if received in Charleston, the, will
he taken in turn by the manu- facturDs I?
If the suspension Of specie payments
lasts but II few weeks or few months,
the Inconvenience will be comparative.
ly light, but who knows when these
monied corporations will deem it expedent
to Sssus'e Our local purposes for money
we co..ceive to be very few, and if these
bills can only pay debts between farmers,
incurred by horse swap or perhaps for a
bdshel Of corn, common notes of hand will
answer as well and we have no need for
their dishonOred shin pidsters.