The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-05-28
l fto,S IA. Lou,los bssssmi.a
HOW uptp 70 DisfRfntTxp.

OF tho year. tho stock ot vuiloh InN the1
bank has continued 10 be very nearly about
Elo, 900, 900. Once or twice, II has boon n
triilo below that, sum, but generally from
ono to tlreo hundred thousand rouads
above it. So with rare exceptions, about
flo,ooo,ooo was tile stock throughouts the
whole Of 1856. It'was never but for one
week above fl2.ooo,Ooo, aud was then III
July sl3,oss,75s; and was only in eleven
weeks-five in April and May, and six in
October, and November-belo fl0,0Oo,-
as something like the normal or necessary
sum for the bank to hold as in 1s5l-'52
people begin to think 100000, 900 the true
unit of safety.
Why the bank, or why any nation should
have particular quantity Of gold and why
the people should be distressed or alarmed
as this quantity is not hel1, and continually
frightened when gold goes away or does
not come in, more than when any other
commodity goes away or does not come in,
seems to be one of the unexplained myste-
res of social life and mercantile necessities.
Let us try to explain it.
Gold is found only in restricted localities,
and it cannot, like sugar and cotton, and
corn, ny any art be increased, according to
the want Of it by the labors of mankind.
At the same time it is indispensable as the
instrument of exchange. Latterly a very
great addition has providcntially been made
to the supply; but the customary law of
distribution, which obviously forbids its be-
ing heaped up in any one place, must con-
vince us that we cannot, do what we may
though the bulk Of the new supply be
found in our own territory-retain more
than our share. Gold being an article of
which the quality cannot be increased in
definitely by labor, and being more like at
'mospheric air (of which every man and eve
ry nation must have proportionate share
or he dies,) than like cottons or woolcns
(Which may bc dispensed with, or for which
substitutes may be found) there is a provi-
dental means Of distributing it as we'll as
providing supply.
What our share of the general supply is,
we only learn from experience, but whatev-
er it may be, we use all kinds of means
bank notes, clearinghouse, banking ac-
counts, bills of exchange, &c, to dispense
with 1t as much as possible. Precious as it
Isl we are always trying to lend it or spend
it. Whenever it can be sold to advantage.
the bullion merchants sell it; and at pres
ent every person is dcsirous to keep his
stock as low as possible.
All individuals and nations act, as the
rule' on this principle. Only here and
there does miser hoard up his gold, or
from old prejudices, prefer to keep it rather
to lend it or to use it. 1t is now rare
thing for nation of sovereign actually to
hoard as corporated body. All the mer-
camille classes of every nation-using the
word in the most enlarged sense of exchan-
ges-get rid of the gold, buying with it 9TH
er things as fast as they can. Thus all per-
sons are desirous of distributing it through
the world, and such general desire, like
the appetite for food, subserves good pur-
pose in the economy of society.
On the principle just stated, it distributes
pretty fairly the providential supply of the
necessary instruments of exchange amongst
all the people and nations of the earth, ac-
cording to their respective wants. That
this is for our benefit, and equally for the
benefit of others, is palpable from the ex-
changes by Which it is distributed being in
all cases voluntarily made. They are made
for the benefit of the changers, and to con-
fer advantages on them. Our purchases,
by means of gold and silver, of tie corn Of
Russia and the tea of China, help to promote
the civilization of those distant portions OF
the earth. They are approximating to a
condition that we have already attained or
gore beyond, and in which they need for
the purpose of exchange among them indi-
vidually, those portions of the precious met
ales, we, from superior contriyances-from
the bulk of us being able to read and write
while many Of them cannot-can dispense
with. But IS they make more exchanges
amongst themselves they will advance in
civilization-they will, like us, have more
to sell to others; and thus the gold and sill
yer which we have bought, and which we
are continually sending away to buy goods
\ from them, will tend to improve them, and
make them better neighbors and better GUS
TONERS to us and all civilized people.
4 a Patriots Prayer.-Many years ago
on well remembered occasion, when the
Union was undergoing one Of those tests
which threatened to rend it in twain, Dan.
iel Webster closed one Of the most soul.
stirring speeches he ever delivered, with the
following sentiment:
"Whehmy eyes far the last time shall