Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-09-08
From tie Memphis BuEletia Or Sent. 81.
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- @A@@AAa@S DAAeA CAeEECACEs
A correspondence to-day's paper breaks ground
IN favor OF the proposition increase the capital
OF the State Bank to eight or tenmions Of dollars
and make that insttution the supply-souree of our
paper circulation. We have heard i intrnateC
such project was entertained in other quarters.
out this IS the first public adv Ocacy Of that we
There are two objections to this, both of which
are, to our minds. of grave importance. The first
Is that the State has not got this seven or eight
millions to go to banking upon and would have to
oo7oio IT. thus increasing largely her Indebtedness
ana the other Is the almost universal history of
purely Stats Banks II may be- as il is TO be uluck
depIored, that the patriotism OF mankind is weaker
than their self interest; and that the affairs Of the
general public are never so well economically
attended to as the affairs of the Individual But
the indsputatle fact is so. We cannot call to mind
an Instance in which large State Banks-owned
Hnoiiy ey the State-have not resulted in heavy
losses In Mississippi the experiment gave birth
to reputation. Il is the business of the State to
regulate, not to furnish, its local currency.
But apart from these considerations, we appre-
bend that the scheme is impractieable, in such
shape to afford relief and surety from the very
evils under which we are now suffering. The rep
resentatives of the people would scarcely consent
TO such an augmentation OF their future liability TO
taxation, withoutevery ction receiving its ssharen
OF the facilities thus created by the location of
branches. This is the very vice of the organization
than all other Causes, pefpettatesthe bad system of
banking ID Tennessee. The increase Of the capt.
tai oil the State Bank, as proposed, would but pro-
long and TlVet upon Us, by the artificial means of
law, that system of ''hding out" which is about to
die OF itself; and would hereafter subject US to pre-
cIseIy the same sringencies and scarcity and from
the same causes, that sflict US now. For, it must
not be forgotten that the "brokeF' will have inst
the same right to draw coin or exchange from the
state Bank and its branches, that he has to draw
coin or exchange from the Stock Banks, and would
most assuredly do it if there was The same Droft tn
be derived from it. The odium of doing so should
rest upon the system of Banking which invites it.
not upon the legal vocation through which il is done
Give Us a piper currency which is not deprecated
at our own doors, and the "broker" not being able
10 make his salt" By sending it in for redemption
VIII con1ne himself to that which IS deprecated
The sound currency will remain in circulation
Under such system, b. Oaers are useful and valua-
Bile public conveniencvs and their vocation is rath-
er benefit than a hindrance to the operation of
such Banks. They become otherwise only in the
presence OF uniy' rsally degraded currency. The
fault and the evil lies there, and only there.
Such paper currency can be established onEv
by making 1t redeemable at the centers of trade
and commerce, where the elements upon which it
rests-the products of the INDUSTRY of the State
are conveyed for sale, and from whence the pro-
ceeds are distributed Any other system is rad-
caIly false, and must in time work out the demon
stration that it is Like damming up the course
OF moving water, you may for awhile hedge in by
by statue laws different system; but by-and-b We
the laws of trade will be found the stongest. Grad
ualy the accumulated volume percolates a channel
through the artificial obstruction, which grows
deeper and deeper until the mountain basin is
drained to its very bottom.
Our correspondent is IN part Just and in partun-
just, as regards the Free Banks That MANY of
them are "nothing more than chartered broker es
tabshments," is undoubtedly true They are en-
abled to be So only on account of the system of
Stock Banking which has been tolerated. The
good on' s would do better in the presence of a
right system. The bad ones would disappear in
the natural course of fittings.
The remedy, we think, is rather in changing the
character of the State Bank, making it a CONNER
cIa rather than popular institution instead of in
creaslng its capital; and in holding the STOCK Banks
TO stricter redemption of their notes at the points
from whence they ought to be issued.