Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-12-03


ing a class SO large, SO influential aul
active against the unstamp ped notes, thei
circulation would be effactually check
mated. "' - -=-. 5"t't-.
The paper money wing of the Demo
cracy was still more against the bank
rupt act, against bankrupt banks, tha1
against the stamp tax on notes; and
acting with the habitual opponents o
the party to which thoy professed to be
long, easily defeated all the bills. Thi
open objection came from the lawyers
with their professional ideas, draw
chiefly from British statutes, that mer
chants and traders were the proper sub
Iljeets of the, bankrupt law, although eve
Try late British statute on the subjec
includes banks, (the bank of England
Iexcepted;) and in single season o
Suspension, (that. of 1913-1415) nine
ty-two of these banks had been subject
ed to commissions of Bankruptcy! Bu
this remedy was not of English, but o
Roman origin, as its name would shov
I-"6ancns" and s'ruptns;;" and banker
we're the original objects of the law, a!
the same name also shows.oEts Broker
bench" is the English of the Latir
"
bankers (money changers of that time
as now in the East had their bcnche:
in public places, on which they sat and
did business; and when any one became
delinquent or criminal, he was driven
away and his bench was broken. And
thus, in its origin, bankruptcy was a
process against banks and bankers, and
still is in Great Britain; and hence re-
taihs its original name of broken bench
the bench SO broken being the sign
and warning to the public that the ban
ker himself was insolvent, and deprived
of his place of doing business. 9 x
1 do not expatiate upon the evils of
small paper money; they are palpable
to every observer, and only require emu
meration l. It drives. away all hard
money of equal denominations; for, in
competition between two currencies,
the meanest is always the conqueror,
and chaseS the other out of the field
2. It is the great source of the crime of
counterfeiting; for the mass of the coun-
tcrfeits consists of small notes. 3. 1t
demorahzes the community; for people,
not willing to lose note for which they
have given value, instead of burning it
when rejected by knowing one as
counterfeit, put it back into the pocket
and offer it again to an igno GRANT person,
who receives it, and who goes through
the same process when rejected in his
hands. f. Small notes make the panics
and bring on the runs which break
down good banks; for these small notes
being in the hands of the masses, when
they get alarmed they assemble BY thou
sands at the doors of the Institution
which issued the notes, demand the mo-
ney, break the banks: and propagate the
alarm which themselves feel until it be-
comes general; for nothing is more con-
taSious than moneyed panic, nor any
thing more unmanageabls. 5. 1t pilia-
ges the poor and the ignorant; for every
base note, every one that is counterfeit,
or on broken bank, or on bank that
never existed, although it will run for
awhile must stop somewhere, and when
it does, is sure to stop in the hands of
the poor and uninformed, upon that
class least able to bear the loss, who
have no advantage from banks which
are in operation, and who bear the loss
when they stop. 6. Itexcites to swind-
ling; for knaves, with nothing but brass
for their capital, and that in their faces
instead Of their Golfers, are induced to
set up manufactures of small paper, to
be sent abroad and sunk upon thous-
ands of. those among whom it is scatter
ed; all that is SO sunk being clear gains
to the manufacturer. z. ltinduces and
even compels people to be wasteful of
their money; for such is the natural,
honest, and just contempt and distrust
eff small notes that he or she that re-
caives one hurries off to lay it out for
something not needed; while piece of
gold of the same amount would be valu-
ed and cherished, aud laid by and kept
and added to, until enough is accumu-
lated to make a purchase of something
needed and useful. 8. 1t subjects the
payer to be cheated or worsted in
change; for, giving paper in payment,
he must receive the change In other pa
per; and for that purpose the meanest,
most ragged, dirty, and worthless will
always be picked out and showed upon
him. In short, such are the evils, the
crimes, the decentralization and cheating
of small paper money, that all nations,
except the United States, place it in the
category of criminal agent and sup
press it accordingly.
Twenty odd years ago, when we were
laboring to restore the constitutional
currency to the government of the peo-
pie, the ready objection, repeated by all
the friends of paper money, was, that
there was not gold and silver in the
world to carry on the business of the
United States; and the ready answer to
that objection was, that there was pre-
cisely enough, and that exactly enough
would come to the United States if we
would only create a demand for it by
correcting the gold standard, make it
the Government currency, and suppress
sing small paper. Only part of those
things have been done, and there have
flowed into the United States, or been
obtained from our own mines, about
four or five times as much gold as the
business Of the United States could en-
ploy, The supply has been nearly a
thousand millions of dollars, and the
business of the United States would on
II employ about two hundred millions.