Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-11-29

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CAUSE OF THE Crisis.
TEs Bsgain propouads an entirely novel the
o-v 70 account for the money crisis of 1881,
when Il boldly asserts, that sthe hard tines
iron which every b.aHch Of business has SUI
fsred. were the ofshoot, not Of a worthless
currency, but Of an insufficient euFreaey.o
EDriven to curtsilnent Of nearly two nil
Ho. - continues that organ, "evsFy one felt
tse isFston." aPush the process fartber. and
make The currency gold and silver alone, abe
the past pressure would be but as a feathers
weight to that which would crush TIE industry
d o. the people" "Credu, which is the poor
mans capital, would be at an end, and the rich
alone be able to command the facilities which
have eaabled the industry of our people to
work oas such marvels.r She transition,
cone when II may, and however Ii my be pro-
dueed, is annihilstion to thoss without an al
ready accumulated capital"
The error Of the BzHetiH, in asserting that
the hard times were the ofshoot, not Of 3
worthless currency, but Of an insufficient cur
renew. bas doubtless arisen from coufounding
the YroriHsate with the e6ieieAt cause Of the
money panic. The ProriSate cause Of the de-
rsngene1t Of the finances Of the country may
/. Be plsusibly attributed to the sudden and ex-
traorainsrv eurtsilmeut Of the circulation Of
hsrk issaes. But he, who desires to probe
the money system until he discovers the real
disease, and who wishes TO apply an efficient
remedy. will not stop here in bis investigations,
and pronounce a mere sy1PfOm to be the dis
ease itself. Il the curtailmeut, as the BElletiE
asserts. were indeed the radical cause Of the
hard times, why cid not the banks apply The
natural nostrum, and at once enlarge the cir
c~ulation to such an amount as would have
cured the evil? If an " insufficient currency"
and not a " worthless currency" was, in fact,
the disease, then The remedy would have been
the simple and easy one Of making it sufficient
10 nest the demand OF the commercial eOnnu
nfty. BIZ issuing an increased amount Of bank
paper.
The question, then, arises, why did not the
banks pursue this policy instead OF curtaiiing?
The answer is readily given. They saw bank
ru7tcy and dishonor staring them il tie fsce,
IL thew dared to maintain their circulation,
much less to increase it. They saw their
vaults rapidly yielding up their coin and that
coin exported abroad to meet an Indebtedness
which was the result, in part, of their extra
VACANT over-issues. They were obliged to
cartal to prevent failure, but their curtaiIing
came too late and did not check the tendeBoy
10 draw coin from their vaults. 50 they were
compelled to take the next step to bankruptcy
to suspend the payment Of their liabilities.
Ths nostrum Of the Bulletin, We suppose,
would be to enlarge their issues at this point
Of suspension and thus furnish a sufficient cur
reucy for the country, and yet to maintain that
q totally irredeemabls currency is not UOTihlsss
TO a certain extent, because it makes all bark
issues alike, the notes Of really solvent institu-
tons and Of those which cannot pay more than
ten cents on the dollar being at par with each
other.
From all this, it is very evident that the eff
cient Gauss Of the money crisis was the extra
ordinary expansion Of bank credits and eireula-
ton, running up prices Of every species Of
property to g panic point, stimulating extravs-
gance and excessive imDortstions Of foreign
fabrics and engsndering z wild and cTszy spec
ulstion il bonds and stocks, which exhausted
the country Of its coin aud lef. the banks with
out a sufficient metallic basis to sustain their
circulation. This sort Of game shs BalefiH
dssignz5es the aliases Of the banking system,
and safely asks if we would destroy the sys-
ten rather than correct these abuses. We
reply that these aliases, as they are termed,
seem to ~ to ovsrbalance very far any Of the
compensslions Of the system, and while we
have advocated, and shall :eontiuus to contend,
with zeal and sarnsstness, for such corrections
Of the existing system, while it remains in sx-
istsnce. az will remedy the defects, as far ss
possible, and place the currency upon a safer
sad sounder basis, yet we have thought it our
duty to advocate an ultimate and radical
change in The whole system. That a currency,
adequate to the commercial wants Of the whole
country, can be furnished from the precious
metals, we have not a doubt.
But if experiences, to be demonstrated by .
approach to a metallic currency, so-
to the safe and prudent system We have
tuouiQ SLOW mat our CoHDeEclEl
and the general interests Of the country
demand an increased circulation, it viii be
very easy to enlarge the currency to the amount
needed, and no more, making gold and silver
the general basis and paper issue the exception,
thus directly reversing the present system
makes paper issues the general basis
and coin the very rare exception. Oas thing
clear to every sound-mindsd observer Of
events, that the policy Of our legislation has
very widely from the metallic basis or
constitutional currency, and that the cOnse-
luence has been recklsssness, extravaganza,
visionary schemes, speculation and fraud. To
correct this, should be the object of every re-
eidzsn, and we abate nothing Of our
conclusion, that to make the reform
Fs shall have to gradually withdraw the cir
OF notes Of credit, until we shall have
at a strict basis Of gold and silver, ef-
exchanges through properly regulated