The Washington union., 1857-12-02
insinceriv and fraudulent purposes, and nons but
those who wish to be wrong win hereafter trust
them or give them aid and comfort in anything
BANK REFORM.

they invariably affect the interests Of individuals and
classes either directly or Indirectly If inuriously
they will oppose them matter of course. Re-
forms generally operate restraints human pas
sons and are, consequently, obnoxious to all those
who have been accustomed TO their indulgence.
OF all reforms ever attempted or contemplated in
the United States that of banking defects and abuses
is the most difficult not to sag hopeless Laws can
not do it, because the act Of one Legislative body
may at any time be repealed or suspended by its
successor. We have lately an instance Of this
in Pennsylvania and should probably have witnessed
another in New York had not the Judiciary stepped
in and relieved the Legislature from the temptation
of multiplying its own acts, and evading the organic
law or setting it at defiance.
1t is evident from all past experience that no radi
cal reform of the banking system has ever been ac-
compished by State Legislators They have often
nbbed at the crust but the innate intrinsic defects
have been entirely neglected, either Intentionally or
from conviction they were beyond the reach Of
legislation. They have consequently, left the banks
open to every species of temptation, afforded them
every means Of evading the penalty. If we analyze
the laws of the different States imbodying what are
called bank reforms, we shall find that practically
they amount to nothing more than devices to cheat
the people into more implicit confidence in the
safety and stability of these institutions by offering
them securities that only imaginary. Of what
to great majority of the holders Of bank-notes
pledges Of State stocks that are liable to
perpetual fluctuations in value, bonds and mort
dious process of law? These are not the proper
basis for national currency, since see at this
moment bank notes thus secured by stocks, bonds
and mortgages at various stages Of depreciation in
all parts of the United States. They may be quoted
at the board of brokers nearly par with spe-
Gle, but it is very different affair when they come
to be exchanged for the necessaries Of life which
currency. Besides, the holders Of bank notes--at
least great majority wait for the sale
Of stocks bonds, and mortgages; they want their
money to buy bread, and, when bank note ceases
to be current, dispose of it for what they get.
In fact all these reforms amount simply to attempts
to arrest one abuse by opening door for half do
zen others. Where there is no responsibility there
are strewn in our way under the sanction of the
law if human nature proves too weak to resist them,
no small portion of the blame rests on those who
have given not only the temptation but the oppor-
tunity for the transgression
Bank reform, indeed, seems almost hopeless
through the medium of State legislation. The mon
eyed interests Of ali kinds, in great measure,
volve round the banking system. Commerce, manu-
factures and to some extent agriculture, are all
more less fed at this crib and the great
Of the people. who, in fact, are the victims of paper
money, have been taught to believe they would be
without work and without bread were it not for the
benign influence Of shin-plasters, which have be-
come the universal panacea. If this great class have
suffered and now suffering the penalty Of their
credulity it is their own fault for they had always
certain and peaceablc remedy in their hands. They
might have appealed to the ballot-box and, if they
could notabolsh, have arrested the growing evil in
stead Of increasing and perpetuating it. Where the
sovereignty is in the people they justly account
able for its abuse and they delegate that sovereignty
to incapable corrupt agents it is their own volun-
tary act, and they have only themselves to blame.
The great obstacle to bank reform-admitting it to
be practicable, which we very much Doubts the
vast combination of interests arrayed in opposition
to all radical which may injuriously affect
those interests. In almost every community we find
the men of the greatest wealth and influence in some
way connected with or interested in banks. Bound
together by mutual dependence on the action Of
the State legislatures they unite their efforts to elect
members subservient to their purposes, and it has
become notorious that in of extraordinary in.
terest and magnitude they have more than tam
pered with the integrity oflegisators and corrupted
the very fountain from which we derive either nu-
triment or poison.
We confess that, in contemplating bank reforms,
we are often reminded of an incident relating to the
great philosophical poet Alexander Pope, who every
general reader knows was radically defective in his
constitution, deformed in figure, and subject to
chronic maladies beyond the reach Of cure. The
story goes that walking home one night, with his
servant behind him carrying lantern, his foot slip
ped, and he came very nigh falling whereupon he
exclaimed, "God mend me ~ The servant muttered
in low tone which was however, overheard by his
master, HE had better make oneih We
sometimes think that instead Of tinkering the old,
rotten, ragged system Of banking, it better to
abolish it entirely and make a new one or go with
out any if possible. The idea that this young and
vigorous nation, possessing all the advantages of