Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-10-23
.ports q spsel,, and buIIIOn runs a

The exports Of this last con meTeial year ex'
eseding the products Of the mi mes of Cslifor
MIA over twenty millions Of dollars. ANY ex
traordinary event happening in eOmnsreia
countries may cause this great ontpouHrg o.
specie from our country.
To supply the military chests Of the nationI
warning before the walls Of Sebastc pol tn
three last years, required enormous drafts o.
specie from the country. So may the war
now sSlng on in India and China.
But the main cause of gold and silver leaving
US in such enormous quantities is the woTkinE
Of our banking system itself.
One Of the great sources Of profit to GU
banks and tkeir chief aim is to get the lntsres'
on as much paper as they can Hence theJ
use every means in their power to get out thsiI
issues, aud make them as iarges portion Of The
circulation as possible.
There are about one thousand four hundrec
banks in the United States all competing fol
the profits arising from the issue of their prom
issory notes. To get out, and keep out thes'
notes they use all sorts Of devices.
Some make their notes payable at distant
ana Inaccessible points. SOME nave theii
notes paid cut at distance from the location Of
the banks. Some make agreements with theil
borrowers that they shall protect the ~eircula'
tiOn loaned them BY accounting with specie o.
Eastern Exchange all the bills which ar,
marked for the purpose that come back Of
them for redemption.
What is the result Of 400 debt factories Al
they have been properly termed, strsnuOuslI
competing with one another to get out as muel
Of their paper Ss possible? The necessary re
suit is an imitation Of currency plethora o
monty with all its attending incidents of sx
travsgant expenditures, Wild speculation, am
imitation Of value of property and eOnmodi
ties. Money becomes plenty and cheap, AM
commodities become dear, hence the money
not the paper representation Of money, 6u'
gold and silver, is necessarily exported IRON
the country. If money held its natural valu'
ONLY, relative with its value in other countries
Of tie world, it would not b. exported. SPeci
is nevsr exported when there are ether CON
modities to export in its place that can be ex
ported with profit. If the exporter YES
debt OF six thousand dollars Ia EuroPe, an
can pay it by purchasing one hui dred barrel
Of -four in New Orleans at 1--WE dollars pc
barrel, and selling it in Europe at six dollar
per barrel, thus making a small profit or eVeI
no profit at all in the transaction, he will pre-
fer that mode Of payment, as by 1t he save
the premium Of sterling exchange, or the COS
Of transporting so much specie to Europe
But if BY irhation of currency, -four rises &
an exchangeabls value in this country 81
high that it cannot be exported with profit
specie must necessarily go in its places oths
commodities being affected in the same way
Of course will not be exported.
Specie like every other msrchantable com
modify viii 60 from the country where it j
cheap, to the country where it is dear.
1t is strictly governed by the laws tina
govern other commodities, tAs avs Of suppl,
and demand. If we are over supplied (as "
often are by these bank debt factories) it vii
90 To countries where there is a rslativ
scarcity ; and 1t will continue 70 90 until ID
natural relative value Of money and commo
dities are restored. And when specie leave
the country the banks must call in their circu
l%stiOn; their own self preservation require
this to be done. Hence every expansion is fol
lowed by a propoTdonate contraction.
The Commercial department of the countr
Is in a continuous unhealthy c~ohdition-alway
either dropsical or attsnusted. To know thi
fact is only to look at the tabulary statsmsn
Of bank movements in this country.
From the August last, number of Hupt'
Merchants Magazine we extract the followin
table:
"The circulation Of all the banks 10 the Uni
ted States, has been in 70 md Plumbers as fol
lows: