The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-12-03
KxssHAfoR Bksros On rIts BANKS

long letter from Ex Senator Benton, ou ,Lr
bh"ks and the currency of The country. |,
Is not wi,hon. the un,l!iny cgolism of It's
venerable author, who, will, much srll.com.
p'a'cncy, refers to tho conspicuous part he
has played in past days upon ;hcsc themes.
lie sums up the objects which !, was the
wish OF the party, TO which he WAS at
tachc', to accomplish, as follows:
IL. To revive the gold currency hy cor
fec''ng the erroneous standard OF 179l.--
2. I" create u demand for hard money by
making 1t the exclusive currency Of tho
Federal Treasury. 3. To make sure of this
hard money hy keeping it in its own treas
ur'es. 4. 10 suppress all paper currency
under twenty dollars by a stamp duty. 5.
To wind up alI dcfauIling banks 10y bank
rupt law against delin1uents."
The first three of these five, he says,
were accomplished under the administra-
tons Of Jackson aud Van Bur.n. Bills TO
accomplish the other two, lrc says, were
frequently brought into Congress- but were
defeated 10y the detection of paper money
wing Of the Democratic party" lie urges
The prop'icty Of passing these measures
into laws, at the approaching Congress-
lie contends that suspension Of specie pay.
mcnts is the result of our defcctv. system
of banking, which tolcr:,trs the existence of
SO many weak and unsouud banks, and
they drag down the strong and the sound
ones. The system, he thinks, may be con
,rollcd, and the calamity involving the
solvent with the inso!:ent avoided, ly Il
stamp duty on paper money, and bankrupt
law against bankrupt banks
! The EX Senator is vehement in his dc.
nuncia,ions of Our paper money system;
and as !; is undoubtedly very imperfect and
IN a great degree corrupt, lie says many
things that are true. lie calls attention TO
the specie basis, declared necessary in Eng.
land. Mr.. 1Iorslcy Palmer, President of
the bank of England testified in 80, Lc-
fore the Committee Of Parliament, that that
bank deemed it prudent to keep in coin an
amount equal to one third of her liabilities,
including deposits as we'll rs circulation;
aud Mr.. Norman, a director of the Bank,
stated that it would be proper that the in
stitution should have t!issLasis of onc-,hird,
i. c., if its deposits were six millions and
circulation twenty one millions, then the
prudent amount Of coin and bullion for the
bank to retain would lie inc miions.-
This proportion the bank is required to pre-
serve.
The Ex-senator asks, chow different is
this from banking i'll the United States p"
With u.s. lie says, "papcr upon paper
has become tie vogue. Stocks and notes
Of other banks arc the sandy foundations
upon which large proportion Of ou' banks
are built" This is very true. Among the
best, the strongest required basis is one
fifth, l. c., one dollar in gold or silver for
every five paper dollars alloat. "Dvpos,s"
are left out Of the question.
Ihe Elk Senator thinks there is Il plenty
OF gold in the country, and that there is no
excuse for the present panic, which would
not have occurred, he contends, but for our
rotten banking system. On this point, we
make the following extract from his let
ter:
"England, the foremost manufacturing
country, requires the greatest amount Of
money; and has it, viz about eleven dol.
lars head; and liussia, SO largely agricul-
tur'|, requires the least amount of money,
and can employ but about four dollars :,
head. So the United States, in small part
manufacturing and largely agricultural and
planting, would find the maximum demand
Tor money somewhere half way between
the two-say eight dollars a head, which
at the present amount Of white population
(say o5,ooo,0oo) would give two hundred
millions rs the national demand always
remembering that the great payments are
made with the crops and bills of exchange
founded on the proceeds OF industry. And
thus 1t becomes proposition demonstrated
that the United States, since the correction
OF the gold standard twenty three years ago,
have received supply Of gold to four or
five times the amount which the business
operations Of the people could employ. OF
that amount, the leading banks estimated
two hundred and ninety millions to be re-
manning in the country at the commence
nent OF the present panic; and since that
time more than twelve millions have ar
rived and very little gone ont so that three
hundred millions would be the present
estimate of the amount of gold and silver
| |" the co"ntry-bcing onehundred millions
more than the business of the country could
employ. Three hundred millions is exactly
fifteen times as much as the United States