Weekly national intelligencer., 1857-10-17
THE LEisoNsso OF EXPERIENCE.

the voice of wisdom being too often unheeded even
when lifted up the street. But what new proof
OF this same ,nthinkng stubbornness do they
afford who refussto learn even under the hard dis
cipine of teacher so direct and practical in his
Instructions? Sub is the moralism forced upon
us by much that meets eye in the public prints
of the day with eference to the causes which have
produced and tie remedy which would probably
mitigate and rel oye the evils of the present fnan-
clal pressure q single illustration Of these in
adequate CONNIE its we may cite the following ap-
/ probation, which, however, is not SO remarkable
for what it says for what it omits to say in evi-
IDENTIFY shrinkin from the rational Interpretation,
as we deem it, If the facts and arguments adduced
We quote from she Washington Correspondence of
the New York ournal of Commerce, under date Of
| October 10th:
The money mic has SO completely dsordered the
business affairs the country that consderae
beginning to turn their attention of avoid
ing such embarr ssnents for the future The banking
SYSTEM it is call though it is system, must be
| radically MA leads the country into Difficult
f-ties from NJ lssf ~ l. fpcwert to sxtrlssesit
The subisct has been often forced upon public at
tenton before but appears experience has suggested
remedy but very partial ones for the fluctuations in
bank circulation ard for the occasional derangement Of
exchange 1t may be veil to refer to the views of M
cHoLAs BIDDLE tbs subject, presented by him in
the heyday of his pswer, the monarch of finance.
In the Report the Select Committee of the House
of the Bank of the United States
in 1882 appears examination of the President of the
Bank of the United States the increase of the paper
circulation Of the bank and the of permanently
injurious effect upon The trade and currency of the
try. The answers of Mr. BIDDLE, the President, are
very pertinent all the questions and the following is
of bis views upon the question of the expediency of
the Abandonment Of the present banking institutions of
this country and the substitution for them of other
system.
q" What is wanted says Mr.. Biddle Sin our banking
system this: First sOiden the basis Of the metallic
circulation by aboshing the of small notes. so as to
allow CON to take the place of them, as it inevitably
would and, second, to to the non-payment of
specie H the banks SO heavy penatysay an interest
of twelve cent in the Bank of the United States
or twenyfou cent as in some of the New England
banks or forfeiture of the charter in some Of the
Jersey banks-as would deprive the banks of all temp
taion ID incur the risk of insoIuency.'
"These simple measures would, Mr.. Biddle thought,
be preferable destroying all the banks of the country
1t is Unfortunate for the country that these simple
measures were not adopted and the alternative of de-
sructionto the banking Institutions far they act
under an! legislative authority, thereby avoided.
:" But viii the States unite in the adoption of these
simple measures? p fear not Can the General Gov
ernment the power to impose upon local banks
these restrictions Mr.. GUTHRIE of the opinion
that they could do to partial extent by laying an
excise upon all bank notes under certain denomination
say ten, twenty, or fty dollars. The measure weuld
almost extinguish thu banks of ISSUE for they rely
~.
gree Secretary CoBB will be obliged to consider this
matter in his first 6nsnoal report"
We have here Il frank admission of Demo
cratic authority thatp banking system of the pre-
sent day is provedk Its working to be radically
defective, indsdd must any systens be which is.
such only in nans lacking as it does the first ee-
ments of unity and concert of action directed by
intelligence and skN But this statement is coupled
with the singular tference that though the subject
has been repeatedly forced upon public attention
by financial revuiions which have spread ruin
and dismay throughout the land, it would seem
that "experiencelas suggested no remedy, or but
very partial ones, or the fluctuations in bank cir
culation and for the occasional arrangement of
exchange
conscious artists o. whom it has been said that
they builded wiser than they knew" comes nearer
| to discernment Of our financial evils, and the
remedy for them which experience has suggested,
than he seems himself to be aware of, or at least
| than he has thought fit to avow. For, if it were
well in his estimation to recur to the views promul
gated by NICHOLAS B1DDLE in the year 1882, it
will he ahl in No
if we undertake to alude little explicitly to
what that Monarcl of Finance" Judging from his
well-known sentiments and career when in the
heyday of his power" would have been likely to
designate as the source and the cure of the fnan-
cial embarrassment which now periodically visit
and afiict the country.
| And it were we'll also to remember that NIoHo-
LAS BIDDLE, if he acquired any authority as a
teacher and expounder of finance, Gas would seem
to be admitted by this Democratic testimony to his
sagacity,) acquired it mainly by his connexon with
and control of an institution which it has become
common in these latter days of superior political
illumination, to pronounce obsolete, and from the
mere name of which many, like the correspondent
above cited, would seem to shrink in ill-disguised
terror, as from some hydra or chimera dire" We
allude of course to the UNITED STATES BANK.
It was with perfect historical truth that Mr.. CLAY
could say the year 1887 that prior to the series of
unfortunate measures which had for their object the
overthrow of the United States Bank, and the dis
continuance Of its fiscal agency for the Government
people upon earth ever enjoyed better currency
or had exchanges better regulated than the people
| of the United States The combination of United
States and of local banks presented true image Of
our system of General and State Governments, and
was found, in experience, to work quite as well.
| Not only within the country had we local and
general currency, perfectly sound, but in whatever