Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-12-01

OuI language was eKptcit tnat the lnstitu-
tion OF banks is one part in that great system
OF trade, and credit which has grown
up within the last two centuries. During this
period in the ratio with which nations have in
creased a civil liberty, in industry and IN their
moral and Intellectual devel 8pment, banks have
multiplied. Barbarous aud savage tribes have
bad a metallic currency, gold and silver, eoevai
Siih their history.-Eagls Gnd EHqairer.
Well, we have shown that a metallic eurren-
CT is a relic Of bsrbarism, is hostile TO freedom
aud commercial prosperity, and could not exist
for q day in an enlightened country like ours
Same paper.
This "relic Of barbarism,' a metallic cur
rency, is highly appreciated, at present, in
most of the enIighteasd countries Of the globe
also. At the present date it bears a premium
over the paper of those banks, which, accord
ing to the Eagle, have been the baromeiers of
civil liberty, OF 6 per cent, and it has not been
many DAYS sinee it was held at Is per cent.
premium in the civilized city Of Memphis.
How . barbarous and " savage - it is in the
people Of This city to bold this & relic Of barba-
rism +" in such high request Why will they
persist in preferring gold and silver, in the
% high noon Of the nineteenth century" to bank
paper, which, according to the New York Tn
buas and the Memphis Eagle, has multiplied
- in the ratio with which nations have ~inereas-
ed in civil liberty, in industry, and in their NOR
Al and Intellectual Development" We sup
pose the zenith, in these evidences Of eiviliza-
ton, viii only have been attained when every
individual can boast that he owns, or can
borrow as much picture money out Of, a bank,
as be wishes, and when gold and silver shall
bear a premium Of Just one hundred per cent.
over bank bills.
The Eagle continually asserts that paper
money has gone hand in hand with civilization
and civil liberty, but has never yet esssyed to
show hsu the banks bring about go wonderful
a result, which is particularly incumbent on it,
since it is known that the sneisnts were, too,
ignorant of the uses Of incorporated banks of
issue, that the Republics Of Greece and Rome
were total strangers to cur modern bank bub-
bles and rejoiced in that same =" bsTbarous"
currency, gold and silver, and particularly
that, at the present time, when the banks are
in the full tide Of sHoosssfal % experiment,
the currency Of the saysges bears a premium
constantly over the best issues Of these civil
lied institutions.
Yet after all, we have the bare assertion Of
the Esgls unsupported, save by the Tribune,
that 9 bsrbarous and savage tribes " have had
a metallic currency, gold and silver, cOeyai
with their history" The Apaehes, CrOwfeet,
Camanches, and all the savage tribes Of our
Western territory, come under this denomins-
tion, and yet we have never heard Of their ss-
tsblishing mints among them to coin money,
for which indeed they have very little use If
they have, then, any gold and silver coin, they
have received it from their civilized neighbors,
the whites, and the Eagle cannot blame them
for Prsferring it to paper pictures, when the
white man himself pays a premium for the
former, and in all cases prefers it for keeping.
We confess ourselves unable to comprehend
the Eagles reasoning on this subject. How
the use OF paper money can make the people
freer, richer, more enlightened, moral and in
tellsctual, OF how gold and silver can make
them retrogrsds to bsrbsrism, ia beyOnd our
comprehension, aud we hope the Eagle will sx-
plain before the world " bursts in ignorance"
Il gold and silver coin be indeed a " relic of
bar5aIisn,' then ths trainers Of our Constitu-
ton we're bsrbarians in authorizing the FEEDER
al Government to " coin money and FIX the
value thersof,'' and we trust that the people
will take the earliest occasion to expel BY law
all this relic +" from the land, and forthwith
pull down the United States mint establish
ments.
W1y, too, did he Constitution declare that
none but /" gold and silver that " relic of
bsTbarisu shall be made q legal tender for
debt; and why did the Constitution fail even
to mention the word +" baHk"-a word which
the Eag!s hollis to be the synonym Tor civil
- civilization, p q industry = 90 moral
aad Intellectual d~svelopment,' &c. &c?
AL we have solved these problems. The
Of the Constitution were not as wise
as the Eagle editor, and in their ignorance Of
The base origin Of metallic currency, the bar
0srous and savage tribes, and also OF the tre-
advantages and blessings Of banks,
hey actually established minss, or provided
FOR them, to coin gold and silver, and made this
the only legal tender And the peo-
pie Of the present day are also so ignorant that
hey actually prefer gold to paper i%ssues, pay
-ng a handsome premium for il.
We cannot wonder at the gross ignorance Of
ancestors, who were also ignorant OF the
use Of steam and The telegraph, but such igno-
-snce is inexeusable in tie people Of our own
age, especially il the town where the Eagle is
published.