Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-12-04
A FRAUD upon THE PUBLIC.

A contemporary very justly remarks that all paper
money that is not representative Of value, is
fraud upon the public No more bills should be is
sued by Banking institution than it has the means
Of covering at any time by the specie contained in
its vaults. This is plain common sense and common
honesty, and honesty is always the best policy for
Banking institutions, as well as for all others Yet
men Of honor both in the old world and in the new,
have tolerated fictitious currency, and have thought
that Banks might very properly issue three dollars
for every of specie contained in their vaults,
e., might promise to pay three times as much as
they are worth, and induce thepubic TO believe that
they are able to do it, This they may be actually
entitled to do by their charters, that the fraud
becomes legal The public may be acquainted with
the power Of Banking institutions in thsparticular,
but because they ara aware of the imposition that
is practised upon them they none the less cheat
ed. We are the subjects of impOsture in thousand
different ways, bat the grOssest of all impOsitiOus
are those to which we submit voluntarily, and with
our eyes wide open. In times Of Bank suspensions
like the present. the people disposed to look this
1egsized hypocrisy in the face tear of the mask
and utter the plain truth.
1t is obvious that Banks which promise to pay
three dollars for one tell two lies to one truth, and
that the chances against their integrity as two
to one. 1t does not require much knowledge of
arithmetic to work out plain problem, and the
morality of promising without the means to pay,
will not bear the test of investigation. 1t is well
said that corporations have no souls, or, if they
have, that their conscienoes are of very elastic
nature, and their moral discrimination extremely
,I,,,1
hundred dollars for so much value of goods, when
he is worth only one hundred, would naturally draw
his honesty in question; and if, by making such
false representations of his property he entrapped
the unwary seller, the world would very promptly
and very justly pronounce him knave, and the
courts would punish him for his Villainy. But, if
the seller the time of making the sale, were well
aware of the purchasers circumstances, and knew
that he was deceiving him by false representation,
and yet trusted him with his goods, we should natu
rally pronounce the seller utterly devoid Of common
sense and common prudence; and #, in the end,
he should lose he would be sure to do, oRetbird
Of his debt we should say that he rightly served
for his folly Now banking institutions com
posed of men, who, like the purchaser Of goods,
promise to pay three times much as they are
worth, and the people, the promises, like the seller
of the goods, take the Banks at their word, and
trust them for three times much as they are able
to pay. The Banks and the people, therefore, &C.
cupy towards each other the relation Of knayes on
one side, and of dupes on the other; and the mis-
fortune is, that the people have long been sccus
toned to this kind Of deception, that they have
learned to consider it quite fair and consistent
with the established order of things and it is only
when the Banks fail as they do now, to redeem their
promises atal, thstthey begin to how mOnstrOus
the deception is.
Our first objection, then, to the Banking system,
as st present conducted is that it is gross fraud
upon the public, and being so, is equally opposed to
the principles of a Republican Government and to
the spirit of the age in which we live.