Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1858-01-29
Banks OF Issue.

Banks OF Issue.
One great obstacle in the path of
the friends Of a sound currency has
been the mysterious awe with which
traders have been accustomed to regard
banks. Those institutions have sccu-
red q despotic sway over the minds
and fortunes Of mercantile men which
all friends Of good government must
deplorc. A half dozen directors sitting
in a bank parlor, shut out from the
vulgar gaze, and living on the interest
Of their debts, arrogate to themselves
the power Of making and breaking the
commercial community at their pleas-
ure-and that community patiently
submits. Indeed, only a favored few
are permitted to express their views on
the subject of banking, and those few
arc men interested in preserving the
humbug which surrounds it; whilst
the many are always reminded that
the mysteries and intricacies of the
banking system are far above vulgar
comprehension. Ask a bank director
why, at a time when the earth has
yielded a bountiful harvest, with all the
elements of physical prosperity scat
tered in the greatest profusion over
the land, with all the Of trade
open, with commerce flourishing be-
yond all precedent, SO many merchants
arc bankrupt, SO many hands idle, such
distress universal, and one will hear
some confused assertions about extrav-
agance and low tariffs, concluding with
an assurance that there is something in
all this which ordinary abilities cannot
fathom. Let a store keeper object to
receiving a dollar which may be worth
one hundred cents to-day, and will be
worth thirty cents tomorrow and he
becomes, at once, the subject of ami
madversion for refusing the currency
Let one refuse a mixture of rags and
lamp black" because it does not circu-
late ten miles from his store door, and
is utterly worthless as the whercwithal
to pay a debt across the liver, and he
brings about his ears the solemn de-
nunciations of the assembled wisdom
OF the mercantile community.
Our storekeepers and mechanics
must be emancipated from this thral-
dom, and it is high time that wild cat,
under whatever auspices it may be in
PRODUCED, whether at Florence or else
where, be branded by its proper name.
We believe it would be sound policy to
return to the constitutional currency.
to give effect to that clause of the con-
stltution, which declares that snothiny
but gold and silver shall be made a
legal tender in the payment of debts.
We know it will be said that we have
become so deeply involved in the laby.
rnths OF banking operations that a re-
turn to a metallic currency, would ruin
thousands Of business men: involve
Thousands Of solvent men with LARGE
liabilities IN irretrievablc bankruptcy.
and throw the whole business world in
confusion. To that we answer. that is
just what these financial panics and
revulsions arc doing that those panics
are caused by banks, that they will
occur and recur SO long as banks are
permitted to exist. The history of all
banks Of issue is the same; they evident
" ''bust" in the end failure is an in.
cidsnt OF their nature. The great
Bank Of England, which men who
know nothing about history, are always
pra'sing, stopped payment for a quar-
or . century, and has dragged out its
e~x'stance until the present time, be-
cause in all its crises, in 1884, SO, 'o7,
1914, 10, '25 and SO, 1t was propped
and bolstered by the British Govern
ment, with its immense supplies Of
E~xchequer bills. We could wish
that those financial monsters had but
one head, that they might be DESTROY
ed by q blow. If prices have been in
fiated by sproper currency, they ought
to be reduced to their natural level :
and We believe that no man is injured
BY giving him for his property no more
thsn it 10 worth. We are sure that 4
return to gold and silver would bring
pe5cs down, but when they had reach
eatAeir proper standard, there would
b - austastion. no expansion, no