Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1858-06-23

fOr the cOnSlucru'ioh vi 'iH F'"f''" ~ va"
trict, h subioincd Extrsc,s from the Report OF
the Comptroller General. aud also Extracts from
the Speech of Mr.. MENSlScER, Of Charleston,
THAN whom no man is more fully conversant
with Banks and Finances,) both Of Which were
made last winter to our Legislature OH the sas
pens;on,of specie payments by our Banks.
Yours, &c., Is.
EXTRACT FROM TIE REroRr OF THE CONTROL
LEn GENERAL TO THE LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH
CAROLINA, NOVEMBER, lSi1.
SAgain at the clos. Of the fiscal year (3Oth
September) the total Liabilities Of the Banks
amounts to $33,OOJ,739 81, with only $999,J99'
76 in specie. They then had on desposit W
839,l7U ii, with Domestic Exchange to the
amount Of $40, 500 % and only S23 ,33'' 10
in Foreign Exchange This showing Is truly
alarming to the financial interests OF the State
The whole of our Banks are in the hands OF
mere spectators, who wantonly disregard the
teachings Of experience Us to sale banking, ana
hence our Banks are at any day ut the mercy oi
their depostorl. The Comptroller has so often
brought these spcculations in exchange to the
attention of the Legislature to no purpose, that
he has despaired of seeing any wholesome law
made to restrain them. He will not, however,
shrink from faithful and fearless discharge OF
his duty, although he has not succeeded hereto
fore in arresting the attention OF the Legislature
The remedy IS in your hands, and notwlllstand'
ing the arrogant claim of the private Banks,
that they have power under their charters to DO
rs they please, and are not amenable to the pub
lie for their acts, there j. little doubt but the
courts of the State would sG0n bring them under
the law of t'.e land, and teach cm to know that
they arc public Institutions with certain private
rights, and that they are ut least not omnipotent
to do evil. Whatever remedy you may, III your
wisdom, apply to arrest their abuses, in the
Judgment of the Comptroller, should he prompt,
sharp and severe. If the full measure If pun
ishment was meted out to them TINT they de-
serve, there is not one of the new batch OF Banks
chartered in 1852 but as richly deserves forfeit
turc Of their charters for the course they have
pursued, az any political traitor ever merted de-
capitation for treason to his country. They have
prostituted the former well-tried and Legitimate
system of Banking in this State to one of mere
speculation in exchanges Or, III other words,
they have changed the legitimate system OF
banking, and their Banks into mere shaving
shops; and at their own counters, or through
their agencies at every point in or ont OF the
State where their own or other citizens papers
or sight drafts, or drafts OH time, can be bought
on speculation, until their operations would
shame the denizens ON Wall street i'll New
York, or the BourSc in Paris. There il no citi
zen in South Carolina more familiar with all the
facts set forth IN the petitions, memorials, argu
ments and enreaties made to tho Legislature III
1852, to induce that body to grant tho charters
for these institutions, than the present Comptrel
Ter General, who was an actor and active partici
ipator, both as member of that body and as
charged with the interests Of those desiring a
Bank; and it is now in his power to give most
minute and detailed account, or history, of the
circumstances and facts under which they OBJ
tanned their charters, not one of which has per
formed the functions for which they were created
or redeemed the pledges made TO Obtain them
They arc not, and cannot be called, Baaka o.
foans, deposits and discounts, but are mere hRck
sters for paper shaving, under cover and form Of
dealing in exchanges. The words Domestic
Exchange" should be stricken from the form o.
their moutbly reports 10 the Comptroller, and
those of shaved paper" substituted therefor
They should be compelled to declare every dol
lar Of their profits illsquarteEly orssemi:sanIa
dividends, and the words, 6 reserved profits" by
which they CONCEAL from many of their dupes
the enormous profits they are making, stricken
from their statements. They should be com
PEELED to keep at least one dollar in specie fol
every three dollars they have in circulation, and
no private Bank should be allowed to isSas bills
under the denomination Of twenty dollars. The
profits that some of these Banks are making by
their shaving operations are enormous. Take
for instance, the Bank Of Hamburg. The re
port from that Bank, f6r the month of Septem
ber, shows that its last semi-annual DIVIDEND
was at the rate of II per cent.-per annum, and
the amount declared in dividend wss $4,000
whilst the amount of Preserved profits wa:
Sl2436O,96. When the Bank Of Hamburg de
clarcd its last ertrG dividends is not known Il
the Comptroller but if the above sums are added
together, and the sum Of $4,000 yields divi
dend at the rate of II per cent. per aIuum, the
sum of Sl54,3GO ~ will yield at the rate Of Gls
per cent. per annum. Notwithstanding theS.
enormous profits, there is not solitary one o
them that could redeem III specie onehait, one
fourth, one-eighth, one.tenth, one.t~eltth, anC
some not over oue-siHtcenth, OF their bill: il
circulation, and this by their own showing, i
any great or sudden crisis or emergency shoui'
throw them upon their counters. II Is true tina
g Exchange Sterling" is regarded IN spGcie, bu
no well informed man or banker will claim u;t
same for "Domestic Exchange" or if so, vii
assert that it can at once be made available
The course of the new have driven (llo dOub
willingly many of the old Banks since their re
charters were obtained, into similar system o
speculation, whilst others Of them have only cou
tinued in On old and beaten track that they have
followed 10 long and with so much impunitJ
they doubtless think they have u prescrip ptive
right to do as they please. The old should
therefore, be made to share the same fate and
penalties of the new Banks. by . close end
critical exclamation Of their monthly reports to
this office, it will be seen that All exaggerated
picture of their shaving operations could not
we'll be drawn by the most fertile imagination
What remedy tue Legislature viii supply to ar
rest this great snd growing evil, one destined al
no distant day to Orerwheim the country with
ruin sud disaster and Which will inevitably III
volve us in great monetary difficulties, the Comp
troller can neither toresec or detertaipe. He
feels that he has faithfully performed his dry.
and his whole duty, iu thus bringing it foreby
before your honorable body, as it has long been
his purpose to do, and to leave to time sud cir.
eunstances the wisdom of the net. He is aware
that the severe structures he has induged in will
crate harshly on the feelings of individual mem
bers and Bank stockholders, but he is not to be
deferred from the full discharge of hiE duties by
that or any other consideration of favor OF oi
policy That .your honorable body may deal
with these offending institutions in no very mea
sured terms, and with Ali nnsparing hand, so as
to arrest the wild, reckless and extravasant sys
tenn of speculation they have inaugusGtad in our
State, is his earnest hope and desire.
Norr-S;uee the FOREGOING report was closed