Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-01-22
BANKS AND BANKING.

DIR. Thomas Cooper, formerly President Of the
South Carolina College, some years ago wrote an ez-
caelingly able essry on banks and banking Of
which the following we're the Introductory para
graphs The Doctor said:
Il am no friend to either such as I see them
under their present organization and operation. A
faithful portrait of them presents ugly likeness
for the public 10 dwell on. There are exceptions 90
this to almost every other general assertion, ami
rejoice AT the idea Of saying so. But the most, /
fear is not productive Of public benefit.
d" am very suspicious Of the moral honesty that
. guides the transactions of the money market; OF
nenwh0 grow wealthy, not By producing geatat, but
by shutting the cards.
gIconsider mercantile enterprise carried 10 the
extent il has been for the last few years putting
800 much the character of gambling; putting honest
hrinciple i'm jeopardy; destructive Of real, wealth
fPrDGucIug industry, and wholesome trugalty- EI-
6fsSpe ip0rtgtisHS are tempted By TIE Jgcles gf bank
csatDttiaga. The consumer lie tempted beyond his
tlaAns 70f paying. Overtrud,uE and Wastetul con-
sumption lead 10 the direct and downward road 20
Insolvency.. These are commonplace remarks, go
d shll important truths.
We are becoming nation Of iaTysrs, merchants
ola clerks The labor Of the hands is considered
dlsgracefuL Our young men are no longer agIcul-
turists and manufacturers. We import our bread
and our meat, aud our corn and hay. Gradual and
moderate gains are for gr0vehng spirits only
To this that most excellent paper, the PhiIadel-
pbh 1rgus, adds: This was written more than
< twenty years ago butt applies with force and JUS
tce TO the circumstances of the present time. This
distinguished writer would hardly have altered his
phraseology if he had been writing to-day for the
ErsHHg Argus.
To what are We to attribute the growing distaste
70 agricultural and mechanical pursuits Why is
1t that so many resort to any and every kind of
8
who stigmatize what ought to be considered the
most respectable callngs and occupations on earth
What has covered the land with spectators and
stock-gamblers, like swarms of locusts2 What has
thinned the ranks Of honest industry, stocking
the learned professions, decreasing producers and
increasing idle consumers, until consumption has
sometimes so greatly exceeded production, that we
have been compelled to import our brsadstuHs
from foreign c0untriesl Theansweris ready. The
cause Of al this and almost countless other evils
that might be named, is to be found in the impro-
per facilities afforded TO specializing gamesters by
paper money banks, which enable them TO live
without labor, and to grow rich wthou. industry.
Il is not surprising that such army Of idlers and
drones infest society for who among us would per
form any more labor if we could all buy houses,
land, and Injuries with a paper promise TO pay
If our promises would enable us to live in luxury
and extravaganza, in idleness and sPlendor, labor
would he banished from the face of the earth
The enormous expansions of paper money within
the last few years have induced spirit Of gambling,
an insane spirit of speculation unparalleled perhaps,
in the history of the world The temple of mann
mon has been throDged with devoted worshippers.
Splendid fortunes were floating in every breeze daz
cling the eye Of every beholder; hundreds aud thou
sands LEFT their farms and workshops, and plunged
into the muddeuiug vortex with the vain hope Of,
growing rich in day.
The country has been reapiug The bitter harvest
of all this madness, delusion, and folly. The mel
apchoIv lesson has been learned that We have too
many merchants, traders, and clerks, too many
lawyers doctors minister's too many Of almost every
class except farmers and mechanics. We have found
out the great truth in the better school Of expert
ence. that eli the means Of enjoyment and all the
accumuIatienlof wealth, are the products Of human
labor To diminish labor, then, is to diminish the
amount Of human happiness-the enjoyments OF
bumau life, for the greater the number OF those /
who live without labor the greater viii be the oimnu-
ton Of production and the wider and more depora-
bic The consequent ruin.