Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-08-05

powerful debnters Of this or any other State, ad-
vocated a Bill similar in detail to a Bank act
which has been in operation in England for the
last fourteen years, and known as a measure OF
Mr.. PEEL, Eug!and's Prime Minister.
This Bill is fnll of detail, and is TOO lengthy for
a full insertion here; but in substance it is as fol-
lows: "That within o certain period every Bank
in the State shall call in, redeem, and cancel all
the notes issued under their existing charter; that
q Superintendent of Issues shall he appointed, and
that all new issues shall be from n new plate,
countersigned by the said Superintendent Of Is
sues, and before issues were made, each Bank
would be required to deposit with the Superinten-
dent so much stock of this State, or the United
States, and of the cities of Charleston and Colum-
bio, as shall, at its market value, be equal to the
amount Of notes countersigned. When any Bank
shall so have called in, cancelled and redeemed, so
many of its notes issued in circulation, rs shall
leave unredeemed and uncancelled an amount less
than one fourth of its capital stock paid in, the
Superintendent shall, from time to time, counter.
sign and deliver to each Bank, notes as aforesaid,
until the total amount delivered to each shall, with
its other notes outstanding, amount to O sum equal
to one fourth Of the capital stock Of such Bank.
And after the said one.fourth shall have been
countersigned and delivered, the said Superinten-
dent shall require from every Bank applying for a
further issue, the deposite in his hands of an
equal amount Of coin, or Of bullion at the same
value of coin and the said stocks, coin or bullion,
shall be deposited in the name Of the said Super
intendent, in the Bank of the State, subject to his
special order, in trust for the redemption Of notes
and for no other purpose.
each Bank shall continue as heretofore, to re-
deem in coin all its notes, and in case Of the refu.
sal of any Bank 80 to redeem, it shall be the
duty of the Superintendent to apply in the first
place the coin. and bullion deposited by such
Bank, and afterwards the Stocks in his possession,
by q sale of the same; and if at any time the re-
d~emption by such Superintendent Of such notes
shall reduce the stocks in his hands to the credit
of any Bank below the amount Of issues issued by
the said Bank, he shall notify the Bank thereof,
and if the said Bank shall fail to replace the de-
fciency, the Bank is to be reported to the Attor-
ney General or proper Solicitor, who shall forth
with proceed to have the charter vacated, and the
Bank put in q state of liquidation"
By the condition Of tho Bill, it will be seen
that the issues of no Bank in the State could have
exceeded its capital stock, and that there would
have been a strong specie basis.--a desirable
consideration, I admit, in any Bank; but it
does not place the Bank beyond the dangers Of
suspension, for that portion Of issues based upon
stocks, could not have been redeemed in gold and
silver upon demand and stocks, Federal and
State, are liable to NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. high
and at others depressed. This was seen last win
ter, when our State Stocks deprecated from ten
to twenty per cent, opening q field Of speculation
to those who were fortunate enough to have mon
ey in possession.
l believe that I have stated in substance, but
not in detail, the points in Mr.. MEMMIsoEn's Bill,
and hope that I have done so fairly, as I would
not intentionally misrepresent. Whilst I conceive
1t to be a complicated and rigid measure in all its
features, 1 will not soy that 1t would not be well
adapted to a uniform Banking system throughout
the United States. But it should be put in opera.
ton when there is no panic per1ading the land,
and when the country is comparatively free from
the pressure of debt. Last winter I deemed IL
dangerous as q measure of relief, to have put it in
force either then or within two years. It would,
in my judgment, have have increased the effects
Of the panic, without, in the first place, removing
the extraordinary contraction Of issues which was
one of the causes; and to have met the require.
ments of the Bill, either then or within two years,
contractions would have continued to too great an
extent. The twenty millions due the Banks would
have been collected, and with a short crop, and
the absence of a circulating medium to bring the
crop into market; (which was as necessary as
a wagon to haul it from the Clubhouse to the de-
pot, or a railroad from the depot to the point Of
destination) none other than the most disastrous
consequences would have ensued-not the least OF
which would have been that those in debt would
have seen their property sacrificed at ruinous pri-
ces. / looked upon the measure as equivalent to
forfeiting the charters Of the several Banks; o
measure that was considered fatal in the panic Of
1889, and was the penalty for suspension up to
that period. In that day the Legislature thought
this penalty, if enforced, would work incalcula-
BILE mischief, and substituted the Act Of 1910,
which imposed a penalty of FIVE per cent. on the
bills in circulation during the term of suspension.
To my mind another argument against the bill
of the Chairman Of the Committee Of Ways and
Means, WAS, that after an experiment Of fourteen
years in England, the Banks did not escape the
panic. It is true, that the Bank of England did
not suspend; but there is no proof that the pecu-
liar discipline or management Of the Bank, pre-
vented o suspension ; it may have shielded itself,
like some Of the specie paying Banks Of the State,
by early contraction. It is shown from the Bank
in the Comptroller Generals Report,
that the eight specie-paying Banks kept their
Of domestic exchange higher than their circu-
~lation, and that their circulation was less than
many Of the suspended Banks and consequently
did not afford as much accommodation to the peo-
pie. The remedy for which I voted, and which
in my judgment has afforded relief to the country,
was the suspension of the Act Of 1910.
I know that the idea has been instilled into the
minds of the people, that a remission of the PEN
atty upon the Banks, was q letting down of the
dignity of the Legislature. and that the people Of
the State have been deprived Of q gum that would