Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-01-19

e & least I'd Is appios |h,at|on q he truth y
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ssss e ils % Con- s 5ScoS, scoS SSS
.sSess5 5, 'sssasa hsa sS'SSS,S 900
ssa sssss:s!: '' ss,ss STATE, is'SSS ' SSS S
otlcr individnai det1., 4ooOo,oOO
Ask..ssss asS.. :. 4. |n,I|ss sssI ,a0a ,oss
Debt is no| AN. evil. Loans
III. u I8 ,lol, y gssl Sand Ids, T1sihes
andimplements, or Of movement. such as
canals, railroads or steamboats,, often afford
essential aid in the development of re-
sources, and even create the means oftheir
own liquidation. A few of these debts
are of that character. And in many cases
the same debt appears more than once in
different forms. Far the greater part, for
instance, of the individual debts, are
due to retail merchants, who, in turn, owe
the same money to banks and wholesale
dealers But with every allowance for
these considerations, this mass OF indebt-
edness remains subject of by no means
agreeable contemplation. For its reduc-
ton or extinction we must rely on aug
mented production and increased economy.
That these may be safely relied upon no
one can doubt who understands the char
acter of our people, and. reflects upon the
fact that this indebtedness, large as it is,
hardly amounts of one-fifth of the aggre-
gate property in the State, and exceeds,
only by third, the aggregate products
of a single year.
r,yr 1,Yrp orncv mn FTNA Nr,rAr prvrrr eToNrq
1 have already adverted to the financial
revulsion, which has, during the last six
months, so seriously affected the varied
Interests of our community.
Twice before during the present Gen.
tury, have similar revulsions occurred ; and
both were accompanied by the same train
of calamities and disasters. The interval
from one of these revulsions to another, has
twice been marked by space of twenty
years. The causes of each, though very
different in form, may be reduced to the
same general expression, namely: the reck-
less contracting of debts beyond means of
payment. The spirit of speculation;
eager desires for great and sudden gains;
the spirit of ostentation and luxury seek
qualification through debt. AS there is
no limit to these passions of the heart, so
there is no limit to debts contracted for
their qualification, except notorious insol-
vency which makes credit impossible
Always most active when prices are rising,
circulation increasing, and credit ex-
panding, these desires, unchecked, never
fail, under such circumstances, to reach
their crisis in enormous and universal in
debtedness. to be speedily and certainly
followed by widespread. collapse and dis
aster.
For nearly ten years past the circum-
stances of the country have tended to these
results. The influx ofgold from California,
has rapidly augmented from year to year
the volume Of the circulating medium;
which has been still further expanded by
a vast, though not equal. increase of
credit currency. In 1914, before the i'm
portation Of gold from California had COM
menced, the respective amout Of coin and
bank notes in the conntry were as follows:
coin $l26,753, ,o27; bank notes $780,
5o6,041. In 1857, the respective amounts
were, coin, $276, loo,442; bank notes,
$214,778,2 ,222.
The aggregate currency in 49, 49, was ss5s
The increase of currency was 235 ,619,546
The increase OF coin was 14966I 4lS
The Increase of bank notes was S6,212,l6I
The rapid augmentation effected by the in
crease of coin alone, could not fail to pro-
duee marked effects in the rise of prices,
in the multiplication of transactions, in the
enlargement of fcredits, and in the increase
of debts. The additional stimulation of
this tendency by the further introduction
of $86, 232, i'll of credit currency, suffi-
ciently accounts for all the effects which
have been witnessed. lteH 4.'' ~
No system of currency can insure com
plete protection against speculation, debt
and revulsion, Lut that system, which,
more than any other, directly tends to
produce and infame these evils, is with
out question, the system of credit cur
rency That system, therefore, chiefly
demands precautionary measures against
such results. f 80
Credit currency in the United States is
supplied by banks in the form of notes
circulating as money. The number OF
these banks, on the 1st of January, 1856,
was 1893; their capital, S343, ,874, ,272;
their circulation, $195, TAI, $50; their de-
posits, $2l2, TOE, ,662; their other liabili-
ties, $64, 947, 823; their specie, $59, ,314,
l063; their resources other than specie,
$500, ~ 8, 1862. The number ofbanks at the
present time probably somewhat exceeds
fourteen hundred. Their circulation is
stated at 1914, ,778.e29, and their de-
posits at $3.50, ,358, 352, and their specie al
$50, ,OoO,O 1t needs but glance al
this statement to perceive that a currency
so expanded must greatly stimulate haz.
ardous speculation, and tend to financial
disorder; and that under the exigencY o
such disorder. the credit currency mus
become, in part, or altogether, inconverti