Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-08-26


not prevented; and, therefore, the anticipated re-
lief was not realized. AS to the second reason,
have not seen it demonstrQted, howt the Agricul-
tura interest could suffer the slightest detrimeni,
BY the Banks being required to disgorge IN in
significant portion of their vast and ungodly gains
for the payment Of their honest debt to the people
On the contrary, with the facts and evidence be-
fore US, we can scarcely avoid the conclusion that
the suspension of the Act of 1S40 has proved to
be blight upon the farming interest, rather than
q blessing.
Z. The impression attempted to be created by the
friends of the Banks is, that it was necessary to
remove the restrictions from them in order to ex
tend relief to the country. That their object was
not to relieve the Banks, but to save the property
Of oil the debtors 10 the land from the sacrifice Of
Sheriff sssale, and to enable planters to realize
higher prices for cotton. Is it true that the Act
of 1857 was intended to.relieve the people aud
not the Banks?. A glance at the journal Of the
debates on this subject in the Legislature, will
bring us to question very seriously the verify Of
this pretence. If I an not mistaken, the record
Of the proceedings there. goes very far towards
showing that the suspension of the Act Of ls40
was not primarily intended as measure Of relief
to the people, but that it was emphaticslly Bank
measure, mooted by Bank party, and carried
principally by the votes of Bank men. If the ad-
vocates of this measure were actuated by sole
purpose to save the country from greater fnan-
cal distress, why did they reject the amendment
offered by the Bank reform party, which provided
only, for the suspension Of the collection Of the
per cent. for twelve months This amendment
would have freed the Banks from the embarrass-
ment of having to pay the per cent. monthly, as
required by the Law Of 1870, which was as much
too, as they should have asked and the Legisls
turc would still have held the reins over the Banks
and could Mt the expiration Of the year, have ex-
acted the per cent. in case they had failed to
carry out in good faith their promises to the coun-
try. But the friends of the Banks did not scruple
to say that they feared the next Legislature would
exact every dollar of the forfeiture from the Banks,
and that they, while they hsd the power, would
make clean sweep Of the penalty and turn them
loose, unbridled upon the country, free from the
last restraint imposed by law. Does this look as
though relief to. the country only was intended!
To an unbiased mind the inference is irresistible
that it was purely Bank measure. The most
popular pretext for the Act of last December is,
that it was necessary to save the property Of those
Indebted to the Banks or others, from being sac.
rifced at nominal prices. The bugbear constant
ly held up was--that, if the Banks were not propi-
tiated by IN entire release from their obligation
to pay the people the per cent. on their suspen-
ded bills-they would compel their debtors to pay
up, and they in turn would force US, the people,
to pay our honest debts! If the object then, Of
the supporters Of this pseudo.relief measure, was
solely to preserve the property Of the citizens Of
the State from aruinous sacrifice, why did they
not adopt the amendment, proposed by the oppo-
site party, to prevent the Banks from Expressing
their debtors by suits for collection so long they
continued in State Of suspension There was
semblance of fairness and justice in the provisions
of this amendment, inasmuch as the Banks had
suspended payment, that the people should have
been permitted to suspend payment to them! This
would have afforded substantial relief security
to the people for while at least, but it was too
much Of concession for the oppressed Banks {,
make! In rejecting this amendment II vas tanta-
mount to saying that we will relieve the people by
denying them relief. In view Of this fact how
can it be said that the suspension Of the Act Of
1910 was anything less than scheme merely to
favor the Banks, and the pretended concurrent re-
lief to the country-mere charlatanism. Again,
the minority-the friends of the people--in making
one more effort in their behalf, attempted to in
corporate in the Act of 1857 provision requiring
the suspended Banks to abate from their rates Of
discount Whatever per cent. their bills might fall
below par, and thus throw the loss which might
be occasioned by their depreciation, on the Banks
themselves, by whom Of course, it should be borne,
and not by the community as it has been. To
this honest proposal the majority refused to ac-
cede, and unceremoniously voted it down; in con;
sequence of which the suspended Banks have been
authorized by law to receive from the planter,
per cent on every dollar of their paper IN crcula-
ton, when in fact, they only loaned him ninety
FIVE cents can not imagine how human inge-
nuiy could pervert the meaning of this legislation
into anything else than plainly expressed pur-
pose to favor the Banks, without any regard to the
interest of the people. I think I have shown
from the record, so to speak, that the suspension
Of the End section Of the Bank Act Of 1910 was
simply Bank measure; that in adopting it, the
interests of the community at large, were not re-
garded rs Of paramount consideration. Though
there were many honest gentlemen who voted for
the Act-and who were actuated ty desire to
tighten the monetary pressure upon the county
but in their anxiety and zeal to do something they
were carried away with the illusory idea that In
the removal Of the forfeiture Of s per cent from
the Banks, consisted the nfalible panaeea for all
the Ills attendant upon the reigning panic.
I will now enieavor to show that the Act Of last
December did not relax the pecuniary pressure,
nor effect an advancement Of the price Of cotton.
It would be useless waste Of words to attempt a
of the fact that the tightness Of
monetary affairs and the pressure of hard times,
have not been removed by relieving the suspended
Banks of the FIVE per cent Every one knows
that the pressure prevails yet in the country to
great extent. But how could this act fayoriDg
the suspended Banks, have operated as deliver
onee from the financial embarrassmentsf Un-