Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-10-26
Il must strike the common UNDERSTANDING Clever,

Of currency and banking and thst the same alb
surdities which confused the minds Of statesmen
two centuries ago, are still the theories Of many
who profess to be learned ia the great science Of
political economy In reference to matter 90 fun
dsmsntally connected with the business affairs and
fortunes Of mankind one would naturally think thAt
thousands Of years Of inquiry, Of discussion and Of
experiment, ought to have advanced it to the oers
tainty and absoluteness Of e science But the fact
is quite otherwise. Human thought and ingenuity
are apparently as much exercised now regarding
this question ss they could have been hundreds Of
years ego. Observation and experience, in this
instance has been tardy in enlighteniDg US And
yet theory Is continually conradicted by practice.
In spite Of all the countless and long protrac,ed
trials we have made Of this plan and that plan, Of
one reform and another, and their successive fail
ures, are still seeking anxiOusly after others,
that viii enable as to enrich society by different
means than that 81 labor Can it be that this din
Guilty in reaching q satisfactory solution Of the
problem lies in the problem itsefi Is the philOso
ply Of finance essentially abstruse and reconcile
that the best intelligence of the nineteenth century,
aided by the full light Of all past commercial his
tory cannot ascertain the precise laws and organize
eAb FAa1lASeA- AAol-AAtA1 Va q pyNLu anu A0AAoDAS
monetary systemi We cannot believe it. We are
convinced that the Doubt controversy and trouble,
experienced in this matter, do not inherently be-
long to it. We think that the nature and uses Of
money; its relations 10 the wants Of society, and
the conditions on which it be made TO answer lis
legitimate purpose in perfectly convenient and
salutary manner, are clear and simple enough
The fact is, that in all their attempts to establish
the currency on some firm and wholesome basis, pO-
Itical economists have not been dealing with money
at all TRy haze been trying hOw they could sabsh>
stuts for that Which has single essential attribute
Of naoRey Their efforts have been TO invent 9
scheme by which thing Of no real value may per
form the functions of 3 very different kind of agent
how, in other words, bit of worthless paper may
be made to circulate as gold ana silver Out of this
preposterous notwithstanding from that iaor-
dinate desire to accumulate wealth withOutS due
proportion Of labor-has sprung all the perpiexity
and disappointment which invests the question Of
banks snd banking. In the ezchaugesOf commerce,
the medium employed for the purpose must not only
be q measure, but the equivalent of the values eX-
changed. This is fundamental and indispensable to
money. The yard stick that denotes correspond
ing length Of CLOTH does not denote its cost 1t is
not q measure Of value but of quantity AS COM
pared with what is is used to measure, it may be
worthless. But that with which We effect the trans
fer Of the cloth from the to the buyer, must
not only define it's nominal price in specie, but must
be actually the equal in value Of the commodity ex
changed. 1t is in overlooking this important dis
tucton, that many persons permit themselves to be
misled by the more ingenious vino nay understand
but have purpose to subserve in deluding the peO
pie. They advocate policy which seeks to create
something out of nOthing-to multiply dollar in
gold indefinitely by means Of utterly vsueless bank
bills.
Such is the policy Of Mr.. BELL, to which We aTus
ded in a recent issue. BE declares that there are
some important truths connected with the subject Of
currency, Of which the present Democratic Presi-
dent and those who sustain his views would seem 70
be Ignorant or behind the age ;" and one Of these
truths he asserts to be- that bank notes, to the
tent they take the place of gold and silver that would
otherwise be required to be kept in circulation
medium of exchange, add to the floating capital of
the country; upon the principle that the gold and
silver dollar expelled from circulation by the paper
dollar, being no longer required a medium of e1~
change becomes part of the active and productive
increase to its wealth.
In not believing this convenient theory Mr.. BELL
says the President and those who sustain his views
are "behind the age" thereby indicating that this
great discovery which he thus sets forth is of
modern origin. In this Mr.. BELL does violence to
the truth of history. This is modern discovery,
but had its origin as far back 1885, and FIST
suggested to the English Parliament by one JOHN
BRIsooE and HUGH CHAMBERLAYEE, two projectors
whom history informs we're "worthy to have been
members of that Academy which CULVER found at
LagadO. This great discovery, that paper could be
made to answer the purposes Of money, and credit
substituted for actual value in arranging the ex-
changes Of the country, came forth in erisis in the
financial affairs of the English Government The
government was in debt, the government was In
need, and the government was poor. History in
forms that "a breed of political projectors null
tiplied ngly-thst crowd Of plans, some of
which resemble the fancies of child or the dreams
ola man in fever, were pressed on the government"
Pre- eminently conspicuous among these was the
pan of JOHN BRIsoO and HUGH CHAMBERLAYNE, who
affirmed that the one for every distemper of the
State was 3 Land Bank. A Land Bank would work
for England miracles such as had never been wrought
for Israel miracles exceeding the heaps OF quails
and the daily shower of mama. There would be no
taxes, and yet the E1chequer would be full to
flowing. There would be no poor rates for there
would be no poor. The income of every landholder
would be doubled. The profits of ever merchant
would be increased. In Short the island would,
to use BRIsOOEs words be the paradise Of The world
The only losers wsuld be the moneyed men, those
worst enemies of the nation These blessed effects,
the historian informs u.s. the Land Bank was to pro-
duce simply by issuing enormous quantities of notes
on landed security. [Certaiuly Mr.. BELLS plan is
the same, since the gold and silver dollar expelled
from circulation by its paper representative, is to
become part Of the active aud productive capital
ofthe country IN some new relation The doctrine
Of the Land Bank projectors was that every person
who had real property ought to have besides that
property paper money to the full value Of that prop
erty. Thus, if his estate was worth two thousand
pounds, he ought to have his estate and two thousand
pounds in money. A somewhat different but more /
restricted system than we have in the present day
for it is a notorious fact that many Of our banks
owning an estate capital worth, say 500 OOO are
permitted to have their capital and three times the
amount in bank bills besides.
We are further told by the historian that BRIscoE
and CHAHBERLAYNE treated with the greatest con
y,