Litchfield enquirer., 1858-05-06
From The New York Tribune


I most other civilized nations, vas in the agony
Of commercial panie' or reyulsion. Al
most everybody wanted money, and most were
obliged somehow to do wifhout.it the current
:. rates Of usnry were e1orbitant, yet three per
cen per mouth failed to bring out The boarded
coin from lbs hiding places. The Banks were
steadily drawn ilpoa for specie Utmost of them
had practically none left, and were obliged to
stop paying it ont This was by a very numer-
Gus class hailed as the DOWNFALL Of the Banking
Syste.a. Hundreds confidently pred cted that
the Banks. would never resume, just as TIE
Herald vas accustomed to assert in 1887 that
that Bank paper would continue to derrecate
until it had become as worthless as the old
Continental The prophecies Of 1881 proved
false, sosdid those Of 1857. The banks soon
placed themselves in position to resume Specie
Payment, and did resume !; but their notes had
been worth their face in specie before the re-
sumption Within the last year, we have seen
notes payable and paid on demand in specie
selling IN market for two or three per cent less
than those OF other Banks which were in a state
Of Suspension. This by no means proves that
it is not better that Banks should than that
they should not be able to pay: specie it
proves only that the test Of Specie Payment is
. not conclusive. One Bank may be freely paying
specie ON ell its obligations, yet insolvcnt !;
while another does not pay specie yet is per
4fectly sound. Give us bank note that will
bny bank rote Of similar denomination in any
city OF the Uuiah, and we deem it practically
good whiie-anether, that is redeemahc in spe-
Gle at the issuing coulter, but worth only from
ninety to hhetyeigh hit cents in the various guar
tiers OF the. ChiQn, is most unworthy OF the
name of Currency.
iyhen the Banks suspended, many supposed
that their credit was ruined and that tie Pres
sure must necessarily increase in severity but
the contrary proved the fact. The Suspension
was felt rather as a measure of relief and the
20 Resumption, though general, has net proved
relief measure. It was right to pay to the
last dollar and resume at the earliest moments;
but if Bank Notes had not been expressly pay
able IN coin, and if each Bank had been Under
obligation to redeem its notes in exchange Oh
any pnrt Of the Unioa at par, the "pres-
r,lr,' al not have been hall S, severely
felt and the Resumption would have, been at
once needless and injurious
We have ceased for some months to import
more than we export +; the current balance Of
AIDE is in oar favor $50 specie, of course
flows in upon us from all sides. Our Banks in
til. tgreat'cities are g'utted with gold. and Who
ever can give the right kind OF security may
harrow to his hearts content. YiIere is money
enough s yet Business remains languid, and
prices do not rise. The Banks Of this CITY alore
cead lend Five Millions mere any week if they
4 had customers ready to take it and proftably
employ it; there are men who can command
money enough if they only saw clearly how to
g use it advantageeusly. But they do Hotchoose
to invest it in new buildings while VIC have
already more houses, stores and dwellings than
there are tenants for they do not choose to
=Lly lands with borrowed money, while produce
ia so low !: nor to invest it in cultivation for q
like reason. Hence Enterprise stagnates, and
much labor stands idle in the market-plaee, BE-
cause large proportion of those able to CON-
; mand funds seq no way proitably to employ
them. Our Banks are sound-nobody distrusts
Or. refuses their notes--they. might Increase
their issues Que Hundred Millions to morrow
without exciting doubt OF their redemption
yet nothing is done to set the wheels in motion
and give full employment to labor. Why?
g We answer: Because the Traders IN our Ma
tional Councils are afraid or ashamed to do
what t,iey know they ought to do with regard
to the Tariff They must know that the Gov
ernHent ought not to be running heels over
I head IN debt asst is they must know that
return to the Tariff of 1912 wonld start our
now torpid spi,idles, looms, furnaces, forges,
mines, &C., giving employment forthwith to
hundreds OF thousands who have been mainly
idle for mouths; they must know. that this
would secure ready markets and better prices
to our farmers, now gorged with uasold and
scarcely salable crops they must know that
our coagting trade, canals, railroads, hotels
steamboats,, Be-. would speedily feel and re-
sl,ond to the eniyening impulse. while the
money t!lat.n piles up daily higher and high
or in our Bank vaults would be set in molten
to buy Produce, Metals, Stock, &c., flowing
aatfrom and returning to the Banks in cor
sta,t, swelling, genial current. We firmly be-
lieye that even the manufacturers of Europe
would be benefited by return on olr part to
the Tariff Of. 1912, which, first securing work
and wagessto our7idle laborers, would soon in
crease our ability to buy foreign fabrics and
with as the disposition to buy follows very
close behind the ability. Give US the Tariff
of 1912, as nearly as may be, and thousands
would make haste to buy Grain, Pork, Wool
&C., throughout the producing sections and
imated factories, mines and forges would soon
supply CONSUMERS for them all. Our farmers
would hire more help, feeling confident of more
eager and remuneratve markets next Fall and
Winter. In short, this present Congress might
in one mouth lift the Government and the PEG
pie together cut Of tile gulf Of Bankruptcy
and place them once more on the firm highway
Of Prosperity. 0nr countrymen very general
lyfeel this q. majority of them are sreaey to
acknowledge and proclaim it Why, then
should the general paralysis and prostration bt
suffered rear longer2
N. z. Talmadge, formerly in'the United States
eeaate. wrii.s 10 Shields Of Minnesota, lhatsA
mn nbefsof the present senat0rs in Congress are
believers ~ Spirituaiism, md thai ths political
history Of 1860 WILDE greatly affected il not con-
trcllel hy it,