Staunton vindicator. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1858, 1858-01-02

Governors Message.

/ Governors Message.
For the information of our readers W
have been at very great pains to prepare al
abridgcment Of the Governors Messages t,
the Legislature.
! Message I is ION the present commercial
crisis and the condition Of the Banks Of thu
United States, and particularly those Of Vir
ginia." 1t proceeds, after certain introduc.
tory remarks, to discuss in tue first place
! the ''criss" which, it says, 'has been long
coming and given ample time for warning
and watching in its approach, 8 and yet has
had all the crashing effects which we have
partly already seen and partly yet apprehen-
died. 1t is well to look at some Of its causes,
and at its mode of operation and to some of
its results and effects, in order to derive les
sons at once salutary for the future and re-
lieving for the present These causes it
| finds if, sndaen, rapid and fearfully large ez-
pansion in trade, in consumption. in prices.
in currency, and in speculation "a state
of over stimulation that has made It's reel
and stagger ard nearly fall like drunken
men, OF this .'tiie primary and most po-
tent cause" the Governor thinks, is ''the
immense increased production of gold, ;"
coupled with the consequent general delu-
! siol4" that we were therefore to have SUI
, perabundance cot it, so that it was to '.be-
come merchandise and not be any longer
money = whereas, in point Of fact, owing
to pari passu s'immense progress in the
arts of life aud in the powers Of production
Of every thing else besides gold, to an ac-
companying increased employment of it in
the ordinary utensils of liie,' and parti-
cularly to an Increased demand fer it just
at the moment of the increased production,
and altogether co-extensivc Herewith, to
supply the extraordinary wants Of the prin-
cipal powers of Europe and their .vast cx-
penditurcs" in the late Trans Atlantic wars,
no such effect has ever occurred. 1.-THE
consequence Of this delusion," the Cover
nor says; ',should have been, apparently.
to lesson the amount and issue of paper
money" Yet, strange to say, it did Nc,
''but, on the contrary, the demand for a
circulation was greater than ever and the
gold not being here to supply the currency,
Is millions only being left here in the pub
lie deposits Of the country, there was null
tip,ication Of banks, vast increase of bank
ing capitol. and an inflated paper circulation
of PA millions. The number Of banks in
creased from GIL, in 1913 the last specie
suspension, to l4l5 by the lst of january,
1857. The amount OF banking capitol now,
independent of private banking is S370,-
! 81 6S6. aud the total bank assets, includ-
ing capital. was 81 ,324 ,OI3, 4a2: exclu-
sive of capital, WAS Sy33, l7S, 1865; the a
! mount OF total banking liabilities vas S522,
CPL, 357--leasing Il total surplus Of $780,
:S51 400, exclusive Of capital and the ag-
grcgate .. immediate liabilities j, e. Of cir
culaticn, deposits and dues to other banks
was 500 .SO4, 507 and the aggregate Of
Immediate lilxAans - e. af ~sss-esss-@$ Eeeie
fundc. notes Of ether banks and sums due
from other banks, was but SLIT, 404 ,672,
leaving !, deficiency of immediate means on
she LIST Of January 1857, of 1925, $50 ,S15.
Such YVES the de sfee of imitation ard def
ci crcy Of Immediate means at that date.
.sAnother reason for this excessive infia-
ton Of Our Currency" the Message proceeds
rs she Speculation in the North western
Territory Of the United States brought on
By the corrupting grants to internal i'm
yrovc,acnts by sIse tscneral Government"
These have produced state Of things in
that section ''paralleIed only by the Yazoo
schems Of Old.
Thus the land e'srecufation" of the north
west and the Pacific gold diggings" have
inflated our currency, blown up a bubble
which is now bursting. and threatening to
put our State bonds into market at dis
paraging rate"
I The whole nation was blind to the course
Of things according 50 which 1.-THE produc
ton of gold inflated the currency. AND its
export leis not enough to bear and redeem,
the ossr-issue Of paper circulation. The
only rcdcening power ~ in the immense
! production of their things besides gold, to
pay our debts and bring us specie
The Message then adverts to the last re-
port Of Mr.. Secretary Guthrie "on the con-
iition of the banks Of the United States
This was enough to sho Nv all men of fore
sight that prudence required a contraction
rather than an expansion of business Its
4 warning, however, was not turned to ae-
court aith what result is now seen '.But
yesterday the demand was for money to be-
gin new business and undertake new enter
prises OF speculation, and any sort Of mcdi-
um world do:-to-day the demand is strong
err still for money, but it is for real money
and no other will do, to pay off Old debts
and settle old transactieas- The difference
between the two demands will now be seen
and all will know whether gold has depre-
ciated or Eot I'll value, aud whether specie
can be bong o. far Departed from as u stand
ard"
The Message next proceeds to an exam
nation of .tbe condition Of the banks of the
United States on the LIST January last, Sin
ordes to judge justly of the course pursued
by orr own banks FIJI sfe present revalsion. y
-'sThere are," it says, thirteen primer
pal centres Of trade controlling the financial
and commercial relations IN the United
States. Two are primary national centres
the one the importing, New York and
the other the exporting, New Orfeaos. The
others are but satellites and secondary In
the North east, Boston, Philadelphia, Bal
timore, in the South east Charleston, Sa-
vanah. Mobile in the Northwest Cincinnati:
Chicago; Buffalo, St. Louis; on the Pacific,
San Francisco" 1.-The four great Central
Middle, Atlantic and Ohio front, slave-hold-
ing, tobacco growing, breadstuffs producing
agricultural. grazing AID mineral yielding
States, Vingiaia, North Carolina, Tennessee
and Kentucky have no centres Of their own,