Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-06-04
RepoaIaBIe Charters.

Ohio This State has run the usual career Of 50
many other States in the way of broken banks-too
much money one year, the next not enough; not as
much as they would have had of gold and silver if
there never had been bank in existence in the
Statei speculation, high prices and Ovortrading,
followed By stagnstiOn in trade, usury, suing and
broken merchants aud traders
HOmans, a decided advocate Of the paper system,
states in his Dictionary Of Commerce as follows:
"Of the Banks chartered in this STATE, eighteen
have closed under various circumstances of disas-
ter their bills selling at so to 70 per cent discounts
and thirty others have failed and their bills
reported as worthless"
Ohio began on the old stock bank system, and
sold monopolies. She exempted the persons who
issued the notes from any personal liability for the
payment of them, and required no security what
ever for their redemption and doubtless authorized
the bankers to issue twice as much as their capt.
tai stock amounted to, as they have done in Ten
nessee and most of the other States in times
past Doubtless some paid up, in great measure,
in stock notes. they have done probably, in every
State in the Union where stock banks have been
chartered They put nothing in their charters re-
10 spoCieJ Ous tneili'
the stock banks of Tennessee, free, to do without
any specie if they chose to do They authorized
them to issue small notes. that they ud get out
q larger circulation, which could not be run in
them rapidly and which would prevent them from
being called on for money; and TO cap the climax,
they doubtless did as they did in Tennessee, author
lied them to make their no es payable any where in
the Union, in order to enable them to evads pay
ment Of their notes, whea called Gu. They did, no
doubt, act on the idea of getting up paper cur
rency without any m ney whatever. All this was
done with al eye to the "putlic good" This sys-
TEN works admirably at the start. They make
"mOney" very abundant, and goods rise frst, and
labor last and least; as paper prices at home are
higher than prices abroad mportations of goods in
crease and sales of them increase, whilst the in
crease of paper money above the level of the world
increases the cost of producing at home, and con-
sequently breaks down home manufactures and di-
minishes expectation. This is the process by which
the country rapidly gets in debt whilst public and
private extravaganza is Stimulated. could intro
duce Ben. Franklin, George Wa ,hingtOn, Nicholas
Biddle, and Andrew jackson, as well as a
score of European worthless, to sustain this
rent as to need not the authority of names
The country is now in debt. The fever goes off
and now the chill comes. The foreign creditor
comes and that necessary man, the broker is called
for, to hunt up the remote and inaccessible points
where the notes are payable. "The demand of one
million Of dollars of the money of the world to meet
foreign demand" says Mr.. Crawford, in his Urea.
sury Report, of 1919, "displaces from circulation
the amount of paper based on it, whether it be
three FIVE ten dollars of notes, if the banks act
with an eye to their own safety. The banks which
never had any money now say if the people would
pay them they would be able to pay their notes.
They refuse to psy-all improvements cease, public
and private. The laborer cries for bread Real
money being worth great deal, the capitalist, or
shaver Orusurer exaots two per cent. per month
what his mO0ey is worth. The paper money being
worthless, is bought a. discount, and real money
that will pay debts, IS less in quantity than would
exist if there never had been q bank IN existence
Labor falls first, and property offered for sale will
not bring half price. All importations of goods
cease and the government is without money to pay
its debts
Aud nov comes the winding up Of ''this strange,
eventful history" Excavations, deep and loud,'
are heard against brokers and usurers laws
must be made to tax them aud punish them.
The government is denounced for its corrup-
tion and extraVaganoe. Calls are made TO pre-
vent the people from buying goods by taxing the
goods heavily. The State must give relief to the
suffering debtor to prevent the sacrifice of properly
The State must borrow money to loan to the people
and more banks must be made The courts of JUS
tice must be organised with view to enable debt
ors to staVe off their debts, and thus defraud the
creditors Laws must be made to force men to take
bank paper, as was done in Kentucky, Tennessee,
and other States; laws that compel men 10 take
property at its value must be passed, and the who'll
brood of stay laws, and redemption laws, and bank
rupt laws which disgrace and stain the judicial
legislative annals of SO many States, are adopted
and sustained by mutitudss Of the best men in the
country, to save themselves from the hard fate
INTO which the excuses of tie paper system was
about to consgn them. And vast masses Of prop
sTty are placed out Of the reach Of the creditor by