Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-07-10

- It<tAN -
Average from 1922 to 1880, SO nillions from
1850 to 1888, SO millions; from 1884 j. 1855, lso
Millions in 1886. 1856 millions.
Tho annuslrezcsss Of imports over exports
amounted e four millions darbg first nine years.
to eighteen millions during TIE nsxt hrss succeed
ing to thisty-four during the four last, aud 10
siz y-ons milions during the yesr 1876 The annual
average sales Of the pubic lands which, during the
rst zine years did not exceed 81 600, and frcn
1881 to 1885, had reached 81 500, 600, amounted in
1885, to 100000, and in 1886, to SIS, 600 900.
Speculatons unimprove itown lots mines aud eve
~ description Of rash undertakings Increased at the
same rate. These facts, derived from The highest
statistic authorities. go 70 show that large issues of
paper money, even when eonvsrtibIe into coin, in
crease the purchase and consumption Of foreign
gods, diminish the expectation and sale Of domes io
goods, and cad By loading The country at large
with debt might here refer to the history Of the
various monetary panics and convalsions Of Grea
Britain; to the condition Of New England in 1862
toe unparalleled disasters Of 1919; to the coudi
ton Of things ia the last conyalsion in 1857, to
show he same fact might refsr t, those States
where banks are most proflse in their issues "a
chow The most Indebted people. ihe most brokea
merchants might refer to those eoun les in the
several States where banks exist and to those where
they do not exist to sustain the same views Banks
hatch Into existence brokers. Insurers. ami shavers
They prevail to much greater extent, where banks
exist than where they do not erist snl whilst
they are generally odious. they are absolutely ne
eessaFy. They mitigate the syiIs out Of which they
arise aud are the instruments By which the laws OF
trade put down false and fraudulent standard Of
value, arrest the creation Of debt remove the rub
bish of broken and appreciated bank paper, sne re-
store soundnsss to domestic and foreign trade. 1t
is hut seldom they viii permit the paper currency
10 become deprecated to any great extent, or the
initiation 10 become too great or the country to get
much in debt before they win arrest it, and bring
down prices, and establish the currency on a lev
ell with the currency OF tie world. Though UNI
checked hanks may ana do create an unnecessary
GnciuatiOn in the prices Of commodities aud the
Value of property, yet these instruments of trade
WILL f their bills Of credit be convertible into gold
and thetss be fair, remsve the rabbish re-estab
lish the trade Of the country thu amount Of
saleable products the country can spare, demand
specie for the balance. and enfJrce the laws Of
trade; leaving in the country jus. 81 Euoh paper
money and metallic money IS woald amount TO-
gether to the sum OF metallic money they would
have had il there had teen no paper Whatever,
and no more.--Adaza Smith.
The circumstances in the commercial world in
1897, enabled thepsper issue - become excessively
ind ted az was the case in 1879, but the laws of
trade, as Irresistible in the monetary world as the
I - Al.
ly Int surely undermined the bloated mass by run
ming in on the issuers their fstidous AMI unsnp-
ported promises, and the whole fihre falls in its
own rottenness on the demand Of the foreign credi
Tor for gold 6 Mr. GALLATIS states that there had
been created, from 1880 to 1887; three hundred
new banks with capital Of one hundred aud forty
Eve millions amongst which were the Union and
Planters Banks, and the Bank of Tennessee, every
one Of which it is believed, without an exception
was like the charter of the Bank of the United
States and the Bsnk, in Tennessee, we have
mentioned, without any restriction, making tue
amount Of credit they extended dependent on hs
amOalat Of geld and silver IN their gaaIfs. The
standard of value established by the Coustiiu-
ton utterly lost sight Of, and discarded IS an
absurd invention to rssrictho credit Of the country
and Legislative and individual ingenuity tested
10 inytn. conirivances by which fictitious Bank Stock
could be manufactured and the payment Of specie
practically eVaded and defeated. Such legislative
conrivances theexemptiOn Of the issuers Of moi
from personal responsibility for them and the re-
mOyal Of all fear of individual ruin from excessive
issues, the authority - issue double aud treble
the amount of stock subscribed. the issuance of
small notss payable at any point the issuers might
select, no matter how inaccessible, and refusal of
legislative bodies to make the amount of their debts
dependant on the amount Of gold, brought on the
caamifies of 1919. 1897 and 1857, and have filed
the land at intermediate times With perpetual Auc
tuation in the amount and value Of the currency
and all the ealamitcus consequences flowing from
such fluctuations.
The question as to whether the calamity of 1887
resulted from the removal OF the public moneys
from The Bank of the United States and depositing
them in the State Banks and the refusal to re char
ter the Bank of the United States, or whether they
resulted from the excessive issues of the United
States Bank. encouraging and sustaining the State
Banks, and the ambitious designs of the administra
tors OF the Bank Of United Stues to rule or ruin,
was party question, gtaTely debated at that time,
but of no sort Of Importance to the solution of the
d ,ulties created by the action of the State Gov
ernments in putting in operation the present paper
system. The Congress Of the uuited States set the
example to the States Of Bank with CAPITAL
OF S@5,600,o0O without any legal requsiiion IL the
face of The charter thst their debts saaud be in any
fixed proportion 10 the amount Of gold they held
to answer for their dsbtI, aud thus utterly disre
gsrded the standard of value established by the
Constitution. The States did The came, not il the
general in a moro aggravated form Mi. GALA
TIS, who vas the advocate Of q National Bank, and
who desired the charter If National Bank 20
late as 1910, states and shows that the National
Bank had ceased to restrain the issues Of the State
banks in 1892, and By taking the lead in exees-
sive issuea had aided in stimulating TO excess The
State banks. The question for the statesman 10
determine is Whe her the whole Of the caamiiies
Of the country, far as they have arisen from the
fluctuations in the amount and value of paper
currency which has caused the expectation of the
metallic currency, has not arisen from the action Of
Congress and the State Legislatures in the creation
of charters by which authority was granted to indi
Viduals to create paper substitute for money recei-
veble IN poyuant If rpblic 5uoa "a vrhab tho id;