Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-07-02

1870 Nr. BiDDLE made the stateEent, the year
previous, that there were one huDared and forty
broken, aud ify nins at that time in state ofopen
bankruptcy. What was the state Of things 1907
Mr.. EHITE, cashier of The Branch Bank Of tho
United ates at Baltimore in letter to the Score
tary Of the Treasury, dated 18Th February, 1890.
says Choking back t, the peace, period fresh
inthe memory OF every Que, The wfetelIed state of
the currency for the two succeeding years cannot
be overlooked the disasters Of ls19 which ssriOus-
~ affected the circumstances, property and in
duslry of every district in the United States, viii
long be recolleeted. sudden and pressing search
| ty of money prevailed in the spring Of 1922. NJ
merous and extensive failures took place at New
York. Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans in
1895. There was great CONFUSION amongst
banks and other moReyed institutions in New York
in 1926. The scarcity Of Money am 'ngst traders in
that State and Eastward was alarming and distress
ing, in 1927 s. Failures Of banks ia Rhode Is
la IL and North Carolina, asd amongst the manufac
tprers in New England sra Maryland, in 1929 !;
sal of some of the principal banks in Georgia to re-
deem their notes with specie."
"Tkeso events occurring With singular frequency
amidst he profession and the eeneEls Of wealth,
enforce the conviction that something ID radically
wrong in our monetary system"
Ga The 3ota day Of the same maatb, February,
1899 be writes another Later 10 TIA Sser~t.ry in
waiel he says Congress fixed the relative value
of gold TO silver e oae Of COLA to fifteen of silver
under the impression that it would compose part
Of tae circulating msdun. It also ensctsd that a
tender of either of those metals should be the oaly
Legal mode of discharging obligations. In prac-
tiee however and in fact, currency consists al
together of paper. In this State (Maryland) AMI
ia Pennsylvaula Virginia, and perhaps. soma OH
ers The fractional parts OF dollar circulate 10 suf
isient quantities 10 purchase with coin marketing
ard loR-priced nece5saries, bat in the Clrolinas,
Georgia. and all that great district east of Penn
sylsania there is no transfer Of the value of the
established uuit (dolIar) that is MT affected BY
paper
''Ia North Carolina South Carolina, and some
o:er Tart, Of the Union. says GoUeE, p %, "notes
for 25 cents, l21, and even CT are current; there
even silver change IS rarity"
1t was in this decade, (from 1880 to $780, that
tie series of measures were introduced under
auspices Ct the then existing national adm'nistIa
ton, for the purpose Of increasing tbs aggregate
emouat Of gold and silrer circulation IN The United
States, and diminishing The Of bills Of credit
based upon Il; apOlicy emphatically urged by DALLAS
and CRAWFORD, Secretaries of the Treasury uader
the administrations of MADIsoS and MONROE, aim
ing, though by different roads, at The same general
! result.
! In 1892 NICHOLAS BIBDLE was examined before q
committee Of Congress, in regard to the state of the
currency rs stated that one Of the defsc's in the
currency was Ia the issuance Of small notes, which,
he stated, had expelled the specie from the country;
that if the circulation Of such notes was prohibited
coin would Immediately take its place. aud thus
/ widen he metallic basis of the banks. Mr. WEB-
sTER advised tae sams policy; (see WRBsTER's
works) They prohibited by act of the Legis-
lature, in New York, about this time; aad in other
States the sama policy vas advocated aud carried
/ into effect, the national administration urging
/ $50 as the minimum size of bsak bills 1. was in
this decade, also that lin 1884, under the auspices
! Of the national administration, measure was
brought forward to correct the relative value Of
gold and silver coins Gold aHd silver, like cotton,
sugar. and tobacco, have market value dependant,
! like all other articles, the capital expended in
producing them from the mines and no laws can ever
control their value in the markets of the world By
the act OF 179l establishing mint gold wss valued
at one to fifteen ofsilver Gold was, it was stated,
worth ct that time sixteen to one. Gold was, there
fore uuiervalusd at the mint, and silver overyalued
Every man made one dollar in fifteen b. paying
his debs st home in silver, and his debts abroad
| in gold Gold, therefore, was converted iato
merchandise, andezported Hence silver currency.
By the act Of 1884 (see BRIGHTLEYs Digest, Laws U.
S 81 this relative value was changed, and one ounce
of gold vas declared in the coins to bo worth in
the payment of debts, l6 ounces in silver coin
This resulted in the establishment of gold currency
il the United States. II was urged dat The States
should prohibit the increase Of all bills Of credit
uadsr $50 AMI that the coinage of $50 gold pieces,
in consequences Of their superior portability to sill
YER would SION Gil the cham Els Of circulation I'M
der that amount and give stability 10 the currency
ana cause the whole of the wages Of labor and the
retail transactions of the country to be effected
by GOLD Ia 1916, England had charged Ter cur
rency from silver to gold, by similar measure.
as the Romans had done in the more advanced sta
ges OF their wealth. Aed France is mort evideally
about to bring about the same result Cdepalisr
Gold
Tue cO0JolnL force OF the U1ld blll ana le en-
ting of Of small notes, induced an importa ioa Of
gold the exteut of twelve millions in very saot
time Financial Register. See NcCaleel's D.efiol-
arg.
But there was then no legislative requ rement ia
the face Of any B INK Charter in New York, or N
that of the Bank of the United States, or in the
charter, it is believed, of any Bank in The whole
oonfederacy, that there should be any fixed Pro-
portion between the amount Of debt Bank should
inour By deposits aud notes, AMI the amount of
specie such Bank shoulJ hold to meet such debts,
due on demand There is not nov any such limita- |
ton ia the charter of the State Bank of Tennessee,
or the Union Bank, or the Planters Bank, or any
stock Bank in the State. The only limitation i'm
posed on those Banks now, them was, that
their issues should bear Fixed proportion 10 4 cir
capital say double or treble their capital stock |
There was, therefore, limitation based upon the
standard of value. As that capital stock could be-
and was and is, manufactured at will, without
funds it is ident that the loans Of banks could be
increased, for the time being to almost unlimited
extent, at least to extent sufficient to involve
the country in periodical commissions and bankrupt
ey. The first great of this restrictive char
acter was the act of 1884, of the British Parliament,
passed under the administration Of Sir RoBEsT
PEEL, on which l will comment hereafter. The