The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-05-10

enterprise OF the Angl0-HexOn race, ana sue
yearly accession from abroad Of an immense
amount Of adult labor-these are the main
causes OF the rapid growth Of the country
Facilities Of credit have in some cases, and
under some conditions safely supplied the
place Of solid capital and anticipated il
creation, but this advantage is to Offset by the
ruinous public enterprise, and the untold
amount Of private bankruptcy, which have
been the disastrous results Of easy borrowing
at home and abroad.
heard gentleman Of acute observation
and long experience say, many years ago
that he had made out two lists, one Of con.
siderable number of farmers, and the other
Of merchants, starting with fair prospects in
life the one class to live upon the products
of their farms, titled for the most part by
their own hands, and this under the compare
lively imperfect system Of agriculture which
prevailed in the last generation the other
to take their chances in the lottery of com
merce. At the END of the term for which
the comparison was made, the farmers were
the most prosperous body. None Of them
had become very rich; few only had
wholly failed in life, and those few from
causes not essentially connected with agri>
cultural pursuits The greater part had
lived and brought up their families in com
fort Of the merchants, by for the greater
part had wholly failed, and one or two only
had greatly prospered,
know Of no circumstance 80 likely to pro-
duce this effect, as doing business mainly on
borrowed means, keeping your all at the
mercy of events, over which you have no
control the probity or solvency of others !;
MI M hnu kho onop of
peace and war abroad; your own continued
health in q word the innumerable contin-
gencies of life
Nor let it be thought that this idea of
greatly limiting the use Of credit is the mere
theoretical fancy Of a person, who knows
nothing practically Of the subject The
President of the Bank of Commerce, in New
York, writing to Mr.. Nathan Appleton, in
Boston, a few days before the suspension Of
specie payments in 1857, says, "When will
your banks confne themselves to short dates,
and cease to encourage the pernicious sys-
tenn Of long credits-credits rameifed to the
last degree, from which spring most Of your
difficulties n Mr.. Appleton in reply says:
Il have always been opposed to the system
Of long credits. but recollect very well that
it was in consequence Of eight months being
the established credit given by the New York
importers that we were obliged to submit to
the same in our manufactures. These two
gentlemen differed only as to what may be
called long credits, and where the RESPONSE
bility offavoring them rests.
The banks, of course, are mainly respon>
sibie for the undue expansion of credit which
has proved SO pernicious These institutions
are created, in many cases, for the benefit Of
few individuals, principally active in get
ting them. Their capital is often to a con.
considerable degree fictitious, paid in ono
day and borrowed out the next, not in tho
discount Of business paper but to be employ
ed in speculations, wholly unjusti6abfe on
any sound banking principles Where a
solid capital is actually paid in, desire to
increase the profits OF the bank often leads
it to p :sh its Accommodations beyond the limits
of prudence and safety. In the month of
January, 1857, the banks of New York owed
one hundred and four millions of dollars 10
their depositors and bill holders, and they
had eleven millions of specie in their vaults
In other words, they were carrying fearful
debt themselves, to enable their customers to
carry one equally fearful In little more
than nine months, under the influence Of no
assignable cause but panic, banks and GUS
toners in New York, were involved in one
common bankruptcy.
Banks Of deposit and discount, combining
their operations strictly to business paper
of short date, would no doubt be Of great
convenience in carrying on an active com
merce They would ensure the safe keeping
Of large sums Of money: bring idle funds
into active use; facilitate payments, and
ha Sfa ho Of n,
tions. But it may we'll be doubted whether
banks Of circulation, that is banks authorl.
zed by the States to create paper currency,
which, having no real value, is accepted by
the public as if it were solid money, are not
in the long run, an injury rather than a
benefit to the community. They have direct
ly and indirectly been the chief agency In
causing these perio Ideal seasons Of pressure
and distress, which have so often occurred
in this country, and with such disastrous
consequences to individuals and the public
1t must be admitted, however, that there is
very little hope ola remedy, Although the
public mind is probably almost unanimous
in the conviction, that National Bank,
once deemed by many persons absolutely es-
sential for the collections of the revenue and
the regulation of the currency,is by no means
necessary either for the government or the
people there is not the least probability
that the States will forego the power IF es-
tablishing local banks, and clothing them
with the right to create a fictitious currency
Such being the case the country is too likely,
in time to come, as in times past to suffer
every twenty or twenty five years the enor-
nous evils resulting from the initiation of
credit, and the Arbitrary expansion and con-
traction of a circulating medium, resting on
misplaced confidence and not on basis Of
solid value.
There remains no remedy, but that not
entirely efficient, yet still not very important
one, which each individual is able to apply
TO his own affairs. The man who lives within
his means, will, is prosperous times, pass
through life, with as great a freedom from
pecunlary distress, az our imperfect nature
admits. Even he may suffer from i'll health
on his own part or that of others, paralyzing
his activity, or burdening his means. and
general stagnation of business may, by no
fault or imprudence Of his own, fatally Grip
pie his recources. These are misfortnnes,
tor which there is no help. They belong to
the inper fections of on social nature but
even these will be resisted and sustained far
more successfully by the unembarassed man,
than any one already staggering under a load
Of debt
So with reference to business, no individ-
ual, however prudent can place himself
wholly beyond the reach Of those frightful
storms, that from time to time burst upon the
trading community, with the Jury of a ty
phoon, sweeping all before them to destruc.
ton. But even in times like these, the man
who has contented himself with mod
crate gains, has kept his liabilities
within his means, conducted his business on
o substantial basis and eschewed gigantic
speculations, will be most likely to 60 thr O
tho crisis unscaIhed, and in all ordinary
cases be successful and prosperous in life
while those who pursue the opposite course
strain their credit to the utmost, and trade
on capital far beyond their solid property
besides leading lite of splendid anxiety and
ostentatious care, are the most likely to be
Frustrated BY the first blast, which sweeps
over the country
ltmay be remarked in conclusion, that the
justice Of the foregoing views, both as to tine
cause of the distress of 1851 and the only
security against the recurrence of similar
IN iur fv onnf evua1 hy he v,,opnov =,