The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-02-03
Board OF Currency.

ADDRESS gY THE HON. AMAsA WALKER PAPER ny
| JAMES GALLAriN, ESQ, ON THE USUhf LAWS,
ETC, ETC., kTo.
The Board Currency met last evening Ia tile hall u
the Historical Society, Of Eleventh street AMI
seco4d avenue. select audience Of more Or less
distinguished In the financial world was present The
chief eass'e The evening an addeess by the Hon.
Amssa Walker, OF Massachusetts,, the &c Currency"
The honorable gentleman, being introduced to the
audience, was greeted with applause.
Iexpeoted, said be, to have read paper a subject
connected with the currency but found, arriving in
the city that had been advertised 10 deliver address
upon the Currency" In order 10 comply with that
vetisemeIt have within the last few hours prepared
To speak on the currency The objects Of thus society
understand them, to ascertain If any reforms
cessary in the currency, and II So Whist they and
how they Shall be secured The events of 1867 sa
Gent 10 cause deep, earnest and anxious inquiries in
regard TO the nature Of our mixed currency. Ga
the oath OF August, 1867, this country seemed
to be In most prosperous condition. We were
generally believed 10 be a high degree OF prosperity
crops were good money plenty our manufacturers were
successful anu commerce prosperous ia all directions
There every indication, in snort, that we were in
condition of gh prosperity. Sixty days after that
the whole Of this magnificent prosperity migui0
cent hoax CONNIE CO was crushed the ships Law die at
the whaTves manufactures stopped, operatives
thr out OF employment, and agricultural pro
renamed the hands Of the farmers; short
the period of sixty days all commercial business de-
sIoyed. II is not " DO wondered AZ that such
Should cause considerable inquiry, especially among
those who are Ia the habit Of tracing and effects 10
close the catastrophe OF those sixty days. banks ali
suspended Every sensible man, every sane man, from
that time To this has been looking with great interest
anxiety upon this question Of the currency because IL
evident that that distressing did arise from
any extreneous cause--from anything beyond the
iency rseif Men generally concluded that must be
the currency; and If there, what Is it, and its re-
meoyF On The oath of August 1867, the Ohio Life and
but what Of thats No. 'D one in 'DN ''' thousand
mad any interest in il whatever. How could that
Affect the banks Of this whole city, of this whols
country, and in fact OF tbs whole civilized world as
II ala /. was because simply punctured the great
balloon Of credit and balloon and everything else umbed
that time owed $500 000O 900 How was that amount TO
be paidS Why, IL to be paid money-noihng else
All notes had been given payable ia moneyin many
collars, not in much cotton wheat Nov, how much
money was there to pay that two hundred millions Of dol
iaisY Row much money was there IN the hands Of the
teopIe ut the time That 10 matter of estimate and
lecture, aud estimates greatly diller regard 10 that
point 1t is question every man must settle for himself
How much money do generally keep their pockets
outside OF the banks9 Why in the first place we must re-
collect that there only about twelve millions of persons
who handle any money, because there great many
children and others who haDdlc little or no money be-
ieve that there but very little money indeed in the
hands Of the people OF this country at that time could
ind any great amount of specie out of the banks
1t Sc. ms 10 clear that the number Of dollars in the
hands q the people out OF the banks was,
think the events Of the last year fully establish
this fact. The main reliance of tho people to pay their
debts was upon the banks: Well. how much was there
bereY There $2l4 600 600 in circulation and
S225 600 coo deposits being total of $3.50 900
tho banks bad promised to pay the people on demand
the banks could fulfilled 1romsos 10 the peo-
pie and paid the amount they had engaged to- the great
depression would not have occurred The people went to
the banks for this money, but the banks would not let
they had on the oath OF August Well why did not the
banks let the people have the money? Because they could
not They had Only $50 600 900 OF specie with which
meet the $3.50 200 which they owed and had promised
10 pay the people. So this currency upon which the
wbd Tba T b Great ba anu d ID Se
consist Credit TIE banks said they would pay the
people 4S9 oo0 but they could not because they had
only 10 per cent the dollar with which pay. Now
the failure Of the Ohio Life and Trust Company destroyed
credit and with it, of course, went down the entire sys
tenn commerce, manufactures and finance based upon
the credit principle What is credit Noah Webster says
credit 10 confidence, &c. Bah! Webster excellent
bority when he right, generally So the credit
at that period consisted Of So per cent OF condencono
thing else; and as I said before, the Ohio Life
and Trust Company punctured that great balloon
OF confidence, and it went down at
It is very important that all should understand the fact
OF this IS per Of confidence and appreciate its bear
ing. Without eye to this fact know nothing
about currency. We see how that when confidence
impaired the currency was destroyed How did this
come abouts will take, as an example very respecta
bic bank in Massachusetts, which had large circulation
Its circulation extensive that il had 500 OF bills
out Tor every two dollars of specie in the vaults, e.,
had two cents on the dollar IN specie in its vaults when
this crisis on, with which TO meet It's liabilities
Well, what did that bank do? 1t took in 900 week
for six weeks in succession. How did take in that
anounS How could the bank redeem It's s1sllaon with
oniy two cents on the dollar in specief Why, 1t had
SAC 600 coming in weekthat is To say people custom
Of the bank, indebted to il to that amount
week, payable day by day. We If ten thousand dollars
were paid in to day-s5Ooo of it in their bills, and
$4,000 in bills Of other banksthey took their bills
and piled them up in the vault hey not to lot
tb pass INTERPRETATION again while they sent the other
5000 10 Boston and specie Tor them which specie they
deposited in their bank TO meet their own liabilities How
must such an operation affect the customers Of the bank
All who mad notes to pay and relied upon the bank to
them to the bank for that purpose but the bank
said, "No, we can't discount dollar-we can't fdrash
dollar time" Their customer went to the bank
pectng-and rghtiuy expectngbs notes to be discount
ed. lie did why the bills he had just paid In
meet his engagement with the bank should not be return
cd TO HIM his notesand why could they noti Because
the banks had nothing with which to take up these notes
again they put them into circulation. Without specie
with which TO redeem them their being brought back
they would be dishonored and protested Now, what
effect had this you merchants OF New York; Your
customers in Massachusetts, could not pay you their
mtiances; then what did you dor suppose you went
10 your banks and asked them for money What did
your banks say2 Why Gentlemen, your paper is good
but can't discount it," You might have asked, "Why
can't you discount iS" and if they had answered the
question honestly, they would have seid Becausc it is
just as much as We can do TO take Of ourselves and
keep from failing" The customers say, Gan remit
cut of and what shall do If banks will
not aid usf So you n defect the currency any
part Of the Union effects you New York. because you
form the base is where every defect and every
at that crisis, and they the Rhode Island
had deficiency of ten millions Of dollars Vermont had
deficiency of $40 to one and Indiana had dollars
meet the whole of IT, In the last resort ii must to
New York. Now, then, If these the facts is it any
wonder that the merchants failed throughout the country
Certainly not How could they pay their dcbts Why the
banks where live took away our currency 70 such
extent that for months We had no money at all. Every
thing went stick" We had 10 purchase gro
credit One of these banks had 5000 600
bills and only SEQ 900 specie with which TO meet it.
Other banks similarly situated; there Ia
der merchants stopped payment and that large houses
faede larger the house the greater danger Of It's failure
Now can that system be right that leaves men 10 fail with
m a n aq som mon r,