Spirit of the age., 1860-11-07
The Banks.

0OAuC CAtCIItJ bilS1I tl1C lSoltiAo " - |
lima have resolved to suspend their discounts
on account Of the unsettled and agitated state
of the politics of the country is not perhaps
historically true 1t is ut;true to say, that
the banks of this State have, by any specific
resolution, determind to suspend their dis
counts until after the Presidential election,
on account of the condition of the country.
No such resolution or concert of action exists.
Our Banks here and in other parts of the
State have, as is well known been discounting
very little for some time. Hence money is
| excessively scarce and every body wishes to
know the cause.
The immediate cause is this IF our Banks
issue their bills they are carried off by tray-
ellers, but mostly by merchants, to Norfoik'
Petersburg, Richmond, Baltimore, Phadei-
phia and New York, to purchase goods or pay
debts. But while our Bank notes in North
Carolina are as good as gold, and our Banks
are as sound and as safe as any in the Union,
just so soon as they pass the limits OF the
State, they are either uncurrent or below par
The Virginia and Northern merchants, in or
der ts< realize current funds for their North
Carolina money, must sell it to the brokers
at a discount of fourths to two per cent.
The brokers mues make 1bpneysbys tbs oper-
alton; hence these North Carolina bills are
: sent right back to the brokers in Petersburg,
, Va, whose agents are dispatched immediate
c ly to the different Banks of the State, with
= their bills, and the specie or its equivalent,
4 Northern funds, is demanded. Recently, the
I amount of North Carolina money in their
e hands has been very large. The merchants
II of the State have just been on North and they
IS were compelled to carry North Carolina mo-
{ ney; hence the avalanche upon our Banks
1t hasIbeen very largeof late. Frequently when
CT our Banks loan money, the bills come back
n in three weeks, with demand for the specie
u Our Banks must of course protect themselves,
S and the plan they adopts to loan less or none
pc at ALL If they were to continue loaning and
ne the avalanche were to continue, every body
10, must see that they would soon not have a
us dollar of specie in their vaults.
he But this matter works serious burden and
ry inconvenience to the people. They have
al learned to rely upon the Banks until they
lat cannot do without them. Every body is ask
lg ing the cause of this pressure-they enquire
'as for the remedy. A severe money pressure al
ca this time must be very damaging What is
cy, to be done
It is possible, that the threat of disunior
~. - in the South, may have something to do witt
it. THERE'S evidently great alarm both Nortf
and South. Confidence is shaken. Tn,
y South owes the Norther merchants very large
ly, and they are naturally disposed as Var
ioi guage. The slave market in Richmond is fiat
~ negroes selling 25 to so per cent. lower thal
~ they did three months ago. We say thi
may have something to do with the pressu1
), in North Carolina but there are other cause
- far more potent than this.
oe The great cause is the ertrao agance of OIL
,o,-o North Carolina people. Honest, and plan
-. and economical as wehave supposed ourselv'
to be, we are by far too extravagant. In IL
last twenty years, we have gone up the la
',ie der at the rate of 40. We buy more pc
Tic haps, annually, than the exports sold out
the State brings in. Our pretty women al
u'ih children, and our young gentlemen and
host dies cost to feed and clothe them, and fro
pub and flannt unon not more than they are wort
heVe precious things; but much more than tn
the make, and their husbands and fathers to he
Ahe them. There's the secret of the business.
: ii"- We have had too many more mouths to
nma ond bocLs 70 clo+bo +bon. bonds 70 uorL
iaht- too many consumers and wasters, and
ness, few producers and economists.
. ~ Besides, North Carolina does not get to
pei- credit North, more than one-half or two-th1
lwart .,l ,4 e
State. The large amount of produce S
- " out of the State to Petersburg Richmo
Norfolk and Charleston, and sold there, lea
CAIN too small an amount of Northern exchan
d will 70 o,,r o,r,, R.nLs 70 enable +be,, 70 s,n
are OF the balance which stands against us in \
"Aoo' York Philadelphia and Baltimore Fer
" 'i0 duce sent to those places, our producers
o'a.eS m erchants get paid in North Carolina mo
or Virginia or South Carolina funds, no
es, in - ~, -. ,,bo.oo. &c = vow, oil !.
0 COM
ped from our own ports and sold in Nortf
markets, it would keep our Banks better
piled with Northern exchanges, and en-
/. Sons them to furnish our merchants with Nortl
please funds instead of their own bills.
meets And lastly, perhaps, our own Banks
e l4th chargeable to some extent In North Ca
at eve na, according to the policy of our Banks,
senteo more profitable for them to buy Mort
'te east drafts and sell to our merchants at per
nnoao, premium, than it is to loan mon ey to Gus
OF the ers at the regular bank discount and
nj ana it is they are so often run upon by the
~ - kers, when they have issued literally.
7ice 90 universal charge of per cent premium
o'ase Northern funds by our Banks, contril
'oh'rac- very much to deprecate North Carolina
gates to bills in other States Every dollar out
State, issued by our Banks, represents
and re 90 cents, and as it costs something to ge
lincoln dollar in specie for it, and the broker
L. from make something for his trouble, it oftt
Suther- fact represents only SO cts. Now, if th
O from 80 l. A. -.o-1 - :: N