Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-10-04
~urselves Of the supplies and money which We

want
Let US rather say to the planters and produ-
GERS Of our Confederacy, and to our customers
abroad, this blockade cannot continue. A
great country like this cannot be hermetlcahy
sealed up long. The Government VIII break
the blockade as soon as practicable, ana mean
while, render it as inefficient as possible, and
keep up our correspondence with you as tar
as we can. And let our people turn their indus
try into such channels as will, under the cir
cumstances, prove most valuable, availing
themselves of every opening advantage; not
weighing down the energies Of Government
by looking to it for support, but helping them
selves, and then helping their Government.
irresponsible neutrality-suspicious.
We deem it the duty Of the press at this time
to call the earnest attention of the people 10
this subject. The country is being flooded
with promises to pay" from illegal and ire
sponsible companies, and individuals, which
are being absorbed in our money circulation,
and may, at no distant day, bring much mis-
| chief and distress. The coin Of the country
having been retired by q general suspcn-
sion Of specie payments, q resortto small de-
nominations ofpaper money, may be tolerated,
but an unrestricted and illegal issue ought to
be suppressed.
Losses from this source, the breaking up OF
bogus bankers, always fall upon the poor classes
Of the community, who are compelled 10 &C.
quiescc in an imposition which they have not
| the power to avert. Indeed thcro comes IN at
such a time as the present, a public creduI'ty'
which accepts as money what IS IN re-
atty mere trash. The print and engraving Of
a seeming bank note, appears TO carry With 1t
an eopen sesame" to their labor, wares and
merchandise.
And again our people ought to profit BY the
experience Of the past. Have they forgotten
the "Bank Of the Union" the "Bank Of the
Metropolis" and the many other bogus co".
| Germs that closed their doors against distressed
women and Oh ildren, and quietly went into =
| "liquidation," the meaning Of which the note
| holders in a few days found out to their cost ?
In ali ages and countries since money chang
ing was made a trade, War has been prolific
Of the attempts of sharpers to foist upon trade
and domestic commerce., the means OF their
private gain as currency in traffic. The histo
~ OF the war Of our first revolution abounds
in such instances. That Of the war of 1872
is full of these essays upon public credullty
and practices upon the necessities of the peo-
pie.
What is the object Of these accommodation
men Of issue and circulation? To make money.
How By establishing a fictitious credit, and
in substituting their promises to pay" for valu'
able consideration, to furnish q loan basis on
which 10 cut "thcir pound of flesh" The torn
and worn out paper, now, perhaps, in the
readers pocket, will tell him how much is to
be made by the loss and destruction of the
shin.plasters which never can 30 back for re-
demption in sums Of "frc dollars or multi
pies"
We do not pretend to say that there are not
men engaged in this enterprise $50 To call i)
who mean honestly but the fact rccurs that
they are acting against law for private gain,
and 10 the serious hazard Of innocent, and, in
most cases, poor people.
The troubles now upon Us must sooner or
later have an end. Banking will sooner or la.
ter resume its wonted channels, and then the
day of reckoning will come. What then is
the remedy for this present evil, and what the
preventive Of pccuniary distress hereafter?
We can only advise a strict caution against
this food Of "rag money" which is innndating
US, and that our people shall shut down upon
all such circulation as shall not come to them
with tho best possible guarantees Of its final
redemption. Who knows the erteat Of this
circulation, the speculation which it ~engenders
and the widespread distress which, in a year
hence, may settle around the hearthstones Of
therpoor and needy?
The best circulation is the lawful one, and
no infringements upon it should crer be tolo.
rated except in n high public necessity which
awaits legal relief. Shin-plasters surely do
not occupy this position, and the sooner they
are banished from the community the better for
all parties.