Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-10-30
From The Chicago Tlitune.
New National Currency.

Tha great obstacle in the way of the
general circulation of the new national
currency, known as 'demand notes. is the
thousand debt factories called blanks r.
1t is the interest of these concerns to crowd
coin out of circulation, to make room for
their own issues. The same hostility viii
shortly be evinced towards the .demand
notes. The monopolists can note brook
the presence of any currency intrinsicaly
better than their own. They have almost
complete command of the field now, and
will only yield it after an obstinate and
desperate resistance. The manufacturers
CT "promses to pay" have made too nice
thing out of the business to voluntarily
withdraw. Look at the state of the case:
The shinplaster fraternity have two hun
dred millions of their notes in constant
circulation as money. On this two hun
dred millions Of indebtedness, which they
owe the community, they charge, and col
lect, fifteen to twenty millions Of interest
on their own Obligations! No other class
enjoy such extraordinary special privileges.
Other people are obliged to pay interest on
what they owe, but the bankers receive
interest on What they owe, and literally
wax rich on the interest Of their debts.
1t would be sufficiently intolerahle if the
imposition stopped here, but that is only
the first Of series. The second is called
exchange and discount" When one Of
the banking fraternity puts a batch of his
.'promises TO pay" into circulation. all the
others commence shaving the holders Of
them. The note which was issuel as
worth one hundred cents on the dollar is
..quoted" and bought at a discount The
shave ysries according to circumstances,
being higher at one time than another
Sometimes the notes are done at modsr-
ate shave; on other occasions they are
tvthed, and frequently redeemed on shares:
the holder getting but half their face.
This miserable state of things breeds and
sustains swarms Of exchange brokers, who
reap fortunes from the evils attending our
currency system. Whatever is made by
shaving bank issues under the name of sex
change is SO much dead loss to the people.
What the aggregate sum IS annually, would
be difficult to estimate accurately. But as
the whole paper currency passes through
the hands Of brokers and banks at least u
score of times per year, and shaving Is
planned off the note holders at each transit,
varying from one quarter per cent. IN
thickness to twenty per cent, the gross
amount of spolla'ion suffered must be
more than double the interest first charged,
or thirty 10 forty millions IN the whole
Union. There must lie added to tnls at
least ton millions, to cover the loss by the
breaking of banks and the suspension OF.
specie payment, the whole making in roune
numbers sixty millions of dollars as the
annual penalty paid by the people for per-
hitting these thousand debt tacto1es to
2olluts the currency medium and convu!se
the business Of the country by panics, con-
fractions and expansions. This direct tax
Of sixty millions is equal to the Whole cost
Of supporting the Government Of the Uni
ted States, in time Of peaco, and It would
nav. the interest on national debt OF one
thousand millions Of dollars.
The remedy for tie cure OF this appalling
evil il simple AMI al hand. i consists in
sul,stitutiny the Government demand notes.
redeemaI,ls in gold At pr, for the issues Of
liz thousand banks. Ills csange can be
brought about by Congress at its next ses-
sion. laying tax on the iSsues ot alt banks.