, 1861-05-15
The Currency Question.
EAox@ fYkfr4np Trf{1nUas

I4u1LDl1 NA4Sa6o AAApAAEs
While the community g are agttatiug the ''curren-
cy question, 1t mag not BE- Improper TO present
few general considerations. All classes of our
business men agree in the main, that the present
system Of banking is q bad oAs. SDme are willing
to receive the currency; Others propose to reject
it in part, and yet others would throw 1t dQ out
Let me inquire first. L it IL thrown ont what .rs
we to have In its etead gold and silver? think
not. Our crops are not moved With coin sent out
for that purpose, but BY bills discounted here
against the shipment and to b. BE- net BY Gales
in Gauada or Liverpool may draw sight exchange,
but this Is not the usual way. Will eastern ercu-
ire ard a pi hev d. Dot
want til II Issues presented at their own counters
In thirty da.s after leaving it. But should It come
is il intriHsicauy better than what now dis
putting abouts Let us see: Most Of the New York
banks are based upon stocks and mortgages.
Could they be sold at par nowf Wonld either
class bring eTen ninety cents If put undcs the ham
| The Massachusetts banks hold some rpecie,
bonds, mortgages, individual notes, manufacturing
value greater ifimmediate conversion is demandeds
| Take the list Of banks which our bankers are
now receiving and calculate their value according
the notea ase worth etsr eighty csrts onlhe dollar
Gould you sell Easter mortgages real estate bet
/ tcr7 The condition Of the several Statea ~.oEe
eaid that they hopelessly lost and the verge
/ # repudiation. Is this sos I trust not. Has
Yirginia, Tennessee, or Missouri made no calcn-
I
credit to obtain? Could they hope 10 secure ad-
vances eEea from their oson ptopM after ignoring
debts which have gained them millions IN proper
hundred and atty millions Of dollars In ei1 years
to the asEessable value Of her landed interestss 1t
is idle to talk Of reputation Tbs merest ele-
1nents OF political economy instruct Us otherwise
he great State Of Missouri, lying III the very path
OF Empire to be dedicated to the labor Of the
iag beyond her TO the raeiac, and which ere the
certury shall close, will be thickly dotted with
those tokens Of high clyili izatien.tlle echool.
houpe and the church, tha]l she, with the right
Of participation in: this glorious future ef the
| West, degrade herself BY refusing to acknowledge
her inst 1ndebtedness9
| eet circulation ia judged. The price Of Missouri
Virginia or Tennessee stocks, as they are eoh bg
hrokera in New Yo.k, form the basis Of the daily
| value Of such balsk notes az are iseued on them
and the dealer in discredited money changes his
rates accordingly. Exchange ia put up or :pn1
down. By the same method. and the whole CON
NUDITY suffer lossea, and the annoyanSes tnciden
| to q Auctuatipg market. ..-.-.
This state Of things is purely exeeptionals ;Th
dire calamity Ut civil war, the secession 9f States
| the deranre1neut Of commerce, wers net dreant O
: when our present banking law was framed Bu
, / must we therefore make no aIloWancesi Becaue
our legislators naa not the gift ofpreseience mns
/ whole community in loss: This would hea sever
Lesson indeed, and one which I think the peop1
| iuEisposed toalearn. Again:
The present status cannot last long. The fesu
OF the coplict between the North and South e u
| ready plainly anticipated, The strategy Of wst
the forms Of struggle and its terrible 5eslitle III
viii prove the victor. Th. very. preparation
e which we are now making are coils from which *
! urc assurances Of ret11a OF commercial prnsper
d | ty such ee we have never before witnessed! FTh
; Northwest ie surely the garden Of the land; he
T. grain Will all lnd market. Csn we not then a
y iord to wait a little whiles Because Of the We
{ must wediecard a currency that without, war
he1oer than half we Ghoufd have were 1t rejected
| Of hxnkEr8 who have REASONABLE u1ttl
ods Of action, considered the question in TIL
light, and agreed that during the igar, they woul
continue to accept the currency. When the war
!. bonds again advance 10 value that will rend.
our currency as good As We require. Ths who
T question finally turns upon The point Of time.
Il w1te to Impose additional loss upon comm
nifty still ruffeEing from commercial disasterE
| 1851 and as? shall not forbe4rance be e1erdfst
r bctter mind. Youfs, WA1lz STREar.
CH1cAao, May 18th, 1851.