, 1861-07-06
Cbitaqo Ttibtttte
SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1851.

SD~4u 0*~U'~
SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1851.
AEBx.BArKING AGAIN.
The name Of "bankn has become re-
proach in Illinois; the idea is offensive,
and people wish to abolish au banks.
This is not as it should be. What we need
to do is, not to abolish the bank, but to
strip this jsckdaw Of his borrowed feath-
ers. 1t is debt factory that offends US and
no bank Mt NIL Prior to the formation Of
ofthe Bank Of England there we're none
but real banks in the world, and we think
very few intelligent men believed that the
institution would issue obligations to pay
money on demand without money to pay
them with, and maintain its credit, or ercn
Its existence, for any considerable length
Of time This was new feature Of Finance
in Europe, devised By the most invetcrate
Spectator at that time, 4 Scotchman-
William Pattcrson-whose next scheme,
the colonization Of Da1ien, ended in utter
ruin, sacrificing the lives Of nearly the
whole colony in q pestilential climate, and
leaving him neglected bankrupt But
the Darien expedition, compared with the
Bank Of England, in its damaging consc-
quenees TO society and the world, was
flea bite to bullet IN the thorax. Moth
ing better illustrates the nature Of this debt
factory business, that is absurdly called
banking, that the form 1tion of the factory
which commenced it Briefly it was thus:
The tank vas chartered with so called
capital Of 81 zoe, 900, all to be loaned to
the government for an annuity Of 8 per
cent. and $4,000 for expense Of manage
ment-an annual income Of e100, 900 in all.
6per cent. of this capital, or e72, 900, WAS
called in and WIS probably expended in
getting the charter, which was sharply
contested in Parliament, and in furnishing
the banking house, &c. The directors ap-
pear to have taken credit to themselves for
having paid in the capital to the govern
ment before the time appointed in the
charter, but how did they pay it? Simply
hy banding their bank notes into the gov
ernmcnt exchequer, receiving exchequer
tallies in exchange. These tallies were
faggots or sticks notched to express the
government debt, then split, one-hal1 being
left in the exchequer and the other taken
by the creditor, the two to be matched as
the voucher Of the claim. This vas in 1904
t. r. "a f,ayrtr ctnrrA9
payment during the recoinagc of the silver
of the Kingdom, then in progress, and in De-
cember, 1896, the directors presented to Par
lisment, in obedience to the call Of that
body, well-stated balance sheet of the
condition Of its affairs, in which only e125,-
600 sppears as the profit and loss and
stock item Of the account, slim that had
undoubtedly been gained in its two years
business, showing that the bank started
without picayune Of capital. The pro-
prietors did not even take pains to deposit
notes for their stock, as is customary now
in making up bank Of moonshine.
From the first it transacted general
business of deposit and loan, and the cur
reHcy being metallic, with the exception Of
its Own issue, it soon had coin on deposit
belonging to its customers, to redeem
its notes, which was sent freely by the
Government to Flanders, and expended in
The siege of Namuz-the army supplies at
hume being procured with bank notes.
Tie siege was successful; the city capitu-
lated, and the success being largely a;tzib-
u,ed 20 the supplies furnished by the bank,
il gained great popularity as patriotic
Institution. But the truth is, the bank
furnished no supplies, it loaned the Gov
crrment absolutely nothing, and the Gov
trnment lean furnished no capital to the
bank 1t was straw corporation. 1t was
the MONEY Of the people decoyed into the
';ank by this trick Of loan which furnish
cd the supplies; this constituted the real
lean, md The people, instead Of receiving
anything fer the use Of tile capital, were
charged 100000 per annum, Id still con.
ti1ue to be charged in the per cent. con.
soils 600 per annunl, for what the bank
pIop1ietors did not loan, and for money
and value that never had an existence.
ODytouslya direct tax OF 81 200, 600 would
have prtvcatcd all this with no greater ex-
llarstion Of money. II was manufacture
of debt for the benefit OF those gentlemen
and to put too fine point upon it, it was
a sscindh. The debt is not paid, and neve,
will be, Except about 100000, com
pounded for much la1ger amount, plum
dered By Charles II from the go1dsmiths
this was the commencement Of the huge
British National debt Of nearly $4,000,000,
0G0, the interest upon which is SIPS 000, ,00(
yearly, or more than double the total ex
penses Of our National Government prio
to this cotton rebellion. This vast sum Q
debt has been built up in this way, or upo1
this principle, and the same agency il
principle constructed aud maintains tht
commercial debt under which the nation
Of Europe and America have groaned eve
since the existence Of the Bank Of Eng
land, and which especially tortures nlinoi
ard Wisconsin at this x1oment.
The Bank Of England, then, was the ir=
de1t factory. Some writers have fancie
the discovery Of the same principle in th
House Of ST. Geurye established at Genoa
in n1401, but they draw largely upon imasi
nation to do this. That bank was foun
Ged upon loans to government Of actua
money, and not fiction; it made loans G
f.bso:utc value also to merchants and oth
ers, and it issued notes in certificates. ]
vas most complicated machine, bu
there is not particle Of evidence to sho,
that it ey.r granted credit or issued
note or certificate payable on denan
unless against a reserve Of coin, Il,
;for lire; and it is very doubtful whethe
amid the various schemes and modidc.
cations OF paper currency in China OF
rrerosterous principle Of debt banking
the Bank Of England system-was ever a
tempted. The obligation is an impossibi
ity in its very value and on its face; i: ws
accepted by England in an extremity, q
drowning men catch at straws, and notl
irg illustrates the unfathomab1e depth {
bnman credulity 20 clearly as the persi
tent determination to continue it in u:
amid the wreck of fortunes hrokpn hea ri