Litchfield enquirer., 1861-07-11
OUR WESTERN CORRESPONDENCE
MILWAUKEE, WIs., June 24th, 1861.

1 MILWAUKEE, WIS. June 24th, 1861. i DEAR EDITOR :-Could citizen of Litchfie,d, or any other of the quiet country towns of OUT country, be set down in Milwaukie this evening, they would certainly imagine Bedlam broken loose. As l write the whole city is in hubbub and confusion every one is excited knots of earnest takers are gathered on all the street corners or march up and down the sidewalks gesticulating violently military companies guard many of the streets, and are continually passing to and fro, and all are on the "qui vive" to know what will happen next.
 l Milwaukie has to-day been the scene of a bank riot of considerable magnitude. The tele- graph will have given your readers, most of them, the main facts in the case, before my let tor can reach you :-let me therefore go into the philosophy of thething little. and try to explain its causes somewhat. Among the many evils of the rapid expansion of the West. its currency system stands prominent. Most of these rapid ly growing States are saddled with currency of merely nominal value, the offspring of what are called "Wild Cat Bauks" These institu- tions have sprung up like mushrooms all over the State of Wisconsin. They received severe blow in the great crisis of '57 and they are like ly now to meet their just deserts But, like cats, they die hard and with many struggles. In our diagnosis of their disease we must first know what a genuine Wild Cat Bank is.
 It is banking institution without capital to start with, without specie to redeem its circula- tion, without any responsible backers and often even without any get-at-able location-a mere " airy nothing" with scarce "local habitation" 1 and
 ''Only great in that strange spell, name.'' For instance, Nr. A has ten thousand dollars, which he wishes to have bring him ten thousand more as soon as possible, and he decides to be- come a banker. The State law commands that he secure his circulation by state bonds to its full amount and keep reasonable reserve of specie for it's redemption. Mr. A desires cir culation of S5O.000 but he has only sl0,oO0 cap ital. But he goes to Mr. B, who is a wealthy banker in Madison or Mlwaukie, and says " MT. B, dear sir, desire to start bank with cir culation of $50.oo0; please procure for me the requisite state bonds, either of Missouri, Tennes- see, or may be some northern State, and will pay you for your trouble. Mr. B, buys the bonds as requested, sizty, one theusand, dollar bonds say, at ninety cents on the dollar. Mir A re- ceives them, takes them to the Comptroller de- posits them in his office, receives their amount in current money of other similar institutions, and a bank charter. The currency, he pays over to MT. B, with bonus probably, for his trouble, and the chutsr furnishes his capital. He i'm mediately prepares nice looking bills of various denominations on the Shaumet, Poinsette ol
 Dogtown- bank, as the case may be- opens his
 office, is Ar. A, the banker, and in fair way te get his1share of the public patronage, All hs has invested is the bonus he has paid MT. B, ant the expense of getting up his plates and renting or building his office. His bank is full blow institution and he makes his profits in the usua i. method and routine of 9 regular banking estah