Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1862-01-28
The Bank Question In the Con.
VentfOn.

The Bank Question I'm the Con-
ventiOn.
1t is source of sincere pleasure to us
to perceive that there is spirit 10 our con.
stitutional convention to protect the people
in future against shin-plaster mauufac-
turtles in this State.
The committee on banks, composed ofthe
| ablest men in the State, have reported q
provision which, if adopted by the conven~
ton, will save the people from being PLUM
dered by the wholesale, by set of ire
sponsible sharpers. The proposition is.that
no more banks be chartered; that no exist
| ing charters shall be revived and that no
| foreign bills of less denomination than ten
| dollars shall circulate in the State. Strong
! opposition will doubtless be made to its
adoption by members Of the convention and
by the specializing interests generally; but
the honest representatives of the people
they who regard the rights and interests of
those who gain their bread by legitimate
callings-and the great mass Of the people
themselves, will insist on the anti bank
provision being made part of the new con
stitutinn.
No arguments are necessary to convince
the people of Illinois Of the pernicious ef>
fects Of banks. They have learned this fact
from painful expert enco- Millions and
millions have been flched from their
hard earnings by the paper money system.
From the first organization of the State
until the present time, we have been curs-
ed with insolvent and swindling banks
There is not man in the State, who has
resided here any length of time, that has
not experienced the evils Of which we COM
plain.
Now, as period in the history Of our
State has arrived, when if proper meas
ures be adopted, the great work Of redeem.
ing this commonwealth from the curse of a
bad bank system MAY be accomplished. we
trust that the golden opportunity will be
improved. No honest. intelligent man will
pretend to deny that the banking system
as it exists and has existed in this State
from its earliest history, is hostile to every
axiom of political economy and MORALS
The time for banishing from amongst ut
institutions for flooding our State with pa
per promises as a currency is now. A bank
ing system is no benefit to the people a
large. 1t benefits those only who live by
their wits and fraudulent transactions, anC
not those who, by their labor, acquire al
honest livelihood and enrich the country.
We are aware that there are those wht
raise the plea that the banking system il
so mixed up with all our commercial anC
business affairs that it cannot be eradieateC
without danger to the body polite. Other
contend that no community can prosper
without a paper money currency and banks
Both OF these conclusions are erroneous
In reply to the first we will say that tn,
system of banking as legalized in this State
Is hostile not only to sound prosperity ant
improvement among the people but mimi
cal to the great Democratic principle of GOV
ernment-equal rights-and therefore tn
sooner 1t be wiped out the better. And il
reply to the latter objection, we woulC
refer to Havana, with a commerce of mil
lions annually, that never has had a banl
or paper money, and to New Orleans, tn,
largest exporting city in America, wher,
banks are prohibited in the State constitu
ton.
We belisye the only safe crculatin,
medium is gold and silver, and it is the onl,
one that should be recognized in our new
constitution. The currency of the countr,
should be founded on basis that cannot b.
dissipated or effected by panics, revolution
or frauds. That which is received as men
ey, and which is designed TO pass from
hand to hand as such. should not be liabl
to become vglueless in the transition. AaC
it will not if real money, instead of pape
promises, is made the medium of ex
change.
lloweVermuch we detest paper money
We do not expect or desire the overthrow O
our banking system suddenly The cha
tered privileges of banks already existing
ought not to be infriuged upon. The prop
ositlOn before the convention to prohibit tn
legislature from creating any new bank
and to exclude the small note issues from
the State, constitutes the first necessar
step in the great reform for which we con
: tend. And, if we do not greatly misinter
pref the sentiments Of the people of tn
State On the bank question, they will de
mand of the convention hard money as
circulating medium