The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-01-23
EVANSVILLE, IND. FRIDAY MORNING,

ho" lOiCeu upon us Dy congress. 1C is
the law of redundancy and depreciation.
If this policy is adopted by Congress, an
enlarged issue made of Treasury Notes,
and the plan of the Secretary discarded,
our Bank and Treasury Note circulation,
with the war continued, will very largely
exceed one thousand millions of dollars
before the close of the next fiscal year.
and both will be deprecated much more
than sixty per cent. Thus, if we should
enlarge our issues of legal demand
Treasury Notes to $500,000,000, and
these be made the basis of bank issues, in
ratio of three to one, our total paper cir
culation would be $4,000, 0,000,0 900, such
Treasury Notes initiating the bank issues,
and both depreciating together And
yet this is the currency in which it is
proposed to conduct the war and the
business of the country The banks
alone, by exclusive loans and issues,
would grow rich, apparently, on the ruin
of their country. But there would be a
terrible retribution. The result would
be general insolvency and reputation,
the debts due the banks acouLd become
acorthless, and they be involved in the
general ruin. tits then the interest of
the bankers to sustain the Government
and the Secretary, and to transfer their
capital to the new associations.
Referring to bank issues, the Secreta-
ry says, in his last report: /" 1t was only
when the United States notes, having
been made a legal tender, were diverted
from their legitimate use as a currency,
md ,oHo bo &c IL
that the great increase of the latter be-
gan" At the present depreciation of
these Treasury notes, it is better for the
banks, by one-third, to redeem their cir
culatiOn in these notes, rather than in
specie; and they need keep only one dol
lar of Treasury notes for three of bank
circulation. This policy is forced upon
the banks by Congress But the more re-
dundant and deprecated this currency
becomes, the easier it will be for the
banks to provide the basis sofredemption,
and expand their circulation in the ratio,
like that of specie, of three dollars of
bank currency for each dollar of Treasu-
ry notes held by them Thus it is that
the enlarged issue of Treasury notes
necessarily increases the bank circula-
ton, in the ratio of three to one, and
thus also, that the circulation of bank
and Treasury notes becomes redundant
and deprecated
Under such policy, every bank then,
however loyal its stockholders or officers,
becomes citadel whn------~'''oIy uC"i0
with more fearful effect upon the Gov
CT r1rurnu -5f1an All the armies of the rebel
lion. This will soon become obvious,
and the odium will rest upon the banks,
their officers and stockholders But the
real responsibility will be Congress, who,
by such system, will have arrayed the
banks in necessary and inevitable hostil-
ity to the Government Such, we all
know, is not the intention of Congress;
but as this result will necessarily flow
from their measures, upon them, in the
end, will fall the terrible responsibility
of the disaster 1t is this appalling con-
dition of our finances that gives the re-
bellion its only hope of success, and in
vites foreign Intervention. But if Con-
gress will adopt the policy of the Secre-
tary, they will render certain the tri-
um phi of the Union, and the rebellion,
from despair and exhaustion, must soon
abandon the contest.
We have seen how dreadful is the dis
aster which the banks would bring on
the country by pursuing the present sys-
TEN, and how terrible the odium to which
they would be subjected. But now let
US look at the result, if the plan of the
Secretary is adopted The new banks
would become fiscal agents of the Gov
ernment Their circulatio would be
uniform, furnished by the Government,
and based on United States stocks, the
principal and interest of which would be
payable in gold The interest of labor
and capital, of the banks, the Govern
ment, and the people, would for the first
time become inseparably united and con-
solidated. This is a grand result, and
fraught with momentOus consequences
to the country.
Every citizen, whether a stockhulder
of the banks or not, would have direct
and incalculable interest in their success
and prosperity They, the people would
have this interest, not merely as holding
the notes of the banks, which would be-
come our currency, but because the
banks would hold the stock of the
Government, would have loaned it
in this way the money to suppress
the rebellion, and thus have saved
us from a redundant and deprecated cur
- G. ..--,-, ~.-s~a~ S--N ~
throw of the Union. Each bank would
then become a citadel over which should
float the flag of the Union, for each bank
would then become powerful auxiliary
for the support of the Government and
the overthrow of the rebellion.
The bill divorcing the banks and the
Government was drawn by me, as Secre-
tary of the Treasury, in 1916, to enlarge
the circulation of specie and restrain ex-
cessive issues of bank paper. L go for
the reunion now, as proposed by the Sec
retary. to enable the Government to effect
loans upon their stocks, to prevent re-
dundant and deprecated paper currency,
with a correspondent increase of expen-
ditures, and to provide the means, when
the war is over, to resume specie pay
ment at the earliest practicable period.
I was for restraining excessive paper
issues then, and so am | now as far as
nossible. | carried into full effect then
the divorce Of the Government and the
banks, against a terrible opposition from
them and the great Whig party. made
the divorce complete, q ctRculo nGtr1
monii: so now would make the union
! G. yornrncad hv the Spp