Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-01-04
Southern Finances.

The Philadelphia Ledger, in its Washington
correspondence, says:
$50 far rs the south is concerned, it is morally
certain that she must have pccuuiJry help IT 10 Is
expected that she will go ou and produce her crops
OF cotton. tobacco, sugar rice and other staple pro-
ducts A supply of funds 10 work with I'm the pro-
ductiOn of these is fully imperative as supply o.
reliable labor. and there !, little question but what,
when once the funds are within reach, the labor "a
some shape will be close at hand. The war wiped
out every bank and financial institution in the south
swallowed them up completely as an earth
quake-and national banks must, Tor a while, 40
least take their places II we are % count ON further
and regular supplies of the valuable products OF that
section ID is but a truth for the Lefger 10 assert
that as the North aids m building up the agrll
raj prosperity Of the South does she aid M build
ing up her own. The southern people are anxious
10 speed the plow' and gin the cotton, but they
cannot do this without help, nor must that help bc
long delayed
1t is cheering to hear Northern voice urg-
ing the generous policy of helping the South.
1t sounds strangely amid the din Of voices
everywhere clamoriug for measures that shall
hurt and crush the South. 1t is not the less
acceptable because 1t is, in reality, the voice
Of selt-interest as well as of manly sympathy.
If the veil Of sectional prejudice and political
hostility. that now obscureS the Northern
vision, could be removed, it would be as mani
fest 10 the Northern people and to the pohtici-
ans in Congress that the interests of the North
and South 90 hand in hand, as it is TO the saga
ciouS and sensible author of the above para
graph. In helping the South the North helps
ITSELF and in hurting the South il iutictS injury
upon itself We have SO often indicated the
political measures necessary to strengthen and
sustain the exhausted and impoverished South
that IL is needless, here, To refer further To
them. It is the financial aspect which we pro-
pose briefly TO consider.
There are sixteen hundred and twcuty->iN
national banks now in operation, and their az
gregatc circulation Is s23I37I,l5j The Go
vernon OF Virginia. in his message 10 the Gene
raj Assembly, said
We haze mo- banks OF circulation in tine
State except national banks, and the tax inn
posed by Congress ON the State banks forbid,
the establishment OF any others. Tie circJap-
ton Of og Hs aati1ual buaks ia TIE >ili.
amounts to oboa! sI,3oo,oOO, little more than
one-halt the interest OF the State debt. oar
people have made efforts 90 increase the num-
Der of national banks in the State, and thereby
to increase the volume of circulation. bit ties.
facilities haze been caprjc'o,lsly denied boz N.
Comptroller Of tie Federal currency. The IN.
ture ability of the people to pay taxes depend,
much ON their industrial and commercial pur.
suits. Until we know what will bc the polio,
Of the Federal Government in atiording na
tioual banking facilities, You should be Yer,
cautious lest tax should be imposed on tb
people which they will be unable To pay"
Truly does Virginia present melauchol
financial spectacle. We have had peace TO
nine months, but when We consider the me1gr
financial facilities extended by the CopptroIc
of the Federal currency, We are almost read
to exclaim with BILL ARP, it is "a peac
which paSseth all understanding, for We can
tathom it," The amount of currency no'
needed in Virginia is larger than at any tormc
period. The re-establiShment OF Federal Su
premacy annihilated m one instant our Who'll
financial system, our whole currency and sc
curities. The war deSolated our fields, brok
up our labor system, and arrested and para
LIVED every branch Of industry. Farms wer
ravaged, dwellings and Out-houses fell into de
cay; horses, mules, farming implements, sheep
cows and poultry even were destroyed. In
dustry cannot be resumed on any considerable
scale of magnitude until all these things shall