, 1867-05-24
The Philadelphia LEDGER on this subject

We some weeks ago callod attention TO the
fact that the banks, in violation of the law,
were using their funds at distance from
home at a rate of interest higher than the
law allowed, and that other panks were spec.
ulating in Government securities and in gold;
also in violation Of the law. On Saturday
last we called attention TO the fact Of prac.
tice grown common with the country banks
when drawn on for balances due, of shirkiug
payment by answering with draft on some
other country bank, and that in turn by q
draft on another near or remote. II is also'
very well known that al the banks do not
hold the required reserve of greenbaeks al.
ways on hand. The temptation of profit
on what the bank considers safe operation
is frequently too strong to be resisted, when
the reserve is used, loans made, and mem.
orandum or security of some kind, sufficient
to "swear by is left for the time being III
its place. Theie loose practices are begins
ming to tell in financial wrecks, scattered all
around us, and in general and growing dis:
trust of the whole banking system.
The Journal Of Commerce expresses the
general grounds upon which the objection
to these institutions is based, and the feeling
against them, which is especially strong in
the West: bro
Expecting from them extraordinary ada
vantages over our old system of banking,
the people have been sadly disappointed in
finding these banks only chartered monopo-
lies, created and fostered by the Government;
and enriched by oppressive and burdensoms
taxes levied upon and extorted from the
people. More than nty.ive million dol>
lars is assessed and collected from the people
| annually, and goes directly to the pockets Of the
| stockholders of the Nationa, Banks without one
farthing's benefit to the National Government
and further, their three hundred millions Of cur
rency prevented the issue of an equal amount Of
| legal tenders and the saving to the nation Of
| eighteen millions of interest. y .,.
As the case stands, therefore, the people are
virtually at an expense of forty.three million
dollars annually, in supporting the NttiohdI
Banking system Gfa mere monopoly, useless to
any but the parties concerned, can be called
ndhondt), while all the promised advantages of
the system have already dissolved in thin air.
Our National Banks have, during the past
year, while all mercantile interests have been
| depressed and Improbable, and while farmers
barely made expenses, DECLARED large dividends,
ranging from twenty up to sixty per cent, and
yet the per cent. o. 3evenue paid to the Govern.
rnent out of their large profits, is, perhaps, In
! proportion to the capital employed-the smallest
| paid by any single business in the country.
| To all these arguments the answer has been
about as clear and satisfactory as that Of the
| French Minister of Finances in regard to the
Mexican bonds held by bis Gevernmsnt-that
touching legacy of the late Improbable invasion
of our ueigbbor. Mr.. Fould made the very spe-
cifc declaration that these bonds 'would remain
| in the portfolio of the Treasury, and be made
| the subject of ulterior determinations, which
| would in the future be announced in special,
supplementary, and rectitcatiye budget" .a
HIGH TAXES AND RECKLESS ExrRAvAGAScs.
1t was time, the speaker said, public attention
was called TO our nigh taxes and reckless extra
vagance now pervsding the government. II
might be safely asserted here, tonight, that we
were the heaYert taxed of any civilized nation
on the globe The revenue of the government,
| the last fiscal year, amounted to S56l j000 900,
| which with population of 35, ,000, 900, gives us
tax of SIC to every man, woman, and child,
and counting one voter to every six we have
the sum of 500 paid by each voter, and to this
is to be added our state, county and municipal
| taxes. Great Britain had been held up to our
people AS a nation grooming under the burden Of
| taxes, but the wole revenue of that nation only
amounted to S332, 900 600, S229, 900 900 less
than the taxes paid by our people.
Now with the vast debt of 81, 1856 900 ,S25, be-
queathed by the war, it was evident enough
that it was the highest duty Of the government
| to return to the most rigid economy, to curtail
all expenses, to abolish all offices not necessary
for the administration of the government, to re-
dIce salaries, to create small standing army,
and to set about managing the affairs of the Ma
ton as any sensible man would manage his own
| estate when he found it covered with mortgages
and large debts hanging about him. Instead Of
pursuing this course, Congress about doubles
its own pay, raises salaries of officers all over
| the country, and to show how much the expes-
diture in this lead had been Increased, it would
be necessary only to refer to the incomes deviYed
| from these salaries, and it would be found that
the income derived by the government in 1864,
81 ,7O5 1874 in 1865, So 1926 1888, and in 1886,
So III ,394, and the rate of tax was the same,
the great increase in salaries would be shown
| BY the great increase Of revenue-creates stans
ding army of about 60, 900, the estimated expense
of which $50, 900 900, but the telegraph told
US the other day that this item would run up to
$3.50, ,000, 900, just FIVE times the estimates, and
no appropriation has been so large that Congress
has hesitated to make 1.-THE only appropria-
tionis defeated being the small ones-as the few
thousand dollars we asked for our Mud Road
from Monticello to Olympia. He had not the
time to show in detail, but he asserted that in
his opinion the public taxes could be reduced
$3.50, 900 900 and yet the public credit preserv~
ed, the government efficiently administered, and
| So, ,000, 900 devoted annually to extinguishing
the public debt.
He would not dwell longer on these financial
questions and, indeed, he had but touched on
their verge, but he considered them large and
vital questions that the people would soon take
in hand, and that like Bauquo's ghost, would
not 60 down at the bidding of politicians. Pub.
lie sentiment on these questions was restless and
somewhat surging, and when it did move in
earnest, it would grind into powder men and
parties that stood in its way.
| The speaker said he had now stated his views
on the public questions to which be had called
attention, and he had been told by some, aud
would be told by others that these were not the
sentiments of the Union party-probably not,
but at all events, they were his sentiments, and
he proposed, 10 the future as in the past, to fol.
low his convictions. As il was his habit to
keep up with rather than to lead public seuti-
ment, he recognized the fact that there was al
ways something of distrust against this class of
men, as there was against those who might not
occupy the most advanced positions in an army,
but he thought the most active questioners of
his political principles were q few sage brush
lawyers and small politicians scattered over the
Territory, who had imagined that, in some way
or other, he was in their way, while, In truth,