The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-02-10

full money, and involve the Government
in the choice of failure. They paid All
debts, public and private, until t6e
interest or coaseiences of the people
call for their withdrawal. Jay Cooke,
with the aid of his sharp financier, tine
Pennsylvania Dutchman, will ind IL
difficult to satisfy the people that Ma
tional bank notes are better or saler
than greenbacks. National bank notes
are good because they are indorsed by
the Government. They are good be-
cause they are backed by Uncle Sani's
bonds, and they are good because re-
deemable in "lawful money"
Do gentlemen suppose that II tue
Government could pay a gold dollar TO-
day for every dollar of our green6acx
circulation, and it was all withdrawn.
that we could be upon specie basis
Where are the $500, 0,O00, 900 of bank notes
upon which the Government is endorseri
Have these institutions coin with which
to redeem their notesi If not, the
Government must pay them or be DIS
honored. The bank aud hond questions
are inseparably connected; Tor whoever
will take the trouble to read the sixty
five sections of the act creating Ma
tional banks, will find, after abstract
ing all that relates to bonds, but little
left. That act happily closes in these
words: Congress may amend, alter or
repeal this act" This is the best part
of the whole law.
The first step in the right direction
will be to pass a law to call Ill and can
eel the entire bank circulation, aud
simultaneously issue an equal quantity
Of treasury certificates or legal tenders.
The people having this circulation
would beenabled to pay off $500, 900 ,OOO
ofdebt, and ve$ls, 900, 900 Ofg0ld inter
est. We will shorten the road TO specie
payments by reducing the interest bear
ing d bt.
Bat we are told that the national
banks, being required to keep a reserve
for the redemption of their notes, with
draws from circulation ten, fifteen OF
twenty per cent. of the legal tenders.
| sec no good reason why this reserve
should not be kept in the pockets OF the
people, to be used or not, a. their neces-
sites require. They will be quite as
safe custOdians of their reserves as the
banks. BY retiring the $3O0,0OO,OOO OF
national bank notes and issuing, in ad-
dition to that amount, S2l5 100000 lega
tender notes, the S5l5,000,OOO of
five-twenty bonds now redeemahle
could he paid. This would only add
s2l5, ,000, 900 to our present circulation,
and this would be S40,O0O,0O0 less cur.
rency than when the ruinous policy OF
contraction commenced. This wouid not
only give us better currency, Gas much
better as substance is better than shad-
ow) but would save the people from
taxation to the amount of Si3 .OOO,0OO,
supposing gold to be forty cent premi.
um. would ~ speedily as possible rid
the country of this monopoly. With
such a net work of moneyed institU-
tlons throughout the country, their po-
lItical power, by combination, would be
irresistible. To suppose they would not
combine to secure their own selfish enCs
is to regard them more than human.
The peoples circulation can be made
sufficiently ample to supply all the de-
mands of trade.
If we must have banks, Ga necessity
| do not acknowledged leave the field
open to all. Let every association tnat
can pledge IFS fifty thousand dollars in
Government bonds epen a bank, and let
the Government charge for thei cur
rcncy furnished three per cent. per an-
nuls, to be deducted from the gold in
terest on the bonds left as security.