Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-04-15
The Advantage. of National Currency.

The Advantage Of n National Currency.
The money of this country is now
| whelely national, and not partly nation
al and partly emanating from state au-
thority. The United States notes and
the bills of the National Banks have
displaced and superseded the notes or
"bills of credit" issued by state banks.
This chsnde, originating in the neces-
sities of war, gives to all the people
precisely the same kind Of currency,
and to all represents the great fact of
national unity in the circulating medi-
um which they employ. 1t also stamps
a uniform value upon the currency in
all parts of the country, and hence
makes it equally servicable everywhere
for deposit in banks, the payment of
debts, and the purchase ofcemmodities.
The traveller in passing from one part
of the country to the other, and the
debtor i'm remitting funds to New York
or other cities, need no longer pay q
virtual tax on money for the percentage
of exchange. This is both great saving
and a great convenience to the people.
The country never had paper currency
that would at all compare with the
present in respect to both the facility
and economy of its use.
AS to the question of supply, we sup
pose that the present amount is not
much above or below the actual wants
of the people. If it be less than is need
ed, or if the National Banks be not
properly distributed in different parts
of the Union, then in the one case Con-
gress may increase the quantity of the
currency, and i'm the other make a re-
distribution of the National Banks. so
as fully to meet the business necessities
of the whole country. The system is
perfectly flexible to any grade of re-
quired service 1t is, moreover, conf
mitted to one central authority; and this
surely is better than to have as many
authorities to determine the question of
supply-each governed mainly by local
considerations-as there are states in
the Union.
The safety or soundness of this cur
rency in the sense of being ultimately
exchangeable for that which is the
equivalent of its representative value, is
secured by the strongest guarantees of
which the case admits. It is either a
part of the public debt of the United
States, or rests upon that which is so !;
and the Constitution expressly declares
that 1.-THE validity of the public debt of
the United States, authorized by law,
shall not be questioned We do not
%
certain of being ultimately exchange
able into its equivalent of either entrin-
sic or represeE tative value. No such
general certainty ever marked the sys-
tenn Of banking when carried on under
state laws. In many of the states this
system was most loosley conducted; the
notes of banks were not guaranteed by
adequate securities; and not infre-
quenitly the people were flooded with
large amounts Of deprecated paper,
sometimes significantly called wildcat
money"
The theory Of a specie basis for the
issue of paper currency, though a very
pretty theory to talk about, was never a
safe one for the bin-holder. The truth
is, the banks. as formerly organized,
never had a sufficiency of coin to redeem
their own bills; in this sense they were
never solvent, and the only reason why
they were not broken at any time con-
sists in the fact that the holders of their
bills did not demand payment in coin
Whenever coin was demanded to any
considerable amount their solvency
proved failure. To guarantee the bill
holder against this peril, several Of the
states provided for the organization Of
state banks upon the basis OF state or ma
tional securities pledged Of the redemp-
tion for their bills, in this respect doing
what the National Bank system now
more perfectly does for the whole coun.
try.
These practical considerations have
impressed the people with the general
belief that the present system better
serves the public interests than did that
which it has superseded. The financial
drctrindires, in Congress aud out of it,
who are so anxious for precipitate and
uncertain measures, reason too much
from their old standpoints in respect to
money, and not sufficiently consider the
neW standpoints which the logic of
events has developed. We may be mis-
taken; but we do not believe that the
patient is half as sick as they thinkhim
to be- At any rate, we do not propose
to frighten him or overdoctor him. The
vis naedicdtrir nature of the polite, pos
sibly aided BY little timely and tonic
legislation, will prove the hest remedy
for any real difficulties that e1;st.-N.
Y. Independent.