The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-08-27


Is ruin to private in tercsts.
J. Of ten suspended banks in Mime
sofa, the notes we're reduced at a
c average Of less than thirty cents Of
{ the dollar.
Of thirty-six broken banks of Wis
consin, only six redeemed their note
at SO high rate as eighty cents Of
the dollar.
Even as early as 1850, a time o
great commercial prosperity, the of
heIal report of only eighteen State.
, showed IA banks broken, 234 closed
and III worthless. Such was the con
dition Of 562 banks, the whole mum
Der in those States being 1 1,231.
But there was one class of paper
issues which must not be overlooked
the vast circulation issued by coun.
terfeiters.
There we're in circulation, in
1862, about seven thousand different
notes, issued by the fifteen hundred
banks.
From statistics carefully compiled
1t was ascertained that there were in
existence, that year, over three tbou.
sand kinds Of altered notes, seventeen
hundred varieties of spurious notes.
and over eight hundred varieties of
/ limitations.
Thus, 1t appears, there were more
than six thousand five hundred va
rieties Of fraudulent notes in circu-
latiOD; and the dead weight of all the
losses occasioned by them fell at last
upon the great mass of the people
who were not expert in such matters,
/ There were, in 1862, but two hundred
and tifty>three banks whose notes had
not been altered or initiated.
Let it be remembered that for
nearly half a century 4 large part of
the revenues Of the General Govern
ment were received in the notes of
these State banks, in all stages of
discredit and depreciation, and with
all the attendant risks of counterfeit
and altered bills. 1t is a fact worthy
Of remembrance that in 1919 the Sec
retary of the Treasury was compelled
to borrow half million of dollars
to meet foreign debt of that amount
and at that moment there were S22, y
100000 surplus funds in the Nation
al Treasury, out of which he could
not call enough current funds to meet
the demand.
With many Independent and rival
organizations tinkering at the curren-
cy, it was impossible that any salu-
tary control could be exercised
to regulate either its quality or quan-
tity. Here and there were found |
good banks ard wise management,
but taken as whole the system was
totally unmanageable.
Violent cOntractiOus and expan-
sions of the currency were frequent
and inevitable.
In 1913, the Secretary oft Treas
ury declared that in three years the
currency had been reduced from
to S45, 100000 re-
duction Of over ffty-nine per cent.
In 1874, there were S95, 100000, |
in circulation. In 1897, the volume
had risen to S149,OOO,OOO, and be-
fore the end of the year it fell to
In 1911 there were S107, 100000;
but at the end Of 1912 there were
but S59,000,O0O. In 1857 it had
reached S215, 100000, its highest
point of initiation before the war; and on
the Iet of january, 1858, it had sunk to
Sl35, ZOO, 000-a decrease of nearly forty
per cent. in twelve months. Who will be /
surprised, in view of these facts, that the pc
riOds here named were marked by those ter
rible financial disasters which involved in
common ruin the prudent and the reckless, II
and made industry and wealth the sport of Il
chance. In every s,,el, -S-isi- tho I--SossH-
eI--saea 5he greatest sufferers. The b
were generally able to fOresee the
dangers and save themselves from the wreck
What arithmetic will enable us to measure
the losses which this system has entailed on
the American people?
As partial Illustration, | call attention to
the report OF the Bank Commissioner of
Ohio, made in obedience to resolution of the
Senate, showing the loss sustained by the
people of the State during eleven years end
ing in lS43, by the failure of its banks
From the deprecated bills of nineteen broken
banks the loss was 81, 1883 and by de-
probation of their stocks S6S3, 264. During |
he same period the cost of exchange, in con-
sequence of the unequal value of our cur
'ency, ranged from one to twelve per cent,
md the total amount paid for exchange by
he people of Ohio was $40, 536, 683 The
Commissioner concluded his report in these
words: at will be here recollected that we
nave not taken into the estimate the losses
ustained by foreign banks, and ;he vast
mount of shinplasters which flooded the
State during the suspension of specie pay I
nents. If these sums could be ascertained,
We shoHld not hesitate in saying that the
osses sustained by the citizens of Ohio dur
ng the last clever years would more than
IOuble the capital stock OF the twenty-three
ranks doing business in 1912, which was e
q, ,034, 0S3 45, and go far toward the ex- a
inguishment of the State debt
In obedience to a resolution of Congress,
dOpted the 9TH Of January, I84l, the Sec T
etary of the Treasury Of the United States
made report, showing that from 1899 to
S4l three hundred and ninety-fve banks
lad become insolvenr, and that the aggre-
ate loss sustained by the Government and
eOple of the United States was S365, 45l,- a
81. The report also showed that the total
mount paid by the people of the United
itates to the banks, for the use OF them
uring the ten years preceding lS4l,
mounted To the enormous sum of S282, OOO,-
90. G.
Startling as these figures are, they fall far
hort of exhibiting the magnitude of the
osses which this system occasiOned. The
naacial journals of that period agreed in
he following estimate of the losses OCCASION
d by the revulsiOn Of 1897:
IN Bank Circulation and Deposits s54 10000
'ank Capita. failei and deprecated 2ls,OOO,OOO
tate stock deprecated IOO,OOO,OOO
company Stock deprecated S1,OOO,OOO
Zeal Estate deprecated 3OO,0OO,OO0
Total, s7s2, 90, 900 u
To our Democraticfriends vino desire to re- .
he reading of the message Of Governor T.
Y. Bartley to the Legislature of Ohio, De-
ember 3, 1874, who uses and powerfully ex-
ibits the significance Of most of the facts TO
which Just referred.
III sLElhiH5 cOuLIstsL Win tDlS system 10
which our Democratic friends would have US
eturn, the Republican party has created
ad proposed to perfect and perpetuate the
'ational Banking system, Of which have 5
lready spoken.
1t will be noticed, in the review | have
lade, that the Democracy, by refusing to
i've the people a safe, uniform, national >
urrency, have compelled them to resort TO
he wretched State bank system, and though
hey have at times declaimed against all
anks, vet they have always, when in power, q
ompelled the nation 10 suffer from the
7Orst of all these systems.
| commend this topic to the good people
{ Ohio, with confidence that they will not
Z r u