The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-10-09

lrafy panic SUBSIDIES. we snail thuS brlnt
back from Europe an abundant supply o
Exchange dor what we shall send her
Another fact; what lis known ss the bal
ance Of trade-although / do not believi
In the usually received doctrines concern
ing its In our favor. We are sending
abroad more than we are purchasing iron
\ Europe at the present moment, and thi.
| is the first time we could do that since the
war. These things indicate, "a healthy
general condition Of our producing forces
But there. is.a second reason why this
panic does not sweep, us all by the board
and that Is o political reason. Suppose,
when this panic struck US two weeks ago,
1--we had had the old State banking system
OF 1S60-6l In vogue, <when there! were
fourteen hundred banks tinkering away
at Ecurrency-one set Of banks built on
one system and another one on another;
one class Of paper based on one security,
and another on another, and nobody feel;
Ing any degree Of confidencein any bank
unless 1t was under his nose, and he hap
pened 10 know. all sboutit. How, do you
think we could have stood the panic, II
that system had been In vogue at the
present day? We would have seen no
political gathering here to day, unless 1t
might have been an indignation meeting
TO denounce the statesmanship that gave
US such currency. How many Of you
here 10 day, since this panic began, have
gone to your pocket books and TO your
safes, and anxiously turned over rolls of
bills to see whether any bills were on. the
Illinois Bank or the Georgia Bank, or the
River Raisin Bank, or on the Bank Of
Urbana, or some one OF the wild cat
banks Of fifteen years ago? ' Il
Now venture to say there is not
maniin this audience who has taken out
his pocket book ior any such purpose dur.
ing the last two weeks. The curious fact
Is you don't care what bank your bills are
on. Now for the curiosity OF It, when you
60 home. look over your bills and see II
you do not find some from Maine, some
may be from Connecticut or Mississippi,
others from Illinois, and look, oyer the
names of fthe cashier and President OF the
bauk, and you never heard OF them. You
don't know who they are, and ! presume
you don't care who they are. Why mot ?
For this simple reason, that you know at
Washington, in the great vaults Of the
Treasury Department, for every dollar bill
you hold in your pocket of-the National
Banks there is locked up one dollar and
ten cents Of gold bearing bonds, that, that
bank had on deposit there before 1t could
issue your money, and that the Secretary
Of the United .Ststes Treasury holds as SO.
curity Tor the payment ofeyour bills, and
you, don't care II the bank has failed. III
word comes to you!by to.morrow's news.
paper, that the bank Of every bill you hold
In your pocket has failed, utterly failed, It
don't affect the value Of your bill one cent,
except to enhance It's value. 1t isa Gu
rious tact, that for several years the mo-
ment q National Bank fails its bills go to
premium. Other banks want 10 get the
circulation, and If they buy up the bills of
the tailed banks and pass them In, they
can have their circulation increased by
that amount; and therefore, they offer q
premium to get bills Of broken banks In
order that they may get an increase OF
their own circulation. '-
I hold that to be one Of the greatest po-
litical safeguards that are thrown around
the American people 10 preserve them
against panic like that which has Just
been sweeping over the country The iact
Is the Republican party In the midst Of the
war took this whole currency system in
hand, and swept out Of existence the four.
teen hundred good, bad and Indifferent
wildcat banks, and created system more
safe and more wise than any other that
this country ever knew. and the bills you
have In your pockets are as National as
the flag that floats over US They do not
depend on State lines, or State organiza-
tons; they depend only upon the strength
and power OF the Republic for tteir cur
rency and their value. -slsHp I'll
There is only one thing lacking inthem;
that is they ought to tell the exact truth
on their face. When you read on the
greenback or national bank dollars that 1t
promises to pay q dollar that promise
ought to be kept, but that will never be
done until we have resumed specie pay
ment. That Is our great financial duty,
whether well or III received, and for the
last six or seven years my firm conviction,
expressed in Congress and out, has been
that the great detideratum in our hpan-
ces was to steadily, carefully, but surely
find our way down to the basis Of solid
specie values. That done and we shall
have the safest and wisest financial ar
rangement for currency that we have ev.
er known. fgI.s s.5... e.-t- I7tGo'
There has been 6 demand made in some
quarters for the President and Secretary
Of the Treasury to issuean additional vol.
ume Of greenbacks to aid the money mar.
ket In this crisis. In my judgment they
have done wisely In refusing such de-
mand. I do not believe they have any
lawful authority for such an issue; If they
had, 1t would be in the highest degree
impolitic TO make such an issue Of cur
rency now. I have no doubt that q re-
sumption OF specie payments carefully
and prudently made, would rather ease the
money market than increase its stripgency.