Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-10-03
TIE Mono tary Situation.
To the Union and American:

10 UNION anu AiHeIlCdns
Gentlemen: Permit me thr ugh your
columns TO answer a list of correspondence
entirely too long to reply to separately, in
regard to the financial situstion. The 81 tu-
alton may be briefly summed up as follows:
Jay Cooke s. Co., who had been the Gov
ernmenJ Bankers in the negotiations Of the
various Government loans, became involved
beyond their means and were forced to sus
pend payment. The fact of their former
connection with The negotiations of the
Government. advertised them more promi-
nently than any banking firm in the United
States, ard gave them prominence second
to no banking firm In the Union.
The timid portion of the commu-
nifty believed that if this firm
failed all others must fnally succumb,
q very erroneous impression because others
were not involved in the same class Of wild
speculation, but the effect was the same as
if they had been thus involved, SO far as the
suspension was concerned. But when
reason begins to resume its sway, we find
the situation IS follows: There is Just as
much currency or money in the country as
there was before, but it is not performing
the same useful Offices it did before, on &C.
count of being locked up in such a way as
to do its owners no good, and at the same
time greatly to the damage of the country.
This being the case, what is the best means
to adopt for immediate and prompt relief?
| answer, a restoration of Confidence. Let
those who so precipitate'y withdrew their
deposits return them sgsin, and let every
person who has twenty-five dollars go at
once, and deposit it in some Cna Of our city
banks, aud they as acedMulators will then
have the power to distribute it where it is
most needed to afford Immediate relief.
The question here comes up, are our bank
officers entitled to this confidence on the
part of the people? answer that they are;
they have done nothing to forfeit conf
dence. Take for illustration bank with 2
capital Of S250,0O0, and that is about the
average of our banks. 1t will cost at least
SS5, 900 per annum to pay its expenses, or
ten per cent on It's capital. 1t must there
fore look, to very large extent, to the
profits arising out of the use of the deposit
tors money for dividends. The next qUes.
ton is have they right to bank on deposits
[ answer, they have the provision of vaults
for safety, of clerks for accuracy, OF teilers
for safe count in paying out and the general
guarantees afforded by banks cannot he
done for nothing, and the general custom
OF the country snd the understanding of de-
posters themselves conveys this right
The banks acting on this hypothesis as is
always the case at this season of the year,
when the old crops are about exhausted
and the new ones hardly beginning 10 come
in finding the people very hard pressed fer
means discounted very literally, not any
more so, however, thai they usually d.,
and the result ia when the depositors
checked 80 heavy they could not pay. The
securities are still held blythe banks and if
the drawers could or would pay up, the
banks would not remain Ia state of sus-
pension twentyfour hours. In view of the
very liberal policy heretofore pursued by
the banks l hold it 10 be the
duty of every person to sustain
them and bolster them up in every way
they can, for without the assistance they
have heretofore rendered US, our crops
could not have been moved, or trade OF !
any kind gone on to any extent. Money
is to the community what blood Is to the |
body; stop the circulation of the blood, or |
even c0agulate it, disease ensues and the |
man dies. Stop the circulation Of money,
and business dies, and with its death comes |
distress and starvation. Lord Bacon said |
that money was like manure 10 heaps, but |
of little benefit, but Teh spread out of in |
cslculsbla value. Then let every good |
citizen sustain our banks, and they viii
circulate and spread the money and move |
the $500, 100000 of Southern products to |
market, and my word for it, times will |
soon be easy and money plenty.
JNo. j. MCCAIN.