The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-01-20
MONDAY EvEN'G. JAN. 30, 49,
SPECULATIVE HgANIAs.

J Il
Bank Of Virginia, located at Norfolk also,
a bill introduced in Congress, at Its last !
session, authorizing and instructing the
Secretary of the Treasury to purchase three
millions of dollars Of the secured obliga-
tionsr of said bank, accompanied by an ar
cument made by the president of said bank
before the Committee ON Finance Of the
United States Senate, in favor of such pur-
chase; together with the proposition made
to the General Assembly Of Virginia, at its
present session, to issue one million OF
dollars of revenue certificates, to be placed
in the hands of the bank for the redemp-
ton of matured coupons to The bonds OF
the State, ETC., etc.
We have carefully perused these several
imposing documents and find nothing there
in either to change our views of the instr
tuition or of its proposition to run the
finances Of the State. We compared this
bank, now in progress of organization"
with John Laws speculative mania in the
early part of the 18th century, better
known as the Mississippi Bubble" and
which turned half the financial heads OF
Europe in the vain belief that paper money,
representing nothing but paper obligations,
might vastly augment the wealth of peo-
ple by being made the circulating medium in
place of gold and silver or that which re-
presents those coined metals in convertible
value. The scheme which Law proposed
to the Regent OF France, during the minoIl-
ty Of Louis XIV, was to establish national
bank which should issue notes on the
basis Of landed property precisely the
basis of our Norfolk institution and on such
royal revenues as might be placed to the
credit Of the bank (also the precise PROPOSE
ton OF the president Of this Norfolk bank IN
regard TO the issue of State revenue GER
tiGcates). There was one valuable fea-
ture, however, in Laws bank which does
not obtain in the Norfolk institution, which
was, that its notes should be payable at
sight Sin specie of the same weight and
iineness as the money in circulation at
the period of their ISSUE" Slch a clause
would no doubt strongly commend our
Norfolk enterprise to the consideration OF
the General Assembly. But unfortunately
we have no such plant regency as that OF
the Duke Of Orleans, which can be handled
ia the interest of our Norfolk financiers, SO
that the value of livre to-day can be made
not more than half what it was yesterday.
If this were the case, we might have seen
the third feature of John Laws bank en-
grated on the Norfolk duplicate of that
transcendent bubble.
John Law had magnificent tract of land
as the basis Of his banking enterprise, and
ole SO Enthusiastically valuable that it requir-
ed no such provision in his charter as that
contained in the Norfolk grant, in regard
to the assessed value of its lands to wit,
that in case their assessed value, as appear
ing on the assessment books Of the cities,
towns and counties where tina real estate is
located, shall not be considered (by the
bank) as representing the fair bona .fde
value of the same, then Il shall 6egre'
assessed by assessors appointed by the COM
pa,sy (banh), aohich appointment they are
authorized By the charter to make Had
John Law had such an accommodating
feature as this in his charter from the
Regent, he might have had his real estate
capital assessed at twenty thousano
millions of livres, and it would have beer
comparatively cheap at that. For his
grant was made up of the whole of tina
vast tract of land on the American CONT
nent through which the mighty Mississippi
river flowed, in addition to the privilege
Of farming the whole taxes of the .Frenci
nation, which greatly exceeded the presen
taxes of Virginia. 1t is astonishing how
;dentcally the two schemes run into eacl
other. Had the great Scotch fnancier ap
peared in the person. of the president Q
this Norfolk bank, he could not more eifec
TALLY have reproduced his scheme 70
alarming the taxes of the State
tan by suggesting the issue, an
manipulation by his bank, Of the propose
''reyenue certificates" for the payment {
state taxes and the redemption of mature
coupons. The one scheme is just as fu
OF YaSaTy anu noonSnlle do ti0 o'ii0i YIN
John Laws bubble was successfully infla
ted, and the Norfolk one never can be
unless the General Assembly shall so o
on financial craze" like that whic
afflicted the Regent Of France when
looked upon the empirical ScotchInan Q
nothing less than demigod of finance.
the Legislature wants to plunge the Stat
credit and revenues into the vorte
of paper-raoney ruin, let it listen iavorabl
to this duplicate scheme OF John Law it
farming out the taxes and other revenue
of the State government to real estat
bank fashioned after the immortal Mi
sissppi Bubble"