Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-04

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All mighty roots. that are supported from
this bonded debt Of the country. why,
sir. hcre il an interest debt of one hundred
and twenty millions. That is levied by
means of duties collectable in gold. our
manufacturing establishments all raise the
manufactured articles to the same prices
under shelter Of protection, and they swell
to about three or four times as much as the
actual revenue duty that is collected; and
if we collect one hundred and twenty mil
lions of duties, suppose you add three nun
bred millions protection to 1t, and you have
four hundred and fifty millions. Then
you furnish them as a banking capital
which makes a gross profit of a little less
than one hundred and fifty millions a year
not their returned profits, but the gross
profits, and whichthe country has to pay.
Hence, 1 say that this bonded debt ought
to be paid off; that it is costing the Gov
eminent and the people of this country
now between five and six hundred million
dollars ayear. know it is a continuance
not easily understood by the people; but
nevertheless the fact so exists.
So far as these banks are concerned, a
tabular statement in Walkers "Science OF
Wealth" (pake 23O shows how the six
teen hundred and fortythree banks in 1865
had an active capital of five hun
dred and twenty-five millions, and
upon that they had received Interest upon
Sl,070, 100000; and if we apply the SAM
ratio TO the existing banks, they have an
active capital now of SG65, 800, 900, on
which they are doing a business of Sl,S3O,-
100000.
The following table exhibits the re-
sources and liabilities of the national
banks at the close OF business Sept. u, the
date Of their last regular report, the re-
turns from New York City, from other re-
demption cities, and from the remaining
banks being given separately:
Resources. Liabilities.
banks............ssss,4s 6,5lO 4s ssSs,4ss,Si As
Other redemption
cities, Isl banks. 4S9 $50, COS G. 469 ,365,698 65
7H.....-......,. s51, 7s4,sss 40 s5l, s7i,sss 20
6anks..........1,sSO,6z ,s45 50 1,sSO,627 ,s5 50
And they are collecting interest of the
people of the country of nearly that whole
amount, while they do not produce one
single blade of grass or contribute n atom
TO the aggregate wealth of the country.
They are mere instruments of absorption,
wringing it out and receiving it into their
own vaults and to their own advantage.
Why, sir, what do | find in regard to these
national banks, from an investigation of
them? They cannot increase the currency
beyond the limits now fixed by law; but L
find that they expand business by loans and
discounts. Like the old State banks, l find
that they become the reservoirs of all the
currency in the country, that they hunt it
up and turn all The channels Of the money
into their own vaults to get the control and
the power over it. L find that they thrive
best in hard times just as the banks Of dis
count and deposit do, and that they can put
the screws down and raise the interest and
their profits upon the people, just to the ex-
tent they are positively able to bear it. /
findthat like State banks they expand and
contract from the same causes, causing eX-
pansiOn and contraction of prices. They
make the standard Of values high at one
time and low at another; produce irregu-
larities in the industries of the country;
gamble in stocks; suspend, break, create
panics, freeze UP the channels of trade, and
cause bankruptcy and ruin in the country.
The recent panic cost this country $1,000
100000, and l dare to make the assertion
EbOu hAAL42CNNA ~ N1OAAAC ACSAc1AAN " w
so, in paying for the suspension of business,
restitution, loss of labor, the sacrifice Of
property, and contraction in its value.
We find that all banks will suspend or
break. from the old bank of Genoa down TO
Jay Cooke & Co. Even the railroad inter-
est, when il bore down upon them, made
every tendon of the banking system crack,
and made even the Government financial
prop itself give way. They had sold their
bonds in Europe until they had glutted
that market. They vert to New York
and there put their bonds in the market
when they could not force them abroad,
and got the banks to make loans upon them;
but whenever the money was wanted for
the purposes of trade and commerce, why
you found that they could not manage the
stocks that had been thrown upon them.
Then it was that the people became alarmed,
not for the ultimate security of the banks,
but because they could not get their money
to pay their debts. They rose against the
monster that created the panic.
Ii is not expansion that creates ruin, be-
cause the prices of productions will increase
with expansion; but wheneveryOu contract
your currency, you contract prices every
where but do not contract your debt. l re-
peat, 1t is not expansion, but contraction,
that ruins the country. Our Government
went in debt and then contracted its cur
rency. but never contracted its debt; so that
now it requires three times the quantity Of
productions TO pay the debts Of the Govern
ment and individuals as it did before the
contraction in 1865. That is where the
difficulty is. What the country needs is
more legal tenders, more money and less
debt.
Now, as to the bill before the House, ]
might, and perhaps shall, vote for it as a
choice of evils. If nothing better can be
obtained, l may be compelled to accept it;
but / shall do so only as a means of break.
ing up our consolidated system of finance
and trade; l shall use it as a lever to lift the
stranded vessel over the shoal, in the hope
hat at another time We shall readjust oul
finances and give the people a currency
hat WILDE sound and safe, do justice to
all, and cost the people nothing, or at least
bear equally on all and oppressiyely Oh
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