The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-09-11
uI1asol,d llspaItllfll.
r,,Isa.y SEPTEMBER q. 1874
!. financial,
a,he lsss ebarloste ssNte JET ersoasa's Say

Financial. \
IRE isss barioss efs Soy 20
...ashe Richmond D.spatch very Justly rails
Z, ,,,e sf1id can .,.ers and stock bulls because
shev ssish 20 curtatf the currency and tgDten
lid money market the better to enaoe thel !.
to ss:ndfe and rob the people. Ana Jet -
st,s,aIas with all Us power tue present s!.'
t4ya ff rstferai banks sud national curtepe!,
xrl,;eh has been and ID the great lever poH owe.
in the hands Of the gold gamblers ana s' On
hulls Il, 4,,a:,se them 10 organize 'rlns a N'
.eo,ners 10 plunder aud rob the agrlcu i..,.
,.i cn,n r,apniiies. while il keeps up aItuhtlt i
lsSs spar man our State bank s. stem, WHEN
IA = ,orhans. the only system by wnicii we
a., sa 20 and retain q local currency 70 meet
" ,,,rs "yran,s under all circumstances. iae
e conn.ry prospered and became rich under
this sys.em, which the Dtspdtch delignts 10
abuse :,
The .Te6ersoaidn doubtless knows well
the story of The veuerablel looking man who
was asked the cause Of the Goodwin ssnd.
,sar. and ~ no replied that in his opinion the
sands were owing to the steeple upon Ten
1erdan church, inasuuch as he, an Old 'man,
we'll remefn bered that there was no oar 70
the passage OF vessels before the erection OF
that s,eepie. It the Jefersonian had saia
that Virginia was rich at the time that sne nau
number OF State banks, that paper Wou'a
hsye told the truth. But those banks nao
millions OF dollars OF capital where the banks
oi Virginia now have hundreds OF thousaaes
Of dollars of capital. Now, 1t really would
be no. one whit moro illogical to claim Ina,
the old banks of Virginia owed each It's
large capital to the fact that it was State
bank. and that the present banks have sma'i
capitals because they are national oahks'
than il is 10 assert that Virginia . became
rien'' As consequence OF the State-oanK
system. We can hardly imagine how
thoughtful man could harbor such delu-
sion. Cast your eyes abroad, friend don't
initiate BUSyAs's man with the muck
rake in looking always upon the
small circle OF earth of which you are
the centre--contemplate New York and the
New England States. where the NATIONAL
banking system Is III full operation, and
where there is more wealth by untold mil
lions than there ever was when those STATES
bad each its own banking system-and you
will ind reason for supposing that The
wealth which Virginia once had and when
the war destroyed was merely contempt
raneous with and not owing to the State
bank system. Or try to imagine how. the
substitution Of the State bank system for the
present national banks would render the
state rich, and you will find it as difficult as
70 drink vinegar and imagine it to be cham
payne.
But orr friend wants "local currency"
We had one during the war. 1t was 90 un-
eyceptionabl in this respect that it wouldn't
buy sipgercake outside Of the Confede.
racy. We never heard, however, that it
made he State rich, or the people. 1t was,
in Iact, the worst currency that any commu'
nifty in this country was ever cursed with
since the days when the Continental Con-
syess issued "local'' currency. Gold and
silver, the reader will remember, lack this
quality OF "local-ness," being used the world
over. These precious metals, therefore, VIII
have to be dispensed with when we come TO
establish currency that we can "reiain."
And, by the way, we guess that man who
should get pcekctiul of this local State
bank currency, would have to "retain it 8
long time before he would find any body who
would give him natiosal.bank notes for it.
Now, We wish to say that money, like water,
will always 20 10 the place where the law Of
nature demands ITS presence. Water does
not more certainly run down hill than does
money 20 where there is any thing that can
purchase it. We should not greatly exagge-
rate the facts of the case if we were to say
that the most prosperous season that Rich.
mond has seen since the war. was the first
six months after LEES surrender, when
our local currency had become utterly
worthless. and we bad no currency at all
except such rs was drawn hither by the
natural demand for it. California has forty
millions of dollars worth of wheat to sell.
She would certainly have an abundance OF
currency for the next twelve months even il
she were to close up every bank in the State.
And il Virginia had now forty millions OF
. uC1IES WOIlu VI tOpaCNo ~ cSA's "oS 'S>1'N
have an abundance Of currency for long
time TO come even If she were to drive all
her banks and bankers out Of the State.
We may well thank God that the laws OF
trade 1.-THE laws Of Nature, in other words)
are not controllable by men; otherwise the
foolish schemes and plans of men would
bankrupt every community and convert
every nation into a nation Of barterers.
Money would disappear altogether.
1t is because the laws Of trade will vindi-
cate themselves, at whatever cost TO the pub
lie, that we oppose the schemes of the gold
gamblers and money-lords Of Wall street.
1t is not more certainly true that there are
four right.angles in circle than that there
is the potentiality Of purchasing all the pro-
perty of the country in any given amount OF
currency that is likely ever TO be the maxi
mum amount in circulation. We have no
fears on that point. So we care nothing as
TO the exact amount of tie currency, nor, so
lar as the mere issuing OF it is concersed, as
to it's locus in quo. We desire to see and use
good currency. That is just the kind we
now have.
4 VIRGIEIAN NOMINATED FOR CONGRESS- IN