Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-12-13

i very nne lnuuule the dlidllo vi Ou lde
State Bank present. Not yet com
pleted, dying of pulmonary salary
| doctored by a calm gentleman
The old issue, paid in for taxes, after
had passed from the hands of the poore
sort for a song, at the end of the wal
abashed altogether by the tricky green
back, into confident hands, sold at LITTLE
shops on bank corners at quotations high
er, higher, till it fades away III the offic
of the Comptroller as tax receipts, fit 70
burning, having almost got TO 9S, just a
the tSrdiest ''fiYe" saves ten cents to tbs
taxpayer.
aNew" issue, waiting in deep vault
some iustice's fst-worth in 1865 from
three to five cents-to decayed soldie
tramps, and parted with dolefully for green
backs, deprecated 40 per cent. God onl!
knows how much of this is afoat. Pay thes'
nv. masters, Ehonest fellows; it's law, good
law, ard Uncle Sans justices decide
always right, or if not, with might.
But no matter. A new bank and q
newer issue viii put things to rights, say:
w. S. Higgins, of Coffee county. He
knows all about it. (Vide the Banner
and particularly your excerpt in your Fri
days issue) A loaning capacity Of
500. 100000. Lol truly. The ''vexed
question" vexes us no longer. 1t has been
strangled by Higgins. Let the Legislators
wipe their eyes. Only start the bank, Mr..
Higgins saws so, and ats profits will more
than pay all Of our taxes; no necessary
mention of stimulus to business; doubling
the value of real estate; untold benefits to
the laborer and needy especially needy
nepcts and mutual amigos) by fur
nishing means. Above all, those who
are under all, ye 'farmers (best OF men)
could and would double their cEOps," and
let us all-every one Of us-remember
''when the farmers prosper all prosper, and
vice versa" Well, our memory is taxed.
Go on, Mr.. Higgins of Coffee county. at
is easy Of misunderstanding easier.
Burn up any little prOhibitive constitution
al brush, s'if there be any," Simplify in
finitesimally an enactment ''that on or
after a certain day there shall be establish
edat Nashville State Bank, with branches,
etc, etc, which shall issue treasury notes
from one to one thousand dollar denomi-
nations, with necessary restrictions" Let
these be simple, not compound, and ap-
point directory, or, better still, let po-
litical Governor do so as pledge Of greater
Simplicity, and then let US be happy. All
will be accomplished. We will be pros
porous, being made happy, as we will
never, no never, have TO pay any State tax
hereafter. Sanguine Higgins! do you
really believe it-no tax on tea or coffee?
Having a home currency is a neat
phrase, and should be effective. 1t will
stav at home, so little will outsiders want
it. Then the facility of its come-at-able-
ness, the long interest we get in time, and
at extremely low interest. 1t must need
to be pushed, these SI5,O00,0O0; and it
makes as little difference TO Higgins as TO
our Williamson farmer at what deprecia-
ton. Will 1t not give Sl0O,OOO,OOO of &C
commodation y
The riddle is solved. What has troubled
the ablest talent and most skillful finan
ciers who study yet this grave question,
with dubious head-shaking, gives not the
least concern to Mr.. Huggins, Of Coffee
county. Il does look like hugging a delu-
sion to me. He capers as nimbly as a
Texan hare about the Congressional tor
toise. Where he Hearies he will 90 to
sleep. and he will be Overtaken by the ma
tional tortoise. Let US hope the Legisla-
ture will do no rash thing.
DO L uOL lMuCLSLdL0 HAAC S-aAG-N AM
AMERICAN to be hopeful of an early return
to specie payments? Does 1t not believe that
We have a redundancy of currency, de-
duced from the fact as stated by John ).
Knox. Comptroller Of the currency, just
submitted to Congress, that, "nOtwithstand-
inc the amendment to the act releasing re-
serves upon circulation, and the low rates
of interest that have prevailed at the com
mercial centres during the past year, the
banks held. at the date Of the last report,
a larger amount of cash than at any cor
responding period for the last five years.
Do YOU not believe that there is more
money than is needed or can be used in
the present condition of business? l read
your article Of December 10th inst, and
YOU therein state expressly that, sit is not
more money we want, but more stability,
more confidence and attribute the idle
L ess Of capital to lost faith in the domi-
nant party. 1t is true you express ''ques-
ton in finance that few writers or speakers
on the subject have yet ventured to discuss"
1t will then appear to you as it occurs TO
me, that we are not wise to get away from
the hoped-for resumption "a thing con-
fess do not believe in) still further, by
mad schemes Of flooding Tennessee with
State Bank paper money or treasury notes,
or, to use the better expression, as L think,
of casting aside a reasonable and just eX-
peCtatiOn, near, the hearts and approved by
the minds of the best thinkers West and
South, that gTeenbacks shall be soon made
the only currency in the United States,
which will come nearer TO, if not absolute
ly make them equal to, gold and silver.
We have all been hoping for this solution,
but it seems that we might have new
State Bank of Tennessee, 10 crafty haste
for currency. l believe it the worst possi-
bic thing to do. Il will work a serious in
iury to the honest taxpayers of this State.
l. is a bubble of the South Sea sort,
but some will grow rich,
as some did during the war,
though greenbacBs [gold?l went TO
240-and though your new State Bank
should GO to 1000 some will get rich, the
favored, the constituencies, after whom
the deluge.
There are not wanting those who can
account for present stagnations. We have
not recovered from the ICGr. The South is
the sick man of America. Reconstruction
has done its worst, hope here, but its re-
action is felt now in Boston and veTywhere
North. Carpet-baggers have plunged the
whole South into Overwhelming debts and
disorder of all sorts. The political sc0un-
drels who saw their opportunity in 1865,
to loot vanquished South, as English sol
diers looted East Indian cities, cannot cry
with Give before an investigating COM
mittee. "By God! Mr.. Chairman, l am
astonishea at my moderation" No, they
have eaten up every green thing;
their feet have poisoned the soil;
their baleful energy has destroyed
the confidence of the people in labor, in the
future, in the integrity of the organic law.
The haryesters, who have won the wealth
thew hold by treachery and cunning, have
no confidence in Democracy. They want
a strong government, guarded by soldiers,
Commanded by a gift-taking king. They
hoard bonds on government gold interest.
They seek specie payment from govern
ment 81, 100 100000 in debt to them and
foreigners. They seek the extension of
bank privileges to the gOrged rich, and ask
gold for what they gave on deprecated pa
per, while the best blood Of the nation,
North and South, poured out like water.
Business has been brisk enough, too
brisk. We have TO go back to
first principles. Extravaganza is every
where, in government and people, and it
will find its Waterloo pay day;
and those who created the unnatural
condition Of things present have it to an
swer for. If one did not feel for the IN
happy poor, whose fortunes accompany the
acts of those who WELD the money power.