The Morning herald., 1875-11-16
AN OPEN LETTER.
senator Isayard and Finance.

THE soUTn-HE SPEAKS OF INITIATION
AND SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL HONOR
WENDELL PHILLIPS, KELLEYAND BUTLER
| DISCUSSED.
| The following is the substance of an open
letter to the people of the South, written by
Senator Bayard to Col. Allston, of the At
lana Daily Herald. lie says Whatever
by law is called money-the legalizcd cur
rency Of the country--iS the basis Of all
public and private contracts, and therefore
Of credit, being made by law the equivalent
for all things purchaseable.' He declares
that elf this money contains in itself no in
trinsic value it cannet be used as standard
by which to measure the value Of other COM
modities, and thus at once fails in the higl-
est attribute of money, because instability
is its inherent and necessary feature insta-
bility is uncertainty, and uncertainty is the
fruitful parent OF fraud and wrong" He
then expresses himself as follows Oh the in
ation heresy:
THE THREAT OF IMITATION"
That is, of increasing the volume of IRE
deeEable paper notes of the government,
and thereby necessarily decreasing the value
in a.greater ratio-produces "contraction"
in the amount of loans, because it lessons the
confidence which induces men having money
to lend it. Thus the inhationists have been
all along, and are now, the real foes Of
those who wish to borrow money on reason
able terms in order to employ men who Ia
Dor for their daily bread.
We witness in the cities a plethora Of cur
rency, which the owners long to iavest-to
lend upon intcrcst-but which the insecurity
produced by the threat of imitation deters.
To-day money can be borrowed in millions
ia New York at the rate of three per cent.
per annum con call'' and secured by abuna-
ant collateral; but it will not be lent on time
or permanently invested until the owners
are assured it will be faithfully repaid unde-
preciatea in value That condition secured
and the loan is easy.
IN OTHER DAYS
1t was the rigid and faithful performance of
their contracts which gave to the banks of
G arleston, South Carolina, Mobile, New
Orleans, Savannah, and other cities of the
South, their envable fame ana credit
throughout the Union Some of these in
stitutions never failed to redeem their notes
on demand in gold and silver coin, even in
the midst of general temporary suspensions
of specie paymcnt-so rooted were they in
stubborn, old-fashiened integrity. This
was net only expcdient, but it was right. 1t
made loans easy to be obtained, because
thsy were to BE- faithfully returned, and the
rate of interest was low because the risk Of
lending was small.
Nowhere in the wide world of commerce
was strict business integrity more rigidly
Insisted upon and more honorcd than i'll the
cities of Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and
New Orleans, when the real men of the
South had control Of affairs, and before the
days Of carpet-bagging and military inter-
ference. The time has again come when
the true men of the cSouth should, as l be-
lieve they can and will, restore the old re-
gime of high personal character, and at
once speak, p, ,anly and sensbly as of yere,
in favor of such policy OF administration
as shall LEAD to the suEs tuition Of 8 sound
currency convertible at the will of the hold
er into gold or silver coin.
Ever since 1862 there has existed a com
bination between the federal administration
and the moneyed power of the country, un.
wholesome for both parties, and unsafe for
the country at large.
1t las its basis in the system of national
b ,nks organized under act Of Congress and
largely controlled by the Treasury Depart
ment, and subject to the will
of congressional majority, q
condition of things never war
ranted by the letter and spirit Of the consti-
tution of the federal nature of our system
of government. Under it the banking bus
mess of the entire country has been rcsticted
to one special kind Of capital; lie. the bonds
of the United States government, and tie
employment of all other descriptions of
capital as a basis for banking, has been
rigidly excluded from competition.
Credit has been restricted to the single
form of national banknotcs and this has
unawfully and wisely been taken from the
States, and the people, where it admittedly
belonged under the usage of our gov ernMent
from it's foltldation, and deposited under
the sole and
DEsPOTIC CONTROL OF CONGRESS,
This was all accomplished by the passage
of an act of Congress, which, under the
pretcxt of taxing the State banking inst-