Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-11-15
FIRST EDITION.
Financial Views for the southern
Market.

Market.
A LETTER FROM SENATOR BAYARp TO GEORGIA
NEwsPAPER-HE DENoUNCEs THE NATIONAL.
BANKS, AND PRAISES THE STATE sYsTEM-HoH-
EYED WORDS FOR SOUTHERN MERCHANTS.
Senator Bayard has addressed an open let
ter" to the editor Of the Atlanta (Ga.) Herald, in
which he discusses at considerable length the
question Of national finance and currency. He
commences his argument with the declaration
that =" whatever by law is called money-the le-
galized currency 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 ''if this
money contains in itself no intrinsic value it can
not be used as standard by which to measure
the value OF other commodities, and thus at
once fails in the highest attribute OF money, be-
cause instability is its inherent and necessary
features instability is uncertainty, and uncer-
tainty il the fruitful parent Of fraud and wrong"
He then expresses himself as follows on the in
fiation heresy
EFFECTS OF INITIATION.
The threat of " imitation - that is, of in
creasing the volume OF irredeemable paper
notes OF the government, and thereby necessarily
decreasing the value in a greater ratio-pro-
duces g contraction in the amount of loans,
because it lessons the confidence which induces
men having money to lend 1t. Thus the ini1a-
tionists have been all along, and are now, the
reasonable terms in order to employ men who
labor for their daily bread
We witness in the cities plethora OF ciirren-
cy, which the owners long to inyest-to lend up
on interest-but which the insecurity produced
by the threat OF initiation deters.
To-day money can be borrowed in millions in
New York at the rate Of three per cent. per an
mum "on cdt and secured by abundant collat-
eral but 1t will not be lent on time or perma
nently invested until the owners are assured it
will be faithfully repaid undepreciated in value.
That condition secured and the loan is easy.
SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL HONOR PRAISED.
In other days it was the rigid and faithful per-
torrance of their contracts which gave to the
banks of Charleston, South Carolina, Mobile,
New Orleans, Savannah, and other cities of the
South, their envisble fame and credit through
out the Union. Some of these institutions never
failed to redeem their notes on demand i'll gold
and silver coin, even in the midst Of general
temporary suspensions of specie payment-so
roeted were they in stubborn old-fashioned in
tegrity. This was not only expedient, but it was
right 1t made loans easy to be obtained, be-
cause they were to be faithfully returned, and
the rate of interest tods loo because he risk OF
lending toas small.
Nowhere in the wide world of commerce WAS
strict business integrity more rigidly insisted
upon and more honored than in 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 interference. The time has again
come when the true men of the South should,
as 1 believe they can and will, restore the
old regime of high personal character, and at
once speak, plainly and sensitly as Of yore,
in favor Of such a policy OF admin
nstration as shall lead to the substitution of
sound currency convertible at the will Of the
holder into gold or silver coin. Such policy
announced by them will instantly give conf
dence to those who own capital or who control
capital, and we should witness the quick reward
of such proofs of wisdom and sound policy i'll
the abundant supply of money upon mortgage
and other security, and the States OF the South
would become the theatre Of the investment OF
capital, which now lies idle inlthe money centres
for toantof confidence alone.
ATTACK ON THE NATIONAL BANKS.
Ever since 1862 there has existed combina-
tion between the federal administration and the
moneyed power OF the country, ,unwholesome fol
both parties, and unsafe for the country al
large.
It las its basis in the system OF national banks
organized under act of Congress, and largely con-
trolled by the Treasury Department, and sub
ject to the will Of d congressional majority, d
condition of things never warranted by the let
ter and spirit of the constitution or the feder-
al nature of our system of government I'm
der it the banking business of the entire
country has been restricted to one special KIND
of capital ; o. the bonds of the United States
government and the employment Of all other
been rigidly excluded from competition.
Credit has been restricted to the single form
of national bank notes and this has been unlaw.
fully and unwsely taken from the States, and
the people, where it admittedly belonged under
the usage Of our government from its .founda-
ton, and deposited under the sole and despotit
control of Congress.
This was ali accomplished by the passage ol
an act of Congress, which, under the pretext OF
taxing the State banking institutions for the
Of had circulation
of existence.
So long as this lasts, and Congress- is invested
with the power and sole discretion to determine
and control the volume of currency-the extent
of emissions Of paper currency for all the states
and people-just 30 long uncertainty and dlssat
isfaction will prevail, and the souud and true
principle of banking and credit will be disregard
| ed.
ACCIDENTAL AIAJoRITIEs IN CONGRESS.
The ebb and flow of party power changes coh.
gressionai majorities from year to year, and
can imagine no body of men 80 unht to eXer
cise 30 great power and peculiar discretion al
| the accidental majority Of Congress. Such {
power has never been exercised in Great BRIT
ain. Even there, under their imperial system
and all the political omnipotence of Parliament
such folly as contining the banking business o.
the country to single species OF capital, or pre-
venting any banker or banking association from
using his or their credit by the emission OF note'
| in any form they saw fit, has never been at
tempted or suggested.
Therefore we see the numerous banks OF Scot
land and Ireland and England, country banks
thev are called, pursuing safe, useful ant
profitable business, supplying currency notes t'
| their customers, and regulating the volume
| such issues under such limitations as self-pre
servation, and the laws compelling redemption
of their notes on demand in gold and silver coin
| make necessary.
The notes of the Scotch and Irish banks tloa
| side by side with the notes of the Bank of Eng
land and the coined money of the realm in al
avenues of business. They are not and neve
we're legal tender, but convertible at will int
coin, they became practically equivalent.
nrHE MoNEyED POWER CONCERNS THE WRITER.
The combination between the moneyed pow
or of the country and Congress gives to the Tor
mer degree of influence over legislation whlc
is inconsistent with the public interest and hos
tile to popular freedom, and at the same tim
capital is subjected to the ignorant or capriciou
control of congressional legislation, rendern
its operations insecure and unstable.
Is it not manifest that there is now favora
BILE opportunity for the Southern States to assls
in aiding the country to return to systems o
sound finance and currency under the limitation
imposed by the federal constitution over tn
II ,,an,a, of Eop1rasa over tha impOrtalt subj eGt