The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-08-12

OF Ihat thcy were considered as bills o
credit within its meaning. The Stat
banks, therefore, existed not only by virtue
! of their charters under State authority
but under the sanction of the highest ju
dicial tribunal known to the Federal Go
ernmcnt, at time, too, when the atmos
phere of politics was not permitted to pen
citrate within the sacred precincts Of the
Supreme Court Chamber, and when also
the integrity Of the Federal Government
was supposed to be best maintained by
scrupulously guarding the rights of the
States from Federal encroachment.
The authority of Congress to tax the
property of tho banks and of all other
corporate bodies the same as that of indi.
viduals has never been questioned. But
can it be fairly maintained that there is
any such deposit of authority in Congress
which would justify it in fostering mo-
nopoly of its own creation by taxing out
of existence corporate body chartered by
n State? Admit the correctness of the
principle by which it is sought to justify
the imposition of this tax, aud you will
find but little difficulty in applying it to
"any other description of corporations,
such us railroads, turnpikes, manufacturing
companies, and others"
The dissenting opinion Nelson and
Davis, judges, concurring) in the case of
The Veazic Bank rs. Fenno, heretofore
referred to, says:
/
The imposition upon the banks cannot be
upheld as tax upon property, neither could
il have been so intended. II simply mode
by which the powers or faculties of the States
to incorporate banks are subjected to taxa.
ton, and which, if maintanable, may annihi.
late those powers.
And further:
! This taxation Of the powers and faculties
OF the State governments, which are essential
TO their sovereignty aud to the efficient and
independent management and administration
of their internal affairs is, for the first time,
advanced as an attribute Of Federal authority
II finds no support or countenance in the early
| history of the Government or in the opinions
of the illustrious statesmen who founded it.
These statesmen scrupulously abstained from
any encroachment upon the reserved rights of
the States; and within these limits sustained
and supported them as sovereign States. We
say nothing as TO the purpose of this heavy
tax OF some IL per cent. upon the banks, ten
Of which we cannot but regard as imposed
upon the power of the States to create them.
Indeed, the purpose is scarcely concealed, in
the opinion of the court, namely, TO encour.
age the national banks. 1t is sufficient to add
| TINT the burden of the tax, while it has en-
couraged these banks, has proved fatal to
those OF the States; and il we are at liberty to
| judge of the purpose of an act from the con.
sequences that have followed, il is not, per.
haps, going too far to say that these conse.
quences were intended. ls. ,f
Perhaps no subject has of late occupied
u larger space in the public mind than that
of the currency; u subject upon which
neither of the great political parties of the
country has been able to entirely unite its
followers and which has caused the pro.
duction of more nostrums for the imme.
diate and complete relief of the country;
for restoring confidence and awakening the
slumbering looms of prosperity than any
other question which has claimed the at
tention of the American people since the
war. Arrayed upon the one side are the
friends of contraction, upon the other the
advocates of imitation; while upon a mid
die ground are found those who believe in
the maxim, "In medic Mtissimus IBIS"
When contraction was supposed to be the
policy of the Administration, despair took
the place of confidence and bankruptcy
seemed the impending fate of a large pro-
portion of the most important business in.
terests Of the country, while on the other
hand imitation produced absolute wan. of
faith in the integrity Of every "promise to
pay which the Government had issued
and of every obligation which it had
created, so that to avoid Scylla on the
one hand aud Charybdis on the other has
been the effort of those who believe "that
you will go safest in middle course"
The natural cry of the starving is for
bread; equally so is the demand of a COM
munity in financial distress for more mon.
ey; but it is mistaken theory to suppose
that imitation will afford any such relief.
Flood the country with as large vol
ume Of national currency as the warmest
advocate of initiation may demand and be-
hold the consequence These localities
most sadly impoverished and most sorely
in need, from the consequences Of the war,
will never have realized the difference, for
the reason that the laws Of trade, by which
capital is regulated, are not subject to the
whim and caprice oflegislative enactment,
but pursue their own selfish purposes to
their legitimate end. Capital seeking en-
ployment does not tend 10 those districts
wherein want and despair sit staring each
other in the face, but as naturally gravi.
tates to the business centers, where it will
yield the best returns, as the water flows
from the hillside to join the ripping cur
rent as it glides onward to the great ocean.
This is true in larger sense of gold and
silver coin than of the national currency;
but it is sufficiently true of the paper
money issued by or with the sanction of
the Federal Government to cause an in-
quiry as to the remedy to be applied to
localize aud restrain within prescribed
limits currency which will at least sup
ply the wants Of the community for which
it is intended. VIII not simple act of
justice to the State banks, by reducing
the tax imposed upon them to an amount
equal to that paid by the national banks,
have the effect of bringing into closer
harmony the State and Federal Govern
ments and Of increasing the volume of
certain character of currency which will
be essentially local in its circulation, for
the reason that it is wanting in the impor
tant attributes necessary to give it an ex-
tended recognition; it will not be legal
tender and its circulation cannot be made
coercive2 Its usefulness will therefore be
made to depend entirely upon the conf
dence which, with prudent organization
aud careful Engagement, the State banks
may bc enable to create for themselves in
the communities in which they are loca,ed
But however great that confidence may
be, il is not at all likely that such banks
can be brought into hurtfu competition
with the national banks, aud there Is every
reason to suppose that they would work
harmoniously together in the effort 10
supply the needs of local and Interstate