The Russellville Democrat., 1876-05-11

their industry. Even your public treasury has not escaped the ra pacity of the times, as your mon
 ey has depreciated. The salaries ofsome of the officers of the banks have increased in an equal ratio It is time to place checks upon 1 your treasury that. will in future prevent bank directors from even an indirect control of it's funds That power should be alone exer cised by the representative of the people. I submit the propriety of limiting by law the salaries oi all tho bank officers, prescribing their numbers and grade"
 The evils which have resulted to the great body of the communi- ty from the late suspension are great and almost insufierable. 2 It is,a very striking instance of the radical effects of the entire sys- tenn III every government, and under every system we may look for revolution in business, con sternation and distress, notwith- standing the country may be oth erwise in a growing and healthy condition. These revolutions are, in some degree, owing to our con- mercial regulations. Occasionally the balance of trade is against us l; we then feel the effects of a for aeign deht, following upon excess i've importations, aggravated by the consequent reduction of the price of our exports in foreign markets, and it's corresponding depreciation at home. Every few years this foreign balance has swept the country of specie, and of course, deranged the currency, and at times paralyzed and pros trated business, bringing ruin upon thousands Of our most en- te2prising and useful citizens. Such a crisis produced the sus- pension in 1889, and the misguid- ed policy of many of our banks, by increasing. their discounts to near half a million of depreciated paper, placed tkem beyond the possibility of an early resump- tion."
 "Such q course of policy may be checked in future by the enact ment of such laws as will make it not only q forfeiture of the char ter but fife and Imprisonment for the president and directors to issue or discount during their suspension, or for the issuing at any time of a certain amount of paper beyond the amount of specie in their vaults. So far as the currency of your own state is concerned, you have the power to correct the evil. l then respect fully submit the propriety of a thorough investigation into the condition of all the banks, and upon their report should mainly dep end the character of your flu ture action. If it is found that they have been managed with fi- delity and prudence, it will tend to restore confidence, and remove the strong @prejudice tAat now exists in the public mind. If, however, yonr apprehensions are not lessened by such investiga- tion, your duty to your constltu- ents and justice to the state, will require that no further liabilities shall be incurred by the state for the present at least, with such other conditions and restrictions as will best conduce to bring about a better state of things, or prevent a like suspension in future. ....
 Our experience for the last l"eHty yca'S h''o ucinoilsIia a1c'' that the producing part of the community are not, in the end, benefited by the credit system. The dclusions in the splendid mansions and springing up of towns, as if by magic, aud the flooding ofthe country with goods from Mississippi to the Indian boundary, will end too ofteninruin to the proprietors and owners: Unfortunately for our State, all classes have participated in the delusion; and all, more or less, have suffered. When the day of reckoning came, the banks were unable or unwilling to meet the crisis, and the whole are now suf. fering from their own extrava- gance and overtracting, but are reaping the curses of q deprecia- ted currency This should teach us that credit is not wealth, and that the safest reliance is upon our own frugality and industri- OnS habitS"