Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-09-21
to be applied to the general purposes of

This is but part of the story. The
United States taxes the banks on their
circulation, deposits and capital, and
from these sources there has been paid
to the Commissioner of Internal Reve-
nue. during the existence Of the system
down to 1876, the following amounts:
On circulation ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sc, 1928 703 Is
On deposits :. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 33,6O9,S91 Ga
On capital ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 4,714,546 "a
Or total of. .................$ 72,252, 141 96
Add for 1877 an AMOUNT equal to
that paid in 1875. .............., 1885, 21 Sc
And we have grand total to date
of Observation-Disclosures. 79,4s2, 1863 81
For the same period the tax on
the banks for State, county and
municipal purposes was about. 81, 843, $50 90
Or for all purposes. $174, 326, 023 62
With these figures before you, can
you conceive of more absurd PROPOSE
ton than that which suggests the aboli-
ton of the National banking system?
The money derived from this source
must be drawn from some other quarter
if the banking system be destroyed In
our own State the banks pay over $685.
600 per annum for State, county and
municipal purposes, and over 100000
to the United States, making an annual
total of $23O,OOO Do you want this
burden taken from this associated CAPT
tai and placed upon your own shoulders?
That is the proposition Of the opponents
of the Republican party. They demand
the repeal of the national banking law,
and the consequent destruction of the
system With that goes this entire
source Of revenue. The 1891, 757 800 of
the United States bonds again become
non-taxable even by indirection, and
your property must supply its proper
ton Of the deficiency. But this does
not close this chapter of stupendous fol-
ly. We have always had paper cur
rency, and always will have; specie
resumption will not blot out paper cur
rency. Its convenience will ever COM
mend it, and the people will have it.
When it becomes as good as gold they
will want it all the more. We will soon
reach that standard, and will have an
honest paper currency: the bills will no
longer bear lie upon their face. But
without this it is good currency; we
never had so good bank note curren-
cy before, and we shall get no better
hereafter. You know it is good; you
feel safe with it in your pocket
You never think of examining a nation
al bank note with view to determining
it's value by the State of it's issue 1t
does not matter what state it is from.
That is not an element of it's value. In
this respect it is wholly unlike the bank
notes to which we were formerly accus-
toned With them the place Of issue
was an important factor in fixing their
value. Often they turned up without
any value, and no number OF factors
could give them any; it is not so with
the national bank note. No other bank
ing system ever known to this country
could have foated it's currency through
the storm of the panic of 1873. The
character Of the currency saved us an
untold measure of disaster at that time,
and can do it as often as like circum-
stadces may create the necessity. What
though the bank break, the notes are
good. The failure of national bank
does not affect the value of note in
the least degree. Never before had we
such system, and never will we have
it's like again if we destroy the one we
now have
Another reason which ought to be
quite as potent against the ability OF
the Nation to do this act of financial fol-
ly is that the people, through their Rep
resentatives, promised it would not be
done. The creation of the legal tender
was a war measure. But for the war
which drew so heavily on our resources,
no one would have dreamed Of legal
tender paper issue. 1t took three steps
to reach the limit of issue. There was
issued by the act of February %, 1862,
$3.50, 100000; by the act of July II, 1862,
$15O,0OO,0OO; by the act OF March 3,
1863, $100,0O0.000, or, in the aggregate,
$400,00O,000. Now, the last act con-
tains the express provision that no more
than $40O,000,000 should be issued.
This is the promise of the nation. 1t is
your promise, and not another green
back legal tender can be issued without
a violation of this obligation. You
made it when you felt the necessity Of
staying the rapid depreciation of your
legal tender paper, so rapidly was this
going on, that the very sue
cess of your arms and the existence OF
the nation itself seemed to depend upon
the doing of some act which should ar
rest it and tend to restore confidence.
Distrust was abroad The question was
everywhere asged, will not these legal
tender notes become absolutely worth
less by multiplication of their issue? In
your sore strait you reflected upon your
course of action. You saw the reasona-
bleness of the distrust which attended
you. You made bold and honest re-
solve, and proclaimed to the world that
your legal tender issues should at no
time exceed $4O0,000,0O0. You can't Vi
olate this promise without dishonor, nor
do believe you wish to do it. | can
not believe that the most ultra Green
hacker in Iowa, when he comes to I'M
derstand his own scheme, and sees that
he can effect it only by breach of faith
involving national dishonor, will follow
that flag another step.
Suppose these reasons against the
greenback scheme were out of the way,
would it not still be impolitic to enact
it? Before a National Bank can issue
note to circulate as money, it must
provide for it's redemption. This in
wolves no question of public taxation:
The private parties who are associated
as stockholders in the bank make the
provision for redemption with their own
funds. This is not the case with the le-
gal tender Treasury note. Every such
note issued by the Government involves
the question Of taxation. The note must
at some time and in some way be re-
deemed, and there is no responsible par
ty back of it, but you, the people"
There is no fund provided for its re-
demption but that which is represented
by your property and industries. The
capital and labor of the people in all
their multitudinous forms constitute
the fund from which the redemption
money is to be drawn. When the time
comes for this, taxation, direct and in
direct, is the mode of reaching your sub
stance and applying it to the redemp-
ton of the notes of the Nation. Now
you have over 300,0O0OOO of paper cir
culation which takes care of it's own re-
demption without troubling you with
taxation; and the institution which is
sues it pays you an annual tax-Feder
al, State, County, Municipal than
ST., 100000. Do you think it wise to
surrender this? You now complain of
your taxes. Do you wish to increase
your burdens by displacing the $780,
100000 of National Bank notes with
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