Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-09-12
Leaving q clear profit
from this source alone

70 be applied to the general purposes
of the government. l3.5 q lit"'i
This is but a part OF the story. The
United States taxes TIL" banks on
their circulation, deposits ana capital,
and from these sources there has
been paid to the Commissi of
Internal Revenue during the exist
ence Of the system down to 1876, the
following amounts: oH
On circulation. .$ss,s2s, 7Os.1s
On Deposits. i33,6O9, S9l.N
On Capital. 4,7l4,54G.94
Or total Of. 49,. =. SIS, 252,14l.96
Add for 1877 an amount u
equal to that paid in aL3 Z.
1876. 7,229,22l.56
tai to date Of .s7s,4s2, 1863 60
For the same period the "a :
tax on the banks for IS raii =
State, county and mu- aa4l 4
nicipal purposes was
about. .YJ4, S43 ,66O.OO
Or for all purposes $174, 1926 023.62
With these figures before you, can
you conceive of more absurd prop
osition than that which suggests the
abolition Of the national banking sys-
tenn? 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 $4,000 per annnna
rUr State, county an<l municipal pur-
poses, and over $l04, coo to the United
States, making an annual total of
$23O,OOO. Do you want this burden
taken from this associated capital and
placed upon your own shoulders?
That is the proposition Of the oppon-
ents of the Republican party. They
demand the repeal of the national
banking law, and the consequent de-
struction of the system. With that
goes this entire source of revenue.
The 1897, ISL 800 of the United States
bonds again become non.taxable
even by indirection, and your prop
erty must supply its proportion Of the
deficiency. But this does not close
this chapter of stupendous folly. We
have always had paper currency,
and always will have specie resump-
ton will not blot out paper currency.
Its convenience will ever commend
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 curren-
cy; we never had so good a bank
note currency 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 national bank note with
q view to determining its valne by the
State of its Issue. 1t does not matter
what State it is from. That is not an
element Of ifs value. In this respect
it is wholly unlike the bank notes to
which we were formerly accustomed.
With them the place of issue was an
important factor in fixing their value.
Often they turned up without any
value, aud 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 coun-,
try could have floated its currency
through the storm of the panic Of,
1873. The character of the currency
saved us an untold measure Of iisas-
ter at that time, and can do it as often
as like circumstances may create the
necessity. What though the bank
should break? The notes are good.
The failure of national bank does
not affect the value of the note in the
least degree. Never before. had we
such system, and never will we
have its like again if we destroy the
one we now have.
have said that this proposition to
DESTROY the national banks involves
the question Of q currency contraction
Of some $4,000, OOO,. But all of the
supporters Of this proposition claim
that they are opposed to contraction.
How will they supply the place Of the
s3OO, OO0, 600 Of national bank notes I? |
BY issuing greenb acks in their stead,
hey tell us that they propose to |
Increase the legal tender United |
States notes to that amount and even
Indefinitely. Let us get at the real |
and true character of this |
A more absurd scheme |
las not been brought to the attention
If the people. It cannot be made
'ucccssful; it is lacking in wisdom,
dishonest, and impolitic. There are
'easons why it cannot be done and
Why it ought not be done. The reas-
ming of the Supreme Court of the
United States in the legal tender ca
es, carried to its logical conclusion,
hows with striking clearness that
hat tribunal stands in the way of a
of this scheme; the legal
ender character of the greenback,
vas supported by that court as an in
ident to the war power Of the gov
rnment. This narrow escape COM
handed but a bare majority of the
curt in its behalf. The exigencies of
7ar do not now exist, and an enlarge
1ent Of the volume of legal tender
United States notes at this time by
congress would, beyond all reasona-
BILE question, be held unconstitution-
by that court. The risk involved ,
too great to be run. If the scheme ,