The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-05-13
STATE BANKS,

Federal tax of ten per cent on the circulation
Of State banks is gaining strength. OF lat.
our dispatches have constantly mentioned
the presentation to Congress Of petitions t.
that end. The growing strength Of the move
ment is attributable mainly to the deep in
terest which the masses Of the people are be
ginning to manifest In the financial affairs o.
the country. The pressure of the prevailing
hard times throughout the Union is sc
heavy that the money question has become
one Of vital Importance to almost every house
hold in the land, and people who, a few years
ago, paid no heed whatsoever 10 the action oi
| Congress In financial matters now watch
with absorbing interest every vote OF that
body on measures concerning the fiscal affairs
of the government. and clearly understand
the drift and bearing Of such votes.
We have on several occasions heretofore
pointed out the disastrous effect which the
gradual contraction OF the currency of the
country has had upon trade, industry and
every kind of business except gambling In
stocks and investments in greenbacks and
bonds. The simple truth s that the great
bulk of the circulating medium of the United
States has been brought under the immediate
control of large corporations and individual
milionaires. Its withdrawal from active in
dustry and healthy enterprise has resulted in
the creation Of q gigantic monopoly without
heart or brains the monopoly of the money :
power, which has rendered itself SO odous to
the people as to provoke threats of q general
strike of laborers at the North and West.
and the formation of soGialstic societies all
over the Union.
When communism becomes possible i'm
thinly settled and wonderfully productive
country like this, there must be something
radically wrong in the operations of the gov
ernment, for bad government is the prime
cause of all OF the distress that afIicts land
teeming with all Of the elements of prosper
itv. TO attribute the evils under which the
laboring masses are now suffering to over
production is simply idiotic. No sane person
believes that millions of people can be brought
to dcstitution, either directly or indirectly,
by an excessive production of those very
things the lack of which constitutes destitu-
tiou. We believe, and the masses of the peo-
pie are beginning TO believe, that the main
cause OF the existing hard times is to be
found in the withdrawal of money from the
enterprises and industries which ought to
furnish employment for all Of the idle hands of
this thinly populated land, and that this with
drawal of money is due partly to the contrac-
tion Of the currency by the government, and
partly to the premium put upon the concen-
tration of greenbacls ut the money centres OF
the country by the resumption act of 1876
Ii this theory be the true one. and we be-
lieve it is, the remedy for the evils complained
of is easily perceived and as easily attainabIe.
II is the repeal of the resumption act and the
abolition of the tax upon the circulation of
State banks. The first measure wi put
stop to the contraction of the volume of green
backs, and the second will make money abun-
dant and cheap. BY "cheap" money we are
far from meaning paper currency that rep
resents nothing but that vague and ndefinable
thing called the faith OF the nation" We
mean q currency such as the law of Louisiana
relative to free banks provides fora currency
issued by responsible banks and based upon
bonds bearing interest and secured by taxa
lion. If the banks of this State were permitted
% issue notes and employ our consols as a |
basis for their circulation our State debt which |
IS now regarded as a heavy burden, would as
sumo the character of public blessing The
lotes of the banks would circulate at par, be-
'ause ample provision would exist for their
money would be abundant be-
'ausc the volume of our bonds is large enough
% furnish a basis for a circulation more than
sufficient for the business requirements OF the
state; and money would be cheap because of
is abundance, whereas now 1t is proportion
Itely dear because of its scarcity.
1t is no answer to the proposition to restore
he circulation of the State banks to say that
would lead to the establishment of wild
at banks. If the people of any State should
'ermit the establishment of such institutions
hey will be the only sufferers by it, and will
ichly deserve the losses it would entail. The
ther States would have but to enact laws
imilar to the Louisiana law on the same sub
ect and a currency could be created equal in
Convenience to United States greenbacks and
ar superior to these in intrinsic value. for
reenbacks are secured by nothing but the
faith OF the nation'-a thing that universal
utfrage would take little account of when
eeking relief from intolerable burdens.
There must be a good deal of intrinsic
nerit in currency which can only be pre-
ented from competing with the national
urrency by prohibitory tax of ten per cent.
We trust that before long the opponents in
congress of the contraction policy Of the
overnment will combine to abolish this un-
lst unwlse and oppressive tax.