The Portland daily press., 1878-09-05
THURSDAY MORNING, SEPT. 5.

has been established for great many years in
every civilized country, approved and man.
aged by upright, able business men ana hnsn-
ciers in every nation. Now this could not be
unless upon the whole this system were the
best for accomplishing the end; to wit: faclll-
event, it seems hardly modest thing for any
man to do, to denounce this system as dishon-
est or unwise, being himself absolutely Ignorant
of the whole matter. L hope our Greenback
friends will excuse me for employing such term
there are no other fitting ones.
The entire business OF the country is trans
acted in one way or another through banks.
They loan money on business paper and on
other securities; this paper they collects home
all through the Union, in Canada, in South
America, in Europe, in Asia-everywhere
The business man has no trouble with this; he
sells shoes, leather, domestic goods or what not
TO dealers in Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, Callfor-
MIA, Louisiana, China, no matter where, and
receives a note on four months or he draws on
the purchaser, on that time But he wants the
money now with which to buy more stock or to
pay some debt of his own. He takes the note or
bill to his bank, where he receives the money
for it less the interest, which Is deducted. Or
the trader does not need the money, in which
case he takes his notes receivable to his bank
and leaves them there; some payable in Bos-
ton, Eastport, st. John, Montreal, Quebec. st.
Louis, New Orleans San Francisco. Canton,
Calcutta, ST. Petersburg, London, Liverpool,
OuDuD, anywhere, 6N6TyWucIts duu tuc Uduk
does all the work of collecting these notes,
charging nothing for its labor, and when the
money Is received passes it to the credit side of
the customers account.
But how can bank in Portland do all this
mighty work of collecting the money for note
in amount from $50 to any larger sum, all over
the world? 1t is done with the greatest ease
and expedition through other banks in every
city in all countries Now without such insti-
buttons all this immense amount of indispensa-
bla work rnuId ho of
cost, delay and inconvenience. These banks in
the aggregate employ vast number of men
who are trained to their work by long years of
service, and they are paid by the interest de-
Quoted from the amount of notes discounted,
and by profits made on buying and selling ex-
change.
This banking business is like every other,
liable to competition, and If the profits were
more than fair compensation for the service
rendered, other banks would open shop along
side of them, until the profits were brought
down to reasonable amount
All this is familiar to business men, but 1
am telling the story here for the benefit Of our
Greeuback friends, by whom it is supposed to
be unknown. All this mighty work which L
have sketched hastily and imperfectly. must be
done by somebody, else the trade of the country
must stop; it could not bulge, except on
crutches. But our Greenback friends propose,
If they can have their way, to abolish all this
machinery by act of Congress, and they pro-
pose that government shall turn banker and
fill the place at present occupied by the national
bauks
Sam Slick said 'tSome things can be done as
well as others"-and in trying his hand at it
he leaped into deep water one day and didn't
come up. Mongophier tried aerostation in a
fre-balloon. and SO he came tumbling down
one day and was found as fiat as sheet of tin.
M. j. p, whom knew very well, spent his
life and every dollar he could raise in the con-
struction and adjustment of that last wheel to
his perpetual motion, by which he was to be-
come the richest man in the world. But all
this moonstruck folly was profound wisdom
compared to the notion that the United States
Government should do the banking necessary
for the business needs of the country.
NJ n