The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-09-26

when the people experienced before
the war, viii recur again. Nearly a
generation has passed away since the
homogeneous system of paper money
which existed before the war, was
swept away by the National Banking
Act. 1t is safe to Say that the injury
|done to the people OF the United States
by the failure Of these banks, by the
uncertain value of their paper money,
by Its limited local circulation, and by
successful counterfeiting, vas annual
ly greater than the interest of the en-
tire national bank circulation of the
United States.
BANKING CORPORATIONS THE WEAKEST
MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY.
1t is easy to oppose banking corpor-
atoms. Instead of having political
power they are the weakest members
of community. Say what you will
OF them their substitution for State
banks was one of the wisest and most
beneficial acts Of the general Govern
ment since the commencement of the
War. Personally I have but little in
terest in or feeling for the national
banks. But for the benefits derived
from them / would not care what be-
came Of them. Their continued exist
ence ought to depend upon their .abili-
ty, without cost Or trouble to the Unit
eel States, to maintain their circulating
notes at par with United States notes
or coin. If they fail in this they ought
to be abolished. IF they do it they
ought to be continued. They are use
ful financial agents scattered through
the United States in exchanging the
products of industry and localizing
capital. They paid last year to the
Government of the United States ST.
O76,0S7 in taxes, and for State and To-
cal taxes $9,7O1,73 or total of &c.,
777,S19, Or nearly four million more
than Judge Thurman estimates we will
save to the people by issuing green
backs instead of bank notes. These
taxes would all be lost to the United
States and to the States if the national
banks were abolished. Their notes
are secured beyond peradventure; they
are protected from cOunterfeiting far
more successfully than any former sys-
tenn, and, to their credit be it spoken,
not one dollar has been lost on any
national bank note ever issued. Whe1-
ever you go you may carry them with
safety, without examination as to
where or when they were issued. They
are good everywhere in the United
States.
OBJECTIONS TO NATIONAL
BANKS CONSIDERED.
Senator Thurman has stated some
to the national banks, to
which | will briefly reply. He says:
@ In the first place national bank
means the indefinite perpetu-
alton OF the public debt.
As q national bank exists only for
twenty years from the date of it's Or
ganization, and is liable at any time
by act of Congress to be abolished, this
does nOt seem very potent reason. I
am sorry to say that the prospect of
paying our debt so soon as the life of
a national bank is not very fattering,
nor are they likely to deter it's pay
ment. AS for the influence of these
institutions SO much feared by MI.
Thurman, it is not an object of alarm,
for it cannot be combined, or if that
were attempted, it could be oyerthrown
by single wave of popular opinion.
His second objecrion to the national
banking system is ''that it tends to
concentrate and intensity the
money power. y
This again is an Elusive fear. There
IS no power in this country that is SO
weak in political management as what |
s called the money power. 1t never
las been nor can it be concentrated so
is to effect political questions. The
tendency of our institutions makes it
Easy to combine at once political opln-
on and political power against it.
NO TEN BANK PRESIDENTS AGREE.
Party organization is infinitely more
for combination than the