Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-10-16

volume, and, as Gen. Ewing says, to raise OF
lower values. Does not every sane N an see
that from that very moment the business
community win stand still, all its energies
paraiyzsd by the unce rtainty as TO what
congress, or its motive power the Demo
cratic caucus will 80 next? For, be il re.
membered, however august body that may
be. II cannot be said to have inspired the
country with superlative conf ience in its
wisdom
Superfuous fears says Gen. Ewing. We
shall enjoy the confidence of the business
community, for we are not going to increase
the volume of the currency, and thus raise
values and set business kiting again? Ia.
deed can he really imagine that such pro-
ceedings can possibly be received by the
business community with anything but the
deepest distrust? Ii so, he must be unmind-
full OF several important circumstances. In
the first place thing so unprecedented, so
incomprehensible to the eommon-sense of
mankind, as wholly unnecessary, wanton
suspension of specie payments, imm ediately
after successful resumption, in time Of
peace, of reviving business, and growing
prosperity, with treasury full of coin, viii
impress the whole civilized world with the
belief that the financial affairs of this
country must be governed by a gang of
sharpers or a st of lunaties. Such a return
to irredeemable paper money and subse-
quent inf ation might indeed raise the
hopes of some foolish people, who
have learned nothing and forgot
ten nothing. But the present generation of
American business men are not of that
kind. They have gone through the process
OF raising values by the expansion OF IRE.
deemable paper money already once. They
have learned to appreciate the deceptive
prosperity of such a ballooning period at
It's true value, and they painfully remember
the crash following upon it which over
whelmed them with disaster. That hard
earned experience will be constantly before
their eyes. Sacb birds are not caught with
such chat twice. And, let me add their
distrust will be all the greater just because
the hnanciers of the Ewing school predict
a good result. They will remember that as
prophets these gentlemen were sorry fail
ure; that whenever they predicted storm
you could safely arrange for u picnic, and
when sunshine was on their bills it was
time to take out your water-proofs.
Now, when such men sit together in eau
Gus 20 do what even the wisest and most ex.
perienced fnaneiers can not do with &C.
curacy, namely, to determine how much
currency the country is to have for its bust
ness; and when they manipulate the volume
of the currency for the very purpose OF
| lowering or raising all current values, will
not then business men feel very much like
the inhabitants of a house who know that
there is a lot of boys in the cellar playing
with lucifer matches around an open barrel
of gunpowder? PROFESSIONALLY they will,
While the financial adventures and gamb.
lers r1ay venture forth, the capitalists will
hasten to withdraw his funds from the
reach Of mischief, and the prudent business
man will restrain his spirit OF enterprise,
I W hoffQr srh ell Il
safe men are again at the head of affairs.
This is certainly Dota condition of things in
which business can thrive and prosper; but
so it would inevitably be.
THE NATIONAL BANKS
Now, while the Democratic leader de-
clares that the power "to expand or con-
tract the currency, TO raise and lower values,
TO give prosperity or infict Distress" should
be exercised by the government, he insists
also that such power must above all things
not be committed to the hands of individ-
uals or corporations, least of all to corpora-
tons (meaning the national banks repre-.
senting the holders of public and private
Indebtedness 9rh0Se 21edlh rs increased bu
every fall Of prices and diminished 6y everg
rise " For, as he says, if the national banks,
"acting as they always do, in the interest of
holders OF money securities, are permitted
TO control the volume of the currency at
their pleasure, there is no limit to the in
jury u y may infiet upon the people, or to
The wealth they may accumulate by hidden
and concerted measures of expansion and
contraction of values.
Here is the wonderful discovery made by
the Democratic leader, that it is in the in
terests of the national banks to ruin their
customers by contracting the currency.
There has been so much demagogy and
loose talk, so many appeals to popular
| prejudice and ignorance in the warfare
against the national banks, that it is delight.
full to have at least one Of the great lights OF
the imitation Democracy expose by his own
statement the whole aSsurdity of their ar.
guments. Let us examine it. What are
the national banks? They are joint-stock
corporations formed under the law for the
purpose of carrying on, under the super
vision of the government, the business Of
banking, which consists in receiving and
holding deposits, making loans to business
men, discounting notes and bills, selling
exchanges, etc. The national banks are also
authorized, upon the deposit of government
bonds in the treasury, to circulate certain
| proportional amount of bank currency, also
under the supervision of the government
| That is all
1t is the custom of certain class of poll
ticians to Cenounce the national banks as
monopoly, or, to make it sound badly, as
the monopoly of the money power. Let u,
see how much of a monopoly there in them
Do they consist of a few great moneyed in
stitutions, welding large concentrated
| power? No, there are about 2,100 of them
separate establishments, scattered all over
the country. Are they in the control of
few rich men2 No, the stockholders who
own them number about 1000. They live
in all parts of the country, belong to all the
] different classes of society, and to all politi
cal parties. Over one half of the 2l0,00t
stockholders hold shares to the amount Of
81 900 or less each. They are evidently mo-
moneyed aristocrats, but people who have
invested their little savings in bank stock
Can any one national bank control so large
quantity of the currency as to produce BY
its withdrawal or expansion serious effec
upon the meney market? No, the law, dis