New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-12-06
CONGRESS- AND THE BANK&.

Congress begins, as usual, with innumcrablc
| propositions to tinker the public credit the
| National banking system. the tariff and the IN
| ternal revenue acts. The measures proposed
are of all sorts /; good, bad and Indifferent But
nearly all are open to one objection: they pro-
pose to set aside a system which has worked
remarkably well, for some other which has not
been tried, and Of which it is not possible TO
know whether it would work well or ILL., There
is real need, no doubt, of a few improvements
and amendments, but it cannot be said that
there is any need whatever of the general re-
construction of all things financial which
members of Congress are in such haste TO pro-
pose.
The National banking system may be taken
as an illustration. That 1t has worked admir-
| ably on the whole, that it has been found far
superior to any other ever devised in this or
any other country, that il has saved many mill
ions yearly for the people, and particularly for
! the labOring classes, has been fully shown.
| The admirable report of Controller Knox pre-
| sents a mass of additional evidence to that
effect 1t shows once more that no person has
ever lost dollar as a note holder by the failure
of any National bank, and that the entire losses
to creditors Of every sort, by all the failures Of
! National banks that have occurred during
! eighteen years, have been less than Onc-half Of
| one per cent of the average liabilities of such
| banks. No other system in the world has ever
| afforded so great a measure OF protection
against the risks incident to this business.
| Under the old system of State banks, when
| there was a constant loss in the rate Of eX-
change between different parts Of the country,
due to differences in the value of currency toll
Grated by the different States the losses of the
people from that cause alone, and also from the
failure of banks were proportonatey greater
in every year than they have been in eighteen
years under the National system. And yet the
principal object of many members Of Congress
is to force a return 10 dependence upon State
banks.
Controller Knox does not hold that the Ma
tional system is perfect. On the contrary, he
officially recommends some important changes
in the law, increasing the responsibility of
directors, providing for more careful examina-
TONS and authorizing renewals OF charters
that may expire. But these recommendations
look to the Improvement and maintenance Of
system which, tested by many years of alter
nate prosperity and adversely, has worked
better for the people than any other ever
known. In that respect they differ widely from
host Of bills already offered or prepared, which
either openly seek or practically tend toward
the destruction of the system.
Provision for renewal Vt the articles of asso-
citation is not in form absolutely necessary, be-
cause it is now possible TO reorganize Il bank
and to enter upon new term, under the pres
ent laws But this course involves so much of
practical inconvenience and personal loss that
no sensible Government would require IL. To
throw needless distractions in the way of a step
which is nevertheless authorized by law is an
act of sheer stupidity, Of which neither the
friends nor tho foes of the present system
should be guilty. If the National banking sys-
tenn is good, and ought to be maintained, it is
the part OF common sense to avoid the cost and
difficulty of formal reorganization when it is
the wish of the parties interested TO continue
the business. IL the system is bad, it ought to
be abolished and better provided in its stead.
The greatest danger to the National system
arises from well-meant but ill-adyised schemes
to tinker the public credit As matters now
stand, the United States has no occasion to wish
any change in the form OF its bonded indebted
ness that it has power TO make before the four
and half per cents become payable. 1t would