The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-02-10

t emission was to be found in circulation
? 1t was locked up in the chests of executors
$ guardians, widows, farmers, &c. We thel
r issued bills bottomed on a redeeming tax
but bearing no interest These we're readil,
? received and never deprecated a singh
I farthing In the revolutionary war the OLE
Congress and the States issued bills withou
, interest and without tax They occupied
, the channels of circulation very freely til
/ those channels were overfoWed by an excess
/ beyond all the calls of circulation. Blu
, although we have so improvidently suffered
, the field of circulating medium to be filcheC
from us by private individuals, yet think
we may recover it in part, and even in the
/, ! whole, if the States will Cooperate with
u.s.
IF Treasury bills are emitted on a tax
appropriated for their redemption in fifteen
years. and (to insure preference in the first
moments of competitiOn) bearing an inter
est of per cent, there is no one who would
not take them in preference to the bank
paper now ahoat, on principle of patriot
ism as well as interest; and they would be
withdrawn from circulation into private
boards to d considerable amount. Their
credit once established, others might be
omitted, bottomed also on tax, but not
bearing interest; and if ever their credit
faltered, open public loans, on which these
bills alone should be received as specie
These, operating as a sinking fund, would
reduce the quantity in circulation, so as to
maintain that in equilibrium with
| specie. 1t is not easy to estimate the obsta-
| eIes VIII ;ch, in the beginning, we should en-
counter in Ousting the banks from their
possession of the circulation but a steady
| and judlcious alteration of emissions and
| loans would reduce them in time. But
| while this Is going on, another measure
| should be pressed to recover ultitimely our
| right to the circulation. The States should
! be applied to transfer the right of issuing
circulating paper to Congress exclusively,
IN perpetuum, if possible, but during the war
1T least, with a saving of charter rights |
| believe that every State west aud south of
| Connecticut River, except Delaware, would
Immediately do it, and the others would
| follow in time. Congress would, of course
| begin by obliging uuchartered banks to
wind up their affairs within short time
and the others as their charters expired,
| forbidding the subsequent circulation of
| their paper. This they would supply with
their own, bOttomed, every emission on an
adequate tax, and bearing or not bearing
interest, as the state of the public pulse
may indicate. Even in the non-complying
States, these bills would make their way,
and supplant the unfounded paper of their
banks by their solidity, by the universally |
of their currency, and by their receivability |
for customs and taxes. 1t would be in their |
power, too, to curtail those banks to the |
amount of their actual specie, by gathering |
up their paper and running it constantly |
on them. The national paper might thus
take place even In the nOn-complying States. |
In this war, | am not without a hope that |
this great, this sole resource for loans in an
agricultural country, might yet be recoy-
cred for the use of the nation during the
war; and if obtained in perpetuunl, it would
oil no sniff oia + |
any war.-Jefferson's Works, volume G.
pages 10 and fl.
The question will be asked, and ought to
be locked at, what is to be the resource if
loans cannot be ATTAINED There is but one
=" Cartilage deleHda est Rank paper must
be suppressed, and the circulating medium
must be restored to the nation, to whom it
belongs. 1t is the only fund on which they
can rely for loans; it is the only resource
which can never fail them, and it is an .
abundant one for every necessary purpose. | ,
Treasury bills bottomed on taxes, bearing
or not bearing interest, as may be found nee ,
essary, thrown into circulation will take the :
place of so much gold and silver, which last ;
when crowded, will find effiux into other :
countries, and thu. keep the quantum of :
medium at its salutary level. Let banks
continue, if they please, but let them dis ,
count for cash alone or for Treasury notes. J
By comparing the first and the last of
these articles, we see that if the United
States were in possession of the circulating
medium, as they ought to be, they could re- '
deem what they could borrow from that G
dollar for dollar and in ten annual install t
ments; whereas the usurpatiOn of that fund t
by bank paper, obliging them to borrow else |
where at q per cent. 81 are required to re- $
imburse 81. So that it is literally true that t
the liberation of banks of paper discount !
costs the United States one-half their war /
ut fbo | 4.
penses OF etC..yT var. Now think but for a s
what a change o. condition that !
would be, which should save half our war a
expenses require but half the taxes, and |
enthrall us in debt but half the time il
Ibid, page 2O1. 9
But we are in the midst Of war, and the
New England bankers-the fathers of the
same money power in the East which refus-
ed in the late war to take Treasury notes d
until they were made legal-tenders, and .
which now seeks to substitute bank notes for
greenbacks-refused to receive the Treasury Q
notes at par, and the United States Bank
was chartered against the advice of both o
Jefferson and Madison. l
Mr.. Madison has been called the father of b
the Constitution, and next to Mr.. Jefferson l
was certain tainly the father of the Demo- q
cratic party. He was in favor Of issuing T
Treasury notes for circulation, and vetoed t
istration because it tended to withdraw a
Treasury notes from circulation. L
Mr.. Jefferson had said "5ank paper must t
be suppressed" but he foresaw the difficulty /
fit when he said, cit is not easy to estimate ]
the obstacles which in the beginning we q
should encounter in ousting the banks from
their possession of the circulation" General
Jackson felt the full force of thes difficulties,
and after desperate struggle, succeeded in
doing what this great leader said should be I
done But the descendants of jefferson and J
Jackson are now called on to meet the hydra /
headed monster of bank circulation again,
and we must meet it as they did.
The Importance of the principle involved t
in the inquiry whether it will be proper to I
the Rank of the United States, re- e
quires that should again call the attention t
of Congress to the subject. Nothing has &C. L
Cured to lessen in any degree the danger u
which many of our citizens apprehend from t
that institution as at present organized. In e
the spirit OF improvement and compromise 8
which distinguished our country and its in e
it becomes us to inquire whether "
it be not possible to secure the advantages il
afforded by the present bank, through the {,
agency of a bank of the United States so Il
modified in its principles and structure as to O.
Obviate Constitutional and other objections c.
1t is thought practicable to organize such i
bank, with the necessary officers, as a branch u
Of the Treasury Department, based on tn Il
public and individual deposits, without it
power to make loans or purchase property, tt
which shall remit the funds of the Govern is
ment, and the expenses of which may be Of
paid, if thought advisable, by allowing its il
officers to sell bills of exchange to private al
at a moderate premium. Not Oh
being corporate body, having no stock Sc
holders, debtors, or property, and but few m
1ficers,it would not be obnoxious to the ca
objections which are urged
against the present bank; and having no 10
means to operate on the hopes, fears, or in II
serests of large masses of the community, 1t ~
would be shorn of the influence which makes n