National Republican., 1888-02-05
NATIONAL BANKS As BANKS OF ISSUE.

NATIONAL BANKS As BANKS OF ISSUE.
National banks, as banks of issue, have
served the purpose for which they were
created. \ great cmcrgcncy-thc most tire
mrmduus convulson that has effected modern
times, required extraordinary remedies. The
national bank system, as it now exists, was
one of the remedies.
Money, or its representative, was needed in
immense amounts, and the power to issue
bills was given to these banks. Necessity
knows no law There is no question but
what the currency thus created is the best
ever known. and the reason is that the faith
and credit of the United States is its guar
untcc.
In fact the United States Government be-
came, and is, Il partner in every national
| bank that has been. or will hereafter be, char
tered undcrthc national banking laws.
The making of money or issuing bills of
credit is one of the highest attributes Of SOW
crcignty--So high that in the formation of
our Government it was Surrendered by the
States to the general Government In the
first paragraph of section TO- the first article
of the Constitution. which says NO State
shall coin money, emit bills of credit, &c, de-
privcS the States of all power on this sub
| jcct
| 1t is absurd to suppose for an instant that
| the States in sllrrcndcring this attribute of
sovereignty To the general Government, be-
cause it was too great power for them to
RETAIN intended to authorize the general
Government to delegate the authority con-
| frrrcd ON it to private individuals or corpora
tiuns. President Jackson held this theory
when he vetoed the United States bank bill.
The issuance of money, or i, representa-
| tive, is not part of the lcgiHmQtc hAS,ness
of a bank. senator 'Xach2 Chandler man
of vast business experience, in a debate in
| the Scn4t@ on the currency question, in Feb
rlury. 1874, said: The business of bank
lis to discount bills of exchange" Senator
| Oglcshy, in the same discussion, said of the
national banking system, 1T was based upon
the political economy of no country or of no
author. 1t was based upon the political
necessities Of the times, and is therefore now
to be treated and considered on a broader
plane, and as purely American question,
disconnected in great part if not entirely
from the theories of other times, and, as
think of other countries
senator Thurman, Democrat Of Demo
Gratis, firm believer in the power of the
government tn maintain its integrity and
existence, and yet in strict construction oi
; the Constitution, said, in discussing the ma
tiOnal banks with the currency, Forty
years ago the chief source of profit of Il bank
was its circulating notes That is So no
longer anywhere in Great Britain or the
United States. The chief source Of profit of
Il bank is now its deposits and not its circu-
ating medium. Therefore the idea
of pcrpctuating the national bank system
or making it Il system for all time to come
means that the national debt of the country
shall endure Us long rs the country itself
The national bank systcmis founded wholly
and entirely upon the existence ola national
debt"
senator FcsScndcn, at one time Secretary
Of the Treasury, said in the FoTieth Con-
grcSs of the antiOnal bank system, This
arose ont of u matter We could not avoid
the enormous expenditures of the war
Thus it will be- seen that stern necessity
compelled the adoption of Il policy rcpug
. nunt to the Constitution and in violation o
all the rules of political economy. 1t wa
one of tho occasions which juStfcS the
alagc, Where armies enter law is silent.
Nul onlythc laws Of the country and the well
= known principles of political economy, bu
the Ycry laws Of nature, were suspended il
{ rhrurmcndouS struggle the nation was max
ing tu sustain its existence.
But the necessity for this vicious partner
ship between the Government and its crca
lures the banks has passed away, II is no in
Justice to the banks tOdiSSolvcit, The time ha
come for the Government to divorce itscl
from the embraces of the banks, and reSlIm
ing the sovereign attributes it conferred upol
10 them take sole charge Of the issuance q
money and bills Of credit There are n,
= economical or political reasons why tn
i, bank, should any longer remain banks u
i,,uc whilst there are many reasons, boll
, economical and political, why this powc
should be- taken from the banks
These reasons We do not proposcto discus
AT the present time, but will suggest one
T. which i, the fact that the present system I'm
D uhlcs the banks 10 contract or expand tn
I currency at will. The power to contrac