Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-06-27

sas, etc. do need it, they can have IL
if this tax is repealed. For Massa-
New York. and Connecticut
to deny to us this privilege because
they 30 not desire it for themselves is
not in keeping with II spirit of justice
and fairness. State banks possess the
true instincts of gentility, They will
not 20 where they are hot invited, nor
remain where they are net wanted
The States in which large proportion
of property is invested in banking do
not need them, but those States whose
property is stagnant and whose credits
need extension demand them, or some
other additional circulating medium.
The adoption of this amendment does
not mean war on national currency, |
but war on the Federal power which
has worked destruction of State banks
in the interest of national banks. 1t is
not question of whether the money !
of the country shall be gold, silver,
Treasury notes, ETC., or State bank |
notes, but whether the people shall
these banks may supply.
The one is not to Supersede the
other, but to supplement it; not to
contract the present currency, but to
add largely to its volume; not with
wild cat" money, but with money as
good as gold and silver, bank notes or
Treasury notes, greenbacks, etc, be-
cause ultimately redeemaDle in them.
The adoption of this amendment means
tue decentralization Of the currency of
the country, and an equitable distribu
| ton of it according to the needs of the
| people and not according to the whims
of the money power
These banks will supply the local
needs of the people, while leaving the
gold and silver. Treasury notes, ma
| tiOnal bank notes, etc, in undlsputed
possession of the field of national cur
rency The national currency we now
have We will continue to- have. Its
! functions will not be curtailed, nor its
usefulness abridged ; but, on the con
| trary, its sphere of action would be
greatly enlarged, for, as the notes OF
| the State banks will be ultimately re-
deemable in real money. their issuance
will naturally call for an expansion OF
gold and silver currency and an in
crease of their coinage. The base of
supply must be broadened as the drafts
upon it are increased. These banks
will furnish money for the neighbor-
hood, while the national currency can
be utilized in the larger development
of the whole country.
In short, the adoption Of the State
bank system will expand credits by the
utilization of unproductive property
and the increase of the currency in
keeping with the local demands of the
people. The repeal of the tax on State
banks will be emancipation pf0clGn1d
ton to ensl0Ued property. 1t means
the utilization of dead capital in the
extension of credits it means the APP
plication of a galvanic battery to the
dead corpse of prOfitless wealth, which
will revivify the dead and infuse new
life into the living.
1t will largely increase the currency
based on gold and silver, and as a
necessary consequence will demand
and require the increased coinage of
both metals, gold and silver alike, in
which the bank notes must be ulti-
mately redeemable: it will supply the
needs of the waste places of our Zion,
and furnish local communities with
ample currency, not dependent upon
the caprice of corporations who can
expand or contract the currency at
will, buta currency flexible in nature,
dependent upon one principle only,
and that the demand for its use by the
people. Such a proposition should re-
ceive the Endorsement of all parties in
this House.
1t is wise. conservative, and just
To those of US who represent constitu-
encies in many places whose country
homes are oftentines cOmfOrtless and
barren, while plenty smiles in mockery
on every hand whose barns are burst
ing with plenty, and yet whose hearth
stones are desolate in the absence OF
! noco ssary comforts; whose fertile fields
Year by year bring forth their increase
! /. Ill 81 I,,fD
but, like the Dead Sea fruit, beautiful
10 behold but bitter to the taste, in
inadequate returns, by reason Of iinan
cial strngency, the appeal fer none
tary relief, in whatever form, will not
be in vain.
| Like Tantalus, unable to reach with
his parched lips the ever-receding
waters for which he thirsted, though
surrounded by them on every side, the
Southern farmer and planter, abound
ing in plenty, rich in property, and
surrounded on every side by those
things which, if convertible to his use
in other forms, would give ample com
forts to himself and family, finds him
self in the midst of waters thirstlng,
and in the midst of plenty suffering
tor meagef comforts.
! or what use is property, Or what in
/ centiye TO attain it, il it be incapable
of supplying human wants?
Our plea is made Accept it, and
give our people this much needed re-
! lief. Deny it, and we will meet you
With it again, in the forum, on the
hustings, through the press before an
enlightened public sentiment that will
finally respond to our demands in the
repeal of an unjust tax, in the increase
of'our currency on a sound and stable
basis. and the restoration of the ancient
prosperity of our beloved Southern
| land
| Where health and plenty cheered the Iaboring
swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
And parting summers lingering blooms dc
Iayed.