The advocate., 1895-10-23

on hand to pay As cents on the dollar Of theiI
liabilities; yet they agreed to loan the govern.
ment $50 1000 In specie and had O39 to
do It with. They owed IS per cent more
than they could pay In specie. It would GER
tSinly require ajudlclous management" OF
something else, on the part Of common man
TO make 45 cents pay 100 cents and then be able
70 loan $50 cents, wouldnt it?
Well. the associated banks claimed to have
loaned the associated peopls"-thO govern
ment-$151 in specie and Mr.. Coe fur
thsr says:
After taking the third amount Of $4,000 900
by the associated banks, those In New York,
who had at that time paid In Of their proper
tlon over S80,O0OO00 in all, found themselves In
this position Their aggregate coin, which on
the l7th OF August, before the nrst payment
into the treasury, was 949,73S9oO, was on De-
cembeF z, ,&42Sl8,6l0, a reduction Of only $7415-
$780, and the other two cities In like proportion.
tmay be confidently affirmed that
had the banks been permitted to exercise
their own methods, they could have continued
their advances in sums OF s50OOOOOO for On in
definite period.
Great C@sar's ghost Just think Of it; the
banks of New York had loaned the govern.
ment over $sOOOOOOO in specie, out of stock Of
specie $7,Al5SsO. They had loaned nearly twice
as much specie SS they possessed, and had the
governments bonds for nearly eleven times
as much money % they had lost in coin. And,
"hGd the banks been permitted to erercise their
Own methods, they could hare continued their Gd-
uGnceS IN SumS Of s5O,OOO,OOO for an indefinite
period"
The explanation Of "their own meth
DDS" by which they were enabled to
perform these acts Of legerdemsin may
be found In the following extract from
q speech of Thsddeus Stevens in the
House of Representatives, February 5,
1852:
Before the banks had paid much Of the last
loan they broke down underlt, and suspended
specie payments. They have continued to
pay that loan, not in coin, but in demand notes
OF the government.
In another speech February 20, 1852,
Mr.. Stevens said:
The banks took SOOOOO,OOO Of per cent.
bonds, and shaved the government S5S,OOO,OOO
on them. They paid for the SSOOOO,OOO in de-
mAnd notes, not specie
Query: If the demand notes were
not good money for the banks were
they good money for the banks to loan
to the government at this trying period
Of its exlstencep
Was IL q mistake to issue treasury
notes to meet the vast expenditures Of
the government under such circum-
stancesp There was mistake, or
something worse than mistake COM
mitted, but 1t was not of the character
indicated by Mr.. Carlisle. The govern
ment should have issued United States
currency In sufficient amount to meet
all the requirements Of that trying
period. This currency, instead of being
promise to pay, should have been re.
deemable only in receipt for taxes and
public dues. It should have been a
full legal tender for all debts both pub.
lie and private, and no provision should
have been made for its conversion into
interest bearing bonds. Such a cur
rency would have been gladly received
by the people for food, clothi2g and
munitions of war, and by the army and
navy for military and naval service.
1t would have saved thousands of mil.
lions Of dollars that have been plum
dered from the people by the asso.
clated banks under the system Of
brigandage that was provided for in
stead, and to-day we should be free
from public debt and from thrslldom
to Wall street pirates.