Year: 1860

I

 Still there IS another reason in itself suf- ficient. The State, during the administra- tions of Governors Yell and Drew drew from the State Bank in the shape of loan

 considerable amount of money to defrav the current expenses of the State govern. ment. Ihls money has never been renaid

 nor can 1t be unless some accumulation is allowed in the treasury. If this money ;S repaid to the Bank, it can be used in pur chasing her outstanding liabilities to an extent sufficient to liquidate her entire in debtedness. It is said by Col. Hindman. the State Bank belongs to the State. and facetlously adds "you had as we'll say I can borrow money from myself and pay It back to myself" that he would like to know some means of making himself pay himself what himself has been living on for long time past. The State and the Bank are not one and the same; the State holds the position of security-nothing more. The Bank has assets sufficient, amply sui ficient, to liquidate her liabilities if properly applied, but if the assets are diverted and the bank is in this way prevented from paying her debts, her indorser, using the assets, cannot afterwards complain of the Bank for suffering her debts to fall on the State-where two dollars has to be paid instead of one-but must blame those who worked the evil in refusing to pay to the Bank what is justly due her, and which, If paid, would have served to cancel the entire debt of the Bank. and have released the State from all liability on her account

 If 1t Is feared the people will have to groan under heavy taxation, to enable the State to pay the Bank what is due-it might be found when the State had to pay bond holders two or three times as much, that

 'gnat had been strained at and camel swallowed"

 Col. Hindman lays great stress on the fact of the tax bill "dying in the pocket of the Governor" The constitution au- thorlzes this circumstantial mode of using the veto power, as fully as it does the re- turning bill to the House in which it originated with his objections, and the reason for it is certainly unanswerable. The veto power is held, as formerly, saluta. " check in our system of government.

 Without this, important bills could be delayed to the last days of the session so that the Governor would not have time to examine them, and thereby become laws without the sanction of one of the import ant branches of government. It may be said If confidence is had in the legislature there is no necessity for this constitutional check on rude and nasty legislation, but, if this line of argument Is pursued it would

 be needless to " take two bites at cherry and they could easily follow where it would naturally lead, and say one House or the other would be sufficient to make laws, and for one House to be allowed to kill bill passed by the other is an outrage. The organization of the government. as it stands, Is the perfection of human wisdom, and to loose from it one important feature would weaken it we'll nigh to destruction. The precedents for its use are numerous. The most important and the one which created the greatest furor at the time was during General Jacksons administration. when, under the leadership of Mr. Clay, a bill having for its object the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands to the States, was vetoed. It created the greater excitement, because the bill passed both Houses of Congress by two-thilds ma Jorty. General Jackson, as authorized by the constitution, pocketed the bill-that is, did not return 1t to the House Here for the first time, the act was dubbed ''pocketing the 6'U." This act of the Presidents ex- cited, almost to madness, the whigs in Congress, and Mr. Clay used all his elo- quence in invective against him and his defenders. It excited the more, because, at the following elections, members to the lower House of Congress were returned with views coinciding with the Presidents and never after, with all the ingenuity and management of the whigs. could this mea- sure pass the United States Congress. Des- pot, tyrant, dictator-were the terms freely dealt to General Jackson-and serfs, collar men, slaves and tools were as freely dealt to his followers. If, had he had any relatives, no doubt the term |" family" would have been added to the list It is useless, it is unwise and inconsistent to abuse where the constitution is not departed from. If the power Is deemed tyrannical, let them unfurl the old whig banner and boldly appeal to the people, as they once did, for an amend ment of the constitution

 Col. Hindman says Conway. Johnson and company deserve no credit for winding up the banks, because he says the banks would never have suspended but for the large amount of money borrowed by them. In the first place, Gov. Conway, Dick or Jim Johnson never borrowed dollar from any of the banks, and hence, if criminalty at taches to any one of the family" it can not to them, unless one man is responsible for the acts of another. In the next place, though these Johnsons borrowed money from the banks, they violated no law in so doing, because the banks were instituted to accommodate, by loaning to the people and then the record shows they paid every dollar they owed to either of the banks But Col. Hindman says they paid these debts in the banks own appreciated paper, in her own bonds, etc. He does not deny the legality of the payment, but wars upon the equity of it. Suppose the Johnsons had paid their indebtedness dollar for dol lar, with the amount standing against them in gold and silver, what would have been the effect? The managers of the bank, if  they had done their duty, would have gone in the market and invested this gold and silver in the outstanding bonds of the bank, at their depreciated value. The bank can be allowed to speculate on her creditors, but her debtors must not be allowed to spe- culate on her! But suppose an individual were both debtor and creditor; for instance, an individual owes debt of thousand dollars to the bank, and holds the bonds of the bank for a thousand dollars. He wants a settlement; but he will not be allowed to pay his debt with the bonds of the bank, because the bond is only worth fifty cents on the dollar, and to allow it would be per mitting a speculation on the bank, so he must let the bank pay the bond at what she thinks proper; say five hundred dollars, and then he must add five hundred dollars before he can free himself of the indebted ness. l am opposed to theory giving soulless monopolies such advantage. But as it is insinuated the Johnsons broke the banks by thus speculating, etc., let us look little further The bonds of the banks consti- tute their indebtedness; the assets of the bank, which is moneys due the bank, are 4lo, tbo lo,l-,c I,l;l,,,o,