Year: 1867


ernment give 1t Q real and substantial value.
The national bank circulation is based on gov
ernment credit Why, then, cannot the entire
currency Of the country be solely in the name
Of the government without the additional
stamp or name Of the national banks on 1t
The government is responsible any way for
this circulation; then why should it not be in
greenbacksf We think uniform legal tender
circulation better or at least as good as bank
currency, Notwithstanding the rigmarole jay
Cooke publishes about the simple Dutchman's
opinion Of national bank notes. As long a.
paper shall be the money or currency Of the
country, let the banks do their business with
legal tenders There is not the least necessity
for national bank notes.


We claim that the government could save
eighteen millions year at least by this simple
change of legal tender for q national bank
note currency, without increasing at all the
volume Of circulation We thought il very
simple calculation, for example, to withdraw
the three hundred millions of national bank
notes and issue the same amount Of legal
tenders in their place, and then with these
legal tenders buy up and cancel three hundred
millions of the interest-bearing bonds which
the banks have deposited and from which they
now draw interest This would lessen the in
terest-bearing debt three hundred millions and
save eighteen millions a year. We supposed
this very simple calculation, but Jay Cooke
does not understand it so. He endeavors to
make out the government would save very
little or nothing at all. He tries to show that
the banks pay back in one way or another
in the way Of taxes and 80 on-as much % this
bonus amounts to as if the capital or property
Of others had not to pay taxes as we'll as theirs.
We think the banks pay less than their share
in comparison with what capital used in other
kinds Of business pays, and that they are
favored over and beyond this gratuity OF
eighteen millions.


One thing Jay Cooke specially eschews. He
says nothing about returning to specie pay
ments. He sees, probably, that the perpetua-
finate postponement Of specie payments.
He thinks the aggregate profits of all the
banks will not exceed at present seven per
cent year. We suppose he means indepen-
dent of the interest drawn from their bonds de-
posted with the Treasury. He cannot mean
Otherwise, according to the evidence we have
heretofore published Of the profits Of the banks.
We have no doubt the profits are very large
when this interest is included, which, Of course,
should be reckoned. But il they do not make
large income 1t is the fault of the manage
ment and because the managers are not as
smart as Jay Cooke. Though he does no.
understand the subject Of national finances he
knows how to make money through the national
bank system man who, from being poor
clerk, has made millions in three or four years
through this system, may well praise 1t.


The national banks are gigantic monopoly.
with power to control the markets and absorb
all the profits Of industry, and il they have not
proceeded quite SO far as this yet it will not be
long before they will como to it They are
dangerous too, in spite Of Jay Cookies assertion
to the contrary. We have seen their influence
in Congress, and there can be no doubt that
Mr.. Chase confidently looks to them as grand
political machine. In any case where their
interest or purpose is concerned they could
WELD power greater than ever the old United
States Bank welded. In fact, they could, and
will, probably, IL they remain as they are, con-
troll the destinies Of the republic. In them q
great moneyed oligarchy has been created,
which, in the end, would make the rich richer
and the poor poorer and reduce the mass Of
the population to the condition Of European
pauperism. Yet we are told BY this same Jay
Cooke, who said q national debt was .
national blessing, that the national bank system
is most excellent and beautiful every way.