Newspapers / The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, … / Jan. 11, 1840, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
--- ,, S-'St Tarborousrii, (Edgecombe County, A". C) Saturday, January 1 1, ifc-10 Jo. ATI Yo 2 TiC Ta thorough JEPri'ss, KV r.F.OROE HOWARD, Is published weekly at Two Dollars and F'if'y Cents per year, if paid hi advance or, Three Dollars at the expiration of the subscription year. For anj period less than a year, Ticznty-fiot V 'puts ner month- Snbserihftra arp. at. lihprtv in discontinue at anytime, on giving notice thereof BIUl JJ''J(i"j; uiicais um;3c maiding dl & UllimiT must invariably pay in advance, or give a respon sible reference in this vicinity. Advertisements not exceeding1 a square will be inserted at One Dollar the first insertion, and 25 cents for every continuance. Linger advertise ments in like proportion. Court Orders and Ju dicial advertisements 25 per cent, hi-rher. Ad vertisements must be marked the number of in sertions required, or they will be continued until otherwise ordered and charged accordingly. Letters addressed to thc'lMitor must be post paid or they may not be attended to. PRESIDED PS MESSAGE. (con'clwlcd.) I have heretofore assigned to Congress my reasons f ir believing that the estab lishment of an hid pea-lent National Tre suiy, as contemp'atcd by the Co astiiuiion, is necessary to ihe safe action of the Fed eral Government. Th i suspension of spe rie payments iu 137, by the bulks having the custody of the public mn y, showei in o alarming a degree oar dependence on those institutions lor the pei formance of duties required bylaw, that I then rec 0 n mended theentiivdissolutiou of that con nection. This recommendation has boon s sliject' .d, as I desired it should be, to se vere scrutiny and animated discussion; and 1 allow myself !o believe that, notwith standing ihe naUiral di vet .-ities of opinion which may be anticipated on all subject. involving suchi impoitaut considerations, it ha-- vured in its favor as general a concur rence of public sentiment as could be cx-t.-.- ! on one of such m agnitd.le. I.', cent even's have also continued to develop new objections to such a connec tion. Seldom is any bank, under the ex isting svstem and practice, able to meet o;i u. man !, ail its liabili ies for depesites & lilies in circulation. It maintains specie pay men's, and trans icts a profit dde business o'dy by the confidence ol the public in its solvency; and whenever this is destroyed, the di mmds of iisdepositurs and notehold er's pressed more rapidly than it can make collection fi Oiii its debtors force i to s on payment. This los of confidence witn its consequences occurred in 18.'J7, and afforded the apology of the banks for their suspension. The public then acqui esced in the validity of the excuse; and, while the State Legislatures did nut ex act from them their forfeited charters, Congress, in accordance with the recom menduiion of the Extcutive, allowed them time to pay over the public money they held, ah ho compelled to isue Trea sury notes to supply the deficiency thus created. It now app?ars that there are other mo tives than a want of pub'dc confidence, un der which the banks sec' to justify th un selves in a refusal to meet their ohligitions. Scarcely were the country and Govern ment relieved, in a degree, from the diffi culties occasioned by the general suspen sion of 1S37, when a partial one, oc curing within thirty months of the former, produced new and serious embarrassments, though it had no palliation in such circum stances as were alleged in justification of that which had previously taken place. There was nothing in the condition of the country to endanger a well managed hank ing institution; commerce was deranged by no foreign war; every branch of manu facturing indus'n was crowned with rich revvards; and the more than u-ual abun dance of our harvest, after supplying our domestic wants, h ul left our granaries and storehouses filled with a surplus for ex portaiion. It is in the midst of this, that an irredeemable and depreciated paper currency is emailed upon the people by a large portion of the banks. They are not driven to it by the exhibition of a loss of public confidence, or of sudden pressure from their depositors or noteholders, hut they excuse themselves by alleging hat the current of business, and exchange with l'r roi cm ruin t r l c vvblfll iirnivs tin. .... cious metals from their vaults, would re quire, in order to meet it, a larger curtail ment of their loans to a eomp trativelv small portion of t fie community, than it will be convenient for them to bear, or per haps safe for the banks to exact. The pea his ceased to be one of necessity. Convenience and policy are now deemed suHi-iiont to warrant these institutions in disregarding their solemn obligations Such conduct is uot merely an injury to individual creditors, but it is a wrong to the whole community, "from whose liberal ity they hold most valuable privileges whose rights they violate, whose business they derange, and the value of whoe prop erty they render unstable and insecure. It must be evident that this ground for Hank suspension, in reference to which their ac tion is not only disconnected with, but whol- ly independent of, th it of the public, gives a character to their suspensions more al arm ingthan any which tbev exhibited before, and greatly increased the impropriety of re iving on the banks in the transactions of the Government A large and highly respectable par'ion of our banking ; institutions are, itaffmls me unfeigned pleasure to sate, exempted from all blame on account of this second delin qiiency. They hive, to their great credit, not only continued to meet their engagement'-, but have even repudiated the g o unds of suspension now resorted to. It is only, by suchafourse that the eonfi leiiee an I good will of the community can be preserv ed, and in the sequel, the best in eresis of the institutions themselves promoted. j New dangers to the banks are also daily disclosed from the extension of that system of cxtrav igant credit of which they are the pillars. Formerly our commerce was prin cip dly founded on an exchange of commo dities, including tin? precious melals, and leaving in its transactions but little fore ga debt. Such is not now ihe case. Aide : by the facilitiesaffnr led by the banks, mere r.dii his bcome too commonly the besis! "finde. Many of the banks themselves, nut content with largely stimulating ihi system among others, hive usurped th,j b u 4 n es s w h i ! e t h ey i m pa i r Lh e ta b i i 1 1 y o f ; 1 1 e merem'ile communi'v: they have b -ome borrowers instt-ad of lenders; they estab lish their ag nc es abroad; theyded Lirg-.dv in stocks and merchandize; they encourage the issue of Slate sceui ities until the foreig.i market is glnttevl with them; and, mentis fied with the legitimate use of their own capital and the exercise of their lawful privileges, they raise, by large loans, addi tion d means fur every variety of specul i i ion. The disasters attendant on this devia tion from the former course of business in this C'Hi.jtrv, are now shared alike by banks and individuals, to an extent of which there is perhaps no previous example in the a; nals of our countrv. So long as a v i!lin r ncss of the f ireign lender, and a sufficient export of our productions to meet any ne cessary pirtial payments, leave the Ihw of credit undi-turbed, all uppers to be pros perous; nut as soon as it is checked by any hesitation abroad, or by an inability to ke payment there in our productions, the evil of the system are disclosed. The paper currency, which might serve for do-; mesne purposes, is useless to pay the debt j ling power in a foreign land; and it due in Europe. Gold and silver are there- adds a new argument to those fare drawn, in exchange for their notes, which illustrate their precarious it from the banks. To keep up their supply 'union. Endangered in the first place by of coin, these institutions are obliged tocall'iheir own mismanagement, and again by upon their own debtors, who pav them! the conduct of every institution which principally in their own notes, which ate j connects them with the centre of trade in as unavailable to them as they are to the j in ur own country, iliey are yet subjected, merchants to meet ihe foreign demand, j beyond all ihis to the effect of whatever riie calls of the banks, then fore, in such j measures policy, necessity, or caprice may emergencies, of n- cessity, exceed that ile-j induce those who control the credits of maud, and produce a c on esponding cur- i Emiland to resort to. I mean not to com- tailmciit of their accommodations and of the con en :y, at the very moment when the slate of trade lenders it most iuconve nieiVt to he borne. The intensity of tois pressure on the community is in proportion to the previous liberality of credit and con sequent expansion of the curtency; foiced s ilea of property are made at the lime when ihe means of purchasing are most reducedj and the worst calamities to individuals are only at last arrested, by an upon violation of then- obligations by the baaks, a refusal to to pay specie for their notes, and an imposi tion upon the community of a fluctuating and dcpicciated currency. These consequences are inherent in the .present system. They are not influenced by the banks being large or small, created hy National or Stale governments. They are the results of the . iresiiih!e laws of trade and credit. In the recent events which have so strikingly illustrated the certain effects of these laws, we have seen thu bank of the largest capital in the Union, cstabJLshed under a national charter, & late ly strengthened, as we weiv authori atively informed, by exchanging th 1 1 for a State charter, with new and unusual privileges ioa condition loo, as it was said, of entire soundness and great p-o-prity not mere ly unable to resist these eiLcls, but the first to yield to them. Nor is it to be overlooked that there ex ists a chain of neccsry dependence among lhe.c institutions which obliges them, to a great extent, to follow the course of others, notwithstanding its injustice to their own immediate creditors, or injury to the parti cular community in which ihey are placed. This dependence of a bank, which is in propoition to the extent of its deb's for cir culation & deposites, is not merely on oth ers in its own vicinity, but on all those which connect it with'the centre of iride. Distant banks may fail, without seriously affecting those, in our principal commercial cities; but the failure of the latter is fell at Ihe extremities of the Union. The suspen sion at New York in 1837, was every where, with very few exceptions, followed, as soon as it was known; that recently at Philadelphia immediately affected the banks of the South and West in a similar manner. 4 This dependence of our whole banking system on the institutions in a few large cilies, is not found in the laws of tlvir organization, but in those of trade and exchange. The banks at that centre to which currency flows, and where it is re quired in payments for merchandise, hold the power of controlling those in regions, whenca it comes, while the latter posses-! no means of restraining them; so th it the value of individual property, and of trade, through the whole interior of the country, are made to depend on the good or bad management of the banking institutions in ih 2 great seats of trade on the seaboard. B it this chain of dependence does no? stop here. It does not terminate at Phila delphia or New York. It reaches across the ocean and ends in London, the centre of the credit system. The same laws of trade, which give to the banks in our prin eipd cities, power over the whole banking system of the United States, subject the former, in their turn, to the money power in the it Britain. It is not denied that the suspension of the New York bulks in 1:37. which was followed in quick succes sion throughout the Union, was produce ! by an application of that power; and it is now alleged, in extenuation of the present eondi'iou of so largj a portion of our banl.s, that th-ir embarassments have aris en from the same cause. t'lom this influence they cannot now en tirely escape, for itdus its origin in th: redit currencies of the two countries; it is strengthened by the current of trade and 'x ii.mge, which centres in London, an ! is rendered almost irresistible by the large iehts contracted' there by our merchants, our b mks, and our States. It is thus that an introduction of a new bulk into the most distant ofour village, place the busi ucssof that village within the influence of die money power in England. It is thus that every uVbt which we contract in thai country, seriously affects our own curren cy, and extends over the pursui's of our citizens its powerful influence. We cannot escape from this by making new banks, great or small. State or National. The s une chains which bind those now existing to the ecmre of this system ef papr r credit, must f qually fetter every similar institution we create. It is nnlv by the extent to which this system li es been pushed of late, th.it we have b en made full v awate of its v r sistible tendency to subject our own banks and currency to a vast control- mcni upon thee measures, present or past, and much less to discourage the prosecution of fair commercial dealing between the two countries, based on reciprocal benefits; but it having now been made manifest that the power of inflicting thrsc and similar injuiies, is, by the resistless law of a. cred it currency and credit trade, equally capa ble of extending their consequences through all the ramifications of our bank ing system, and by that means indirectly obtaining, particularly when our banks are used as depositories of the public moneys, a dangerous political influence in the Uni ted Sfahs, I have deemed it my duty to bring the subject to your notice, and ask for it your serious consideration. Is nn argument required beyond the ex position of the se facts, to show Ihe impro prietv of using our banking institutions .ns depositories ol" the public money? Can we venture not only to encounter the risk of tluir individual and mutual mismanage ment, but, at the same time, to place our foreign and domestic policy entirely under the control of a foreign moneyed interest? To do so is to impair the independence of our Government, as the present credit sys tem has already impaired the independence of our banks. It is to submit all its impor tant operations, whether of peace or war, to be controlled or thwarted r.t first by our own banks, and then by a power abroad greiler than themselves. I cannot bring myself to depict the humiliation to which ihis Government ami people might be soon er or later reduced, if the means for de: fending their rights are to be made depen dent upon those who may have the most poweiful of motives to impair them. Nor is it only in reference to the effect of this state of things on the independence of our Government or of our banks, that the subject presents' itself for consideration; it is to be viewed also in its "relations, to the general trade, of our country. The time is not long past when a deficiency of foreign crops was thought to afford a prof-; itable market for the surplus of our indus try; but now we await with feverish anxi ety the news of the English, harvest, not. so much from motives of commendable sympathy, but fearful lest its anticipated failure should narrow the field of credit there- Does n6t this speak volumes to the patriot? C;m a system be beneficent, wise, or just, w hich creati s greater anxiety for interest dependent on foreign credit, than f or the geneial prosperity of our own eoun fry, and ihe profitable exportation of the surplus produce of our labor? The circu'ns ances to winch I have thus adverted, appear to me to ailbrd weighty reasons, developed by late events, to be added to thoe which I h ive on former oc casions offered, whm sibmiiiing to your b. Iter knowledge and discernment the pro priely of separating ihe custo ly of the public money from banking institutions. Nor has any ihiiig ourred to ieisen, in my opinion, the force of what has been heretofore urged. The only ground on which thai custody can he desired by the banks, is the profitable use whi h they may m ike of the money. Such use would be regarded in individualsas a breach ofttust, or a crime of great magnitude, a id yet it unv be reasonably doubted whether, first and last, it is not amended with more mis ehievoos consequences, when permitted to the orrner than to the Ltier. The prac tice of permitting the public money to be u.Ned by its keepers as here, i, believed to be peculiar to this country, and to eit scar cely any where else. " To procure it here, improper influences are apoealed to; un wise connections are established between 'h i Government and vast numbers of pow erful Slate institutions; ot'm r motives than the publij good are brought to bjar both on the Exee alive and Legislative depart ment, and selfish combirnthms, leading to pecial legislation are formed. It is made the interest, of banking institutions and their stockholders throughout the Union to u se their exertions for the inert-aso of tax ation and the accumulation of a surplus re venue; and, while an excuse is afforde I, the means are furnished furthest excessive issues which lead to extravagant trading and speculatio i, and are the fore-runners of a vast debt abroad, and a suspension of the banks at home. Impressed, therefore, as I am with the pro- prieiy ot the tunus ot the Government be ing withdrawn fuxm the private use of eith er banks or individuals, and ihe public money kept by duly appointed public a gents; and believing, as I do that such also is the judgment which discussion, reflec- tion and experience have produced on the public mind, 1 leave the subject with you. It is at all events, essential to the interests of the community and the business of the Government, that a decision should be made. Most of the arguments that dissuade us from employing banks in the custody and disbursement of the public money, npplv with equal force to the receipt of their lutes for public due. The difference is only in form. In one instance, the Government isacreditor for its depesites, and in the other for the notes it holds. They aflWd the sime opportunity for using the public moneys, and equally lead to nil the evils attendant upon it, since a bank can as safe!) i-xienu its discounts on a deposite ot us notes in the hands of a public officer as on one made m tt.s own vaults. On the other hi nd, it would give to the Government no greater security; for, in case of failure, the claim of the note-holdet wculd be no better than tlust of a depositor. I am a w;:.re that the danger of inconve nience to the public, ;uid unreasonable. pressure upon sound hanks, have b.en urged as ol jeciions to requiring the pay ment of trie revenue in gold and silver. These objections ha e been gready exag gerated. From the best esiimaics we may safely fix the amount ol'specie in the coun try at eighty-five millions of dollars, and the portion of that which would be employ ed at any one time in the receipts and dis bursements of the Government, even if the prop s: change w ere made al once, would not, it is now, aft' r fuller investigation, believed, exceed four or five millions. If the rha'ige were gradual, several years would elapse before that sum would be re quired, w itii annual opportunities in the mean time to alter the law, should experi ence prove it to be oppressive or inconve nient. The portions of the community on whose business the change would immedi ately oper;it", are Comparatively small, nos is it believed that i'S effect would be in ihe least unjust or injurious to them. In the payment of duties, 'which consti tute by far the greater portion of the revenue, a very large ptopoition is derived from for eign commission hons' sand agents of for eign manufacturers, who scil the goods consigned to them, generally, at auction, 3nd after paying the duties out of the avails, remit the ist .".bread in specie or its equiv alent. Th it. the amount of duties should, in such c:j.ses, Le also retained in specie, can hardly be made a matter of complaint. Our own importing merchants,- by whom the residue is paid, are not only peculiarly interested in maintaining a sound curren cy, which the measure in question will es picially promote, but are, from the nature cf their dealings, best able to know when spe cie will be needed & to procure it with the least difficulty or sacrifice. Residing, too almost uni versally in places where the reve nue is received, and where the drafts used by the Government for its disbursements concentrate, they have every opportunity to obtain and us- them in place of specie, should it be for their inter, st orconvenience. Of the number of there drafts, and the fa ciiiiies they mav afford, as well as of the rapidity wiih wlreh the public funds are drawn and dbdnnsed, an idea may bo forme I from th - f.ct, that of neady twenty millions of dollais paid to collectors and iceeive.s during th? present year, the average amount in their hinds at any ona time h s not exceeded a million and a half; and of the fifeen millions received by tho collector of New York alone during the p'esent year, the average amount held by him, subject to d:iit during each week, has been les-s than half a million. The ease and safely of the op rations of the Treasury in keeping the public money are promote ! by the application of its own .Inks to the public dues. The objection arising from having them too long out standing, migiitbeobviattd, and they ) et made to afford to merchants and banks holding them an equivalent for sp cie, and in that way greatly lessen the amount ac tually required. Still less inconvenience will attend the requirement of specie in pur chases of public lands. Such purchases, except when made on speculation, are, in general, but single transactions, rarely re peated by the same person; and it is a fact that for the last year and a half, during which the notes of sound banks have been received, more than a moiety of these payments - has been voluntarily made in pecie, beinga larger proportion than would havebern required in three years under the graduation piojjosed. It is moreover a principle, than which none is better .settled by experience, that the supply of the precious me'als i 1 al ways be found adequate to the uses for winch they are required. They abound in countries where no other currency is al lowed. In our own States, where small notes are excluded, gold and silver supply their place. Vv hen driven to their hiding places by bank suspensions, a little firm ness in the community soon restores them in a sufficient quantity for ordinary purpo ses. .Postage and otner nuoiic dues nave been collected in coin, without serious in convenience, even in Slates where a de preciated paper currency has existed for years, and this, with the aid cf Treasury notes for a part of the time, was done with out interruption during the suspension of 1S37. At the present moment j the re ceipts and disbursements of ti e Govern ment are made in legal currency in the largest portion of the Union No cue sug gest a departure from this rule; and if it can now be successfully carried out, it will be purely al tended with even lej-s difficul ty when bank notes are again redeemed in specie. Indeed I cannot think lliat n serious ob jection would any where be raised to the receipt and payment of gold and silver in all public transactions, wore it not from an apprehension that a surplus in the Treasu ry might wit hdi aw a 1 rge portion of it from circulation, and lock it up uuprof.ta b ly in the public vaults. It would uot, in my opinion, be difficult, to p; event such an inconvenience from occurring; but the authentic statements which I have already submitted to you in regard to the actual amount in the public Treasury at any one time during the period embraced in them, and the little probability of a d iff. rent state of the Ti eastu y for at Last some jenrs to come, seem to render it unnecos.uy to dwell upon it. Congress, moreover, as 1 have before observed, w ill in every year have an opportunity to guard against it, should the occurrence of any circumstan ces lead us to apprehend injury from this source. Viewing the subject in all its as pects, I cannot believe that any period will be more auspicious than the present for ihe adoption of all measures necessary to maintain the sanctity of our own i n gagements, and to aid in securing the com munity that abundant supply of the pre cious metals which adds so much to their prosperity, and gives such increased sta bili;y to all their dealings. In a country so comtneicial nso rs, banks in some form will probably a!was exist; buf lh.'." serves only to render it i fie more incumbent on us, notwithstai ding the dis couragements of ihe past, to strive in our respective stations to mitigate I lie evils they produc - : to tae from then) as rapid ly as ihe obligations of public faith and a careful consideration of the immediate in terests of the community will permit, the unjust character of monopolies; to chick so far as m'y be practicable by prudent legis lation, those temptations of intcirs and those opportunities for their chngeous in dulgence, which bcs3ttbm on every sh e, and to confine them strictly to the crfo.m ance of their paramount duly, that of aiding the operations of commerce, rather than, consulting their own exclusive advantage. These and other salutary reforms may, it is believed, be accomplished without the violation of any of the great principles of the social compact, the observance of which
The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 11, 1840, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75