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On the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., a general feeling of distrust was engendered, and the consequence was the utter failure of many of the Nat onal Banks, and the total suspension of all the National Banks in the city of New York.
Now this was not suspension of specie payments, but was a suspension of payments in legal tender Lotes or greenbacks. The promises of the government in the form of greenbacks rose to a premium of four per cent. above the value of National Bank notes, and who can tell the extent of the disaster to the whole country if we had been doing business upon a spe ie basis, as it is called? The ruin would have been general, but as it was, everybody knew that there was precisely the same amount of paper money in the country af'er as before the panic, and consequently it was of short duration, and there was comparative-ly very little derangement in the movements of the products of the country. If the banks could not pay in greenbacks when there was in the country more in amount of legal tenders tean the entire national bank circulation, how can it be expected hat they can maintain coin payments?
The fact is, his talk about specie payments is simply absurd, whether uttered by Mr. Greeley or the Solons of Congress. Mr. Greeley's saying that the "way to resumption was to resume," is not a whit more absurd than the more elaborate proposition pending in Congress. To maintain coin payments in this count.y, commercial as it is, is simply impossible unti the Almighty has changed the character and habits of the people-until, as a nation and as individuals, we become a frugal and economical people, sp nding, as a whole, less than our incomes; and until our national, state, railroad and commercial debt abroad is paid or largely reduced, we cannot be secure from the effects of the vicissitudes that creditor nations are liable to, and consequently, if our banks are on a coin basis, we are liabl at all times to a foreign drain, which would compel suspension,
Allowing the national ba ks to issue any currency is an unmitigated evil, and is the real obstacle to sound, wise a d wholesome legislation, and and they ought to be divested of that power as speedily as it can be done without disturbing values. This real or fanced -interests are antagonistic to wholesome financial legislation. Capital is timid and selfish, and at the same time is influential, and it has been said (by Senator Sprague) that nothing is meaner than one million of dollars except two millions. The circulation enjoyed by the banks is a valuable privilege, ard to protect it they will overlook every consideration of public good.
The evils of such special favors do not end with the banks, for to secure and perpetuate favorable legislation for themselves hey must not oppose legislation for the benefi of other interests: so, legislation becomes a matter of special favor to various interests, and not for the general good. Therefore, the sooner Congress is relieved of this insidious and baneful influence the better.
We have at this session of Congress ample evidence of the baneful work of men blinded by the supposed interests, r led by those who have se fish interests to uphold. The men outside of Congress who have tendered their advice, and whose suggestions will probably be followed, have intere ts in national banks, and wish to be protected in the privileges they now enjoy; and the mistake that many congressnen make, no doubt honestly, is in treating the interests of the banks as the public interests, while, in fact, the public has no interest in them other than to divest them, as soon as practicable, of the power or privilege of issuing money. But giving to congressmen full credit for honesty and the best intentions, it is, after all, pitiable to see how little comprehension they bring to the consideration of financial questions. They seem to be trying how not to do it. They appear to be in a muddle, or else they are determined to keep matters in a muddle, and we really cannot make up our mind which. It is hard to believe that they are so much at a loss as they appear to be, and yet. t is equally past belief that they desire to do wrong on questions of finance, for upon questions outside of t eir duties as congressmen, they are certainly equal to the average of business men in ability and honesty.
We have come to the conclusion that in this matter of finance their appare..t want of foresight comes from the fact that in all uch matters they yield their convictions to the vews of supposed experts, such as the officers, stockholders and attorneys of the national banks in their several districts.
Now the banks have a valuable privilege to maintain and protect, every one of them receiving an annual bonus from government of more than 4 per cent. on their entire capital, over and above all national taxation, for furnishing a circulating medium for the country, which is printed and renewed at the expense of government, and which is no better than greenback, and amounting in the aggregate to an annual net bonus to the stockholders of the national banks of over $15,000,000. At the same time government is obliged to maintain a more complicated and expensive system than would be required if the government is-sued the entire currency of the nation. Sensible and honest men out of Congress ask why this is done, when the nation so much needs the $15,000,000 annually to pay current expenses? Of ou senators and representatives, each proposes a different remedy for financial evils and an empty treasury. One wants more "greenbacks;" another national bank notes; another demands specie payments on a day to be fixed by Congress; an-
