National Vs. "wild-cat" Banks

We have in uso two kinds of notes. I hu 'uittil States untes are fixed in auiount ; ut th o natkmaj bank notes inay iu or decrease u volume as business in any art of the country rcquires. This, then, s the only elastic purt of out paper money, and yet niou want to aholii-b it. No other )art uf our curreuey has this faculty of adapting il.-elf' tci uierely loca] needs. Gold comes or goes whcn the trade of the whole ■mintry requires more or lesa. Legal tenders or gold, if more are wanted for the usiness of' any town, county or State, can e drawn ooly trom other places by borrowng, or by oompetiüon in ellin{ producís. iat national banks cao be startedwhenever men who have means learn that such banks are needed, and can increase or reduce their circulation at pleasure. If the fariners have a large erop, the bank can take ouf ïuore circulation if inore is needed, lend its notes on the cbligatioDs of men who buy aud move he grain, and look with confidence for a return of its notes wlicn the grain has been old to consuiuers. In like uianner local business of almost cvery kiiid tuay supply tself, through the bank system, with such currenoy as it rently nceds, and may tbus e free trom too great depcnHence upon the enders of distan' ei t íes. The only thing rt-quired is capital, investèd acoordine to aw in bonds for the se(Urity uf ihe public. [o nrder to invite capital tri engage in janklng 8t fvcry plaéö Ik re iIhtc is 01 1 il it it, the Ñutí' nal í-ystim giypsirOnië proffi ei the cir -ulatiun tfin emprojed fur local wants. Yet this 8ytetu, strango to say, the very men who coniplain of' a lack of' uircncy wish to break down. ,Strange to -ay, the very men who tlii'.k tlx-ie is not currency ennugh are thosc who ulij. et tnost loudly to the pr fi .- whicU invite uien of tneans to ptrt out inore currency. It is r t( n -icd tliat ' the IjaiiLs," having a eimimon interest, w 1 1 1 act töjieiDfr to contract the currency, a i.d thns Hicfeasf their profits by every (al! in pricesi" II ihis i s ', why do tlej' put out any curreney at all? iSinil! eropa of heat e.iuse hijih prici's, and liign prices of' whtat hdp the farmer. TI.ik f'.io, wil not that "'gigante monopoly." the fortui hg iuterrsl, burn all the win at or feed il to tinhogs, in onlcr to put np the price? Small crops and high prices do bot lielp ;my farmer be hv a cïop fo iefl, We may be stfre that he dees not destroy his own grain in order to make gr.in more scaroe and help to gel high prices. So with the banks ; it h,elpa thein to have money scartSö only wh' n tliey have plenty to lend. Kach hunk might i.-h that somc other bank would m;ike nioncy scarci', but not one will deprivc itself' Óf tnobey to It ml in order that otbera may make large profits. Any coniruction, too,which causen disa-ter, hurts the banks by breaking iheir ers. Sonie fáil, owing to the banks. and cannot pay what t h'y owe. Uw nati. nul banks have lost $64,119,515 in bad debts charged off within ihe last three years. Other customers lose money, so that they have less to deposit, and conspquently the bauks get let-s to lend. Bad times fWr the country are bad for the banks. In 1870 the national banks gained eleven percent, on their whole capital invested ; in 1878, less tlian halt' as niuch, 5 14-100 percent. To say that the banks will bring disaster upon others in order to help tin iuelves is sheer non.-ense. What worknian, in order to better his condition, will set fire to the factory whieh paya hini wages? It is saiil that the national banks form " a powerful and dangerous monopoly." Nothing can be more absurd. These banks are not one in interest, as has been shown. Find fifty banktr, and you lind fifty áifkt ent opioions. National bankers are of all parties, and of all lihades of opinión as to tinance, and it has never been tuund pos.Mble to get a tenth oFltuuq f'f - , ,'r'v „.. Diofxm MucKiioklcrs in nationnl banks, but more than half of' them own $1,000 or less of stock each, and war upon thom as a class is largely a war upon women and children. Banking is a tuonoi)oly only as farm ing is. A man who cannot get land cannot be a farmer, and a man who cannot get money has no right to be a banker. But the real objection to the system is that it preveots men who have no money from issuing swindling notes as bankers. Hfcvic the people foreotton how thy were robbed in oíd times by "wildcat" llanks? Ihe national system is so guarded that it is safe for the peoplo. For that reason it is hated by the men who want to swindlo the country once more by startim hanks without rooney, and putting out worthless notes without restraint. Any set of men can start a national bank who will dn it honet-ily und have the inoan.s 'O do it safely. But the restraints of the luw are nicant to prutect the peop'e, and the systeni we have is the saf' st in the wuild Thi' banken aie obligcd to pay in ind bod ihne times ai mucli laintal. in proponían to lial.iliiie, as the 1 210 bankiu Kngland and Wales put up to protret iluir criditois. Swurn remrns and strict in.-'peciions ure rvrjuircd h re ; the lack 01 ilnui in otlii'i ooudrrÓN, it ia oaoftried, -xpoe ihe piopU to greator dantcr. During sixteen years all the leMU to all tin iTedititra of nationai hnnks anmunt to onlj 5.4I&,423. Bitg-mrts bank in O rent Uritain reOMtly ífciled witli a loss 'o cred nors ot $26.0OO,0UO. 'l'lie M Siate bank, as all kuow, um d t.i liiil t.y the More, involwtig rich and poor In neavj osis. Ilion vial (1841) biinkn having a capit.-il of' i?(J7 036,865 (ujcre than onefif't h of thi1 liiikinL' c; it al in llu country at tbal liui") f'ailtd wnli a circula don oi $23 ,577 lf'2, and in maily eyerj instance the who:c capiol as lo.-t. Ii almiist any year of duMters, it il safe to say, the loss to cieduors ot the old Siate banks was gwator t h ;in tlui lns tn ereditors of all national banks in sixteen ycars. It costs something to rnake the system safe. Policeman and fire entines, for the protection of life aml pïopwty, toat noiethinf also. But it wouM M miiih nmeaftnaibk to aboliih them than to pemil knaves to to start banks and issue potes without [Newago RepublicAQ. Fiftv years ago (Deaeibei 10. 1829,) the first white child was horn in the county o Kalamazoo, aml a few Irknd.s met at the rt'Mtli'tice of Mr. Ileury liandolih, near Paw Paw, to celébrate the half century an niversary birth day of' his accbni)lihcc wife, the histoiiral personagü-of' this notuv Hor amoe was KlizuRJane Wiliuarth, anc her parentH were among the very earliei settlers of Prairie Ronde, and afterwards o (rand Prairie. The ageil mot her htill 1 vi and distim'tlv rememhers the experience o