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THE PRESIDENT'S PROTEST.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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1859-1 _ 1800 . Jan ? 5 . Jan . 4 . March 27 . April ll . 5 es issued . . 33 , 043 , 250 30 , 290 , 685 29 : 002 435 28 . 389 , 340 Reserve in Bank . 12 , 161 , 000 8 , 465 , 590 8 , 719 , 705 4 , 922 , 085 Circulation . . 21 , 704 , 045 22 , 620 , 690 21 , 059 , 771 24 , 173 , 0 S 4 Public Deposits . 9 , 632 , 309 9 , 159 , 556 10 , 362 , 543 5 , 878 , 135 Private Securities 18 , 209 , 742 21 , 092 . 909 22 , 575 , 833 23 , 534 , 388
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npHE most serious drawback of the political system of the J- United States is just that one of its peculiarities which is probably deemed by most persons its greatest excellence . The sovereign people . ' too often called upon to exercise its sovereignty . " What with the quadrennial election for Prosi ( lent , the biennial ones for Congressional representatives :, those for governors and members of " local legislatures , for mayors , judges , aldermen , common conn oilmen , treasurers , supervisors , and a host bi other officers—elect ions held at . different times in . ' different states ,
and all , because determined by exclusively political considerations , important , as affecting party strength and chances , to tlie whole " Tnicm—American . politicians are in a continual election-fever The result of this system , which would . have gladdened the heart of ItoussE . uj— -who held that Englishmen , with all their boasts , were really onl y free while they were electing- the members oi their Parliarnciit— -- and which ' . of course not without its great advantages , is to give an . utterly false tone to American polities , and to subordinate truth and justice to mere electioneering
considerations . An American politician cannot afford to judge a question upon its merits , and trust to time to commend In * honest opinion to "his countrymen . He must frame his decision to ¦ win the votes of the moment , and he has besides to , < pcnk >\ ith that recklessness and licence , which are perhaps excusable enough in the excitement . of an election , but are misinterpreted by Englishmen , who cannot understand that the rant and rage vomited by eminent American statesmen is not the expression of their convictions , or tin indication of the policy they desire ( o pursue , but mere claptrap to influence the polls . " '
Without-tin ' s key to . Americanpolitics , it would be impossible to explain the singular and protracted fight for the- . Spoukcrship of the House of Representatives at the commencement of the present session of Congress , and the extraordinary corruption charged ' against Mr . Bi'cuaxax , as well as that ^ ¦ titlcnian ' s most extraordinary ' reply . Without entering upon the vexed question whether American elections are determined by bribery , in our sense of that term , in favour of which conclusion then- is the testimony of Mr . Buchanan himself , as well as die geiuni ] admission of the more respectable part of the press , this much
is certain , that largo sums of money nro expended on each election , and the persons who find those sums expect to be reimbursed by Government offices or lucrative public contracts . This is especially the ease with the Presidential election . Ihc Ameriouu civil s ' ervioq enjoys no permanent tenure of ofliee . . \ man is appointed dtt rattle bate placito—ho must make the most ho can out of the place during the . Presidency of his patron ; foi a host of hungry applicants , the satisfaction of whose claims is tho now President's greatest difficulty , will then be claniourmfj for his berth . Sonic of those offices nro too lucrative to be given
without conditions . How great soever a man's services may have been in the past , . pome-thing is wanted from him townyds tho necessities of tho future , and an annual sum , or some brother phicoluintcr , is charged upon him . Now , Mr . James IUtiianan is very mnoh belied ' if such arrangements have- not been carried out on n larger scale , and in n moro scandalous mnnner , since his assumption of power than over heretofore . Be . that as it may , this is tho yenv of tho Presidential election , and it is thcro-
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S 7 () The Leader and Saturday Analyst . ¦ [ April 21 , I 860 .
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can . . . The latest event announced is , that a discount broker has restored to the Bank £ 1 , 550 , 000 of the legal tender belong ing to himself , which he had withdrawn . He has a full right to do with the money as he pleases . For him the question is one of business , and neither for his , conduct nor against it do we say a single word . But if , as alleged by the Time * , the contest ' between the discount brokers and the Bank brought that establishment into .. difficulties in 1857 , —if * as is insinuated by ilr . Alderman Salamons , the great diminution of legal tender in . tli-c- hands of ' the Bank is the result of a " conceited action on the Bank ' s reserve to produce a disturbance in the currency . ( legal tender ) of the country ; " if , as both imply , it is at any time in the power of one or two rival traders of the favoured Bank to annoy and embarrass the whole : trade of the country by operating on the very limited quantity of legal tender ordained by the law , thepublic Will soon come to the conclusion that this condition of monetary affairs , aggravated by every increase-of-business , should be promptly remedied .
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In January last , therefore , as compared to January , IS 5 9 , there was a deficiency of legal tender issued ; there was at tlie same time a small reserve , -an increased circulation , and an increased amount of securities , on which the Bank had made advances . Subsequently , the quantity of legal tender created diminished . In January , 1800 , it was £ 2 , 75 2 , 505 less than in January , 1859 , and in April the deficiency had increased , to £ 4 , 653 , 910 . - In the fifteen months there was a diminution of leaai tender to the amount of 14 per cent . Could such a diminution have takeii place in metallic - coin , while all the interests of the country were prosperous , . without causing a great derangement : Was there ever an example of the metallic currency " of n country under such circumstances diminishing so much and so fast ? " We doubt it . Yet those who made the law of 1844 professed to effect variations in the state paper currency such as would take place were metallic currency only in use . These facts indicate . a comparatively intense demand for legal tender . . If we add to the deficiency in * January last , as compared to the previous January , JE 2 , 7 ? 3 * 5 G » -,- the diminution in the reserve of the Bank , £ " 3 , 095 , 410 ; the increase of circulation , £ 018 , 64 ' 5 ¦;' ¦ and the increase of private securities , £ 2 , 883 , 167 ; we shall have a sum of upAvards of £ 10 , 000 , 000 , which is hot a measure , but an indication of the comparatively-increased demand for the supply of legal tender in January 1 SG 0 . As the notes issued declined , as ' the Bank reserve declined , as the circulation increased , as the private securities were enlarged , all which had occurred according to the April 4 Returns , —before the dividends were paid , the latter reached the sum of £ 24 , 964 , 704—so was this demand intensified . The public had to suffer something more than usual in the quarter from the deficiency of legal tender by its own enterprise . and prosperity . Consumption was increased , the yield of the taxes was . increased , aiid the . public deposits- —at the end of 3 fareh , £ 10 , 3 S 4 , l 10 , —exceeded by more than £ l , 500 , 000 the average of tlie . three ' . preceding years at the same period of the quarter . Since the dividends were paid the private securities have been very little diminished , and are by the last return almost imexampledly large . The circulation , too , has increased very much , and the * Bank reserve has fallen very low ; all of which are indications that the demand continues intense , and that tho quantity of legal tender supplied in accordance with the regulations of the State is insufficient for the wants of the public . If the State will undertake to regulate the supply , it is bound , to adapt it to all the exigencies of society . Between 1 S 44 and 1859 the value of the exports increased from £ 5 S , 534 , 7 O 5 to £ 130 , 41 . 0 , 427 . If , in 1844 , the State thought it necessary to supply £ 14 , 000 , 000 of legal tender , issued on its debt , at least twice as much should have been supplied in 18 ( 50 ; for the State , indirectly and directly , by the Act of 1844 suppressed much private paper . If tho State will increase the taxes , and with- * draw from the public use the instrument it has made , indispensable—in order to carry on business , it is bound to remedy , if it can , the evil it creates . If it will abolish restrictions , nnd allow trado to expand , it must meet tho conscquenco hy increasing legal tender ' money , or sec its measures brought into disrepute . If it dosire that commerce should pursue a steady onward course , it must not at one time pamper it with abundance , and then create a dearth of thn food on which it lives . It tried tho system with corn , and lost character by a disreputable failure . The cunning sliding-scale of a selfish hanker will no more work successfully than tho slkling-sealo of the selfish landlords . It is perfectly clear , from tho facts placed before the reader , that tho supply of legal tondev is now insufficient , and thcrcforo it is high-priced . Therefore , too , do the Bank and tho discount brokers scramble for tho largest share , that they may make as much ns possible of tho preoious . commodity . Their quarrel obviously now is , and luis been since 1 S 50 , who shall gnin most b y the scarcity of tho indispensable article in which they deal . Tho increase of securities at tho Bank shows that thero . is n great demand for capital , though , with a favour " able exchange to bring it hither , the demand is obviously not as intense ( is the demand for legal toiidor , Tho increase of circulation to $ { M' , 173 , 08 ' 1 j shows an almost unprecedented demand , except in a season of convulsion for tho instrument for liquidating
¦¦ debts and discounting bills . That the discount brokers should take all they can of it from the Bank , which clutches it closely against them , is natural ! We cannot , therefore , join with those who blame them for withdrawing their deposits from the Bank ; and we may be quite sure that they will not lock up the precious commodity ' in their own safes . They-require it to make money by lending it , and they will lend as much as they prudently
The President's Protest.
THE PRESIDEXT'S . PROTEST .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1860, page 370, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2344/page/6/
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