deposits by $11,000,000, and fewer dis- drawing to a close. Fairly and fully we counts by $13,000,000; or, in plain Eng- have endeavored to meet these grave lish, they borrow more of the public by questions touching our currency and issuing more paper, lend it less by giving banking. The system we have confewer discounts, and enjoy less of its demned has received no intentional inconfidence by showing smaller depo- justice at our hands; nay, a large branch sits. Here, then, the old chartered of the subject is as yet untouched. We banks, whose notes are not secured by have said nothing of the worthlessness stock deposits, are evidently more trusted, of such banks as institutions of deposit. trustworthy and trusting, than those in- Their very requirements utterly unfit stitutions which have given bond and them for such a trust. The billholder security for their good behavior. On its being the preferred, and, in fact, the only own ground, then, side by side with char- protected creditor, the great function of tered banks, free banking has evidently a savings' institution is entirely lost to come short of the purpose it professed to them. In New-York there are 37 banks attain. But, if this is true of it now, in which have not a dollar of deposits, 15 prosperous times, when specie and credit have each less than $5,000, and 50 have are abundant, how much truer will it be under $50,000; so that, out of all of the in time of trouble? If it is thus "in the free banks, only one-third have any green tree, what will it be in the.dry?" claims to be considered as banks of deIn Louisiana we have heard a great cla- posit. Nor is this to be wondered at. mor as to the want of banking facilities. The depositor knows full well that his However well founded such complaints hard-earned savings are used to keep may be, is free banking likely to give afloat their inflated circulation, and that more? In New-York its 172 institutions no fund is set aside to protect him from give fewer discounts, issue more paper, loss. And though the law prefers, and and have less coin to meet its circulation, than 72 incorporated banks, which do not boast of as much capital by six millions of dollars. But we must draw to a close this branch of our subject. The report and statistics of the superintendent of the banking department, suggest a number of ideas which we are compelled to pass over. In reply to those who will bring up the old argument, of the "abuse of a thing being no objection to its use," we will recommend 1st. That they get Jeremy Bentham's work on Fallacies, and learn there how sophistical is this antiquated proposition. The use of a thing being a strong argument in favor thereof, its abuse and its liability to abuse are equally good as against it. perhaps justly, the billholder to the depositor, yet one of the main purposes of a bank is to afford a safe and secure depository for the unneeded funds of the merchant, the farmer, the artisan, the laborer, the widow, and the orphan. We submit, in all candor, if free banking does not utterly fail to supply us with so necessary and useful an object. We are aware that free banking is, just now, the popular theory in many of our states. It is the great invention in modern finance, but it is only new in appearance. Mr. Calhoun most pithily described it when he said, years ago, "that the tendency of the times was to convert all property into credits, and all credits, through the agency of banks, into currency." In conclusion of these articles, let us briefly review our argument. We have endeavored to prove 2d. We will say, that if free banking shows this proclivity to evil which we have shown, there must be some strong I. That banks are not creators of cretie of relationship between itself, not- dit, but merely its auxiliaries, and in withstanding its purity, and the vices themselves unfit to carry on great and we have pointed out. The government tedious systems of internal improveof Utopia would, no doubt, have been ments. They are, therefore, not to be perfect, could the right sort of men have regarded as a means of developing the always been sent there. The difficulty agricultural wealth of Louisiana and the of getting that sort of men made the go- South. vernment simply ridiculous. So free banking may be admirable, but its liability to be abused unfits it for beings as imperfect as we are. It is now time that these articles were II. That no system or plan of banks can ever prosper or succeed whose currency is not instantly and directly convertible into specie without let or hindrance. III. That no bank-note should be of a Additional Objections to Free Banking. lesser denomination than five dollars, as small notes have a tendency to drive the small coin out of the country. IV. That no check or guard against the abuses of banks is so potent as the individual responsibility of its stockholders and managers for all the losses its credits may incur. V. That some legislative control should be exercised over the amount of paper money issued, inasmuch as an inflation and contraction of the currency has a tendency to unsettle values and create rash speculation on the one hand, and unnecessary alarm on the other, thereby subjecting the public to most visionary and unfounded hopes, as well as to most grievous and calamitous losses. Tried by these tests, Free Banking cannot command our approbation, and it is, furthermore, open to the following additional objections: 1st. That it gives an overweening power to the officer who is charged with the conduct of the banking department of the government. 2d. That state or government stocks can never displace coin, as a basis of currency; that they are themselves but credits, and to erect banks upon them is to give a fearful impetus to an expansion of credit, which must result in the direst commercial evils. 157 system, with which Louisiana was once as the most perfect development of Free Louisiana seems to us to condemn, in crippled resources, the heavy burdens 3d. That the use of government stocks in this way, gives a charm to public debt, and engenders a dangerous and wanton improvidence in our legis- not only gives no protection to the de8th. And lastly, that Free Banking lators, who are ever prone to put off the positor, but by esteeming the note-holder burdens of the present on the shoulders as a preferred creditor, it actually makes of the future. That this tendency is the Free Bank the unsafest depository verified in the history of Free Banking he could select. in New-York, where a great political important function of banking is entirely Of course, this most party was defeated by its opposition to stripped from this class of institutions. this disposition to create a new debt, which would furnish new material for the increase of an already inflated currency. 4th. That as a public debt is a great evil, justified only by necessity, and as it should be paid at the earliest day, a system of banking, built on the evidences of such debt, can only exist coeval and commensurate with the debt, and cannot, of course, be looked to as a permanent scheme, but rather as a temporary expedient for the adjustment of the cur ren cy. 5th. That Free Banking is but a revival, in part, of the old property bank VOL. XIV. They may often lack system and clearOn these points we rest our case. ness in their statement and exposition; charge of much repetition; but we hope and we have laid ourselves open to the the arguments will be fairly weighed in the consideration of this important subject. The hurrying cares of a mercantile life give few leisure moments for the treatment of subjects which really require days and weeks of reflection. If, however, these articles shall have aroused abler and better appointed dangers of Free Banking, then our purintellects to an appreciation of the pose will be accomplished. 5 ART. VIII.-AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE-POST-OFFICE-NAVY-INTERIOR-WAR DEPARTMENT-LAND OFFICEPATENT OFFICE-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION-STATISTICS. THE public documents which emanate annually from Washington, give a pretty fair notion of the state of this country, and we are determined hereafter to analyze and preserve them, in order that they may be referred to from year to year in compact form. "The cash receipts in the Treasury for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June last, exclusive of trust funds, were $49,728,386 89. The expenditures for the same period, likewise exclusive of trust funds, were $46,007,896 20, of which $9,455,815 83 was on account of The message of the President refers the principal and interest of the public to the Fishery Question, stating that it is debt, including the last instalment of still open, although the English govern- the indemnity to Mexico, under the ment have disclaimed any intention to treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, leaving enforce their construction of the con- a balance of $14,632,136 37 in the vention of 1818 by the presence of a naval armament. Our vessels for the last nine years have been excluded from waters to which they had free access for twenty-five years after the negotiation of this treaty. This exclusion was relaxed in 1845 as to the Bay of Fundy, but the liberal policy was again abandoned, from the opposition of the colonies, notwithstanding our liberal course towards colonial fishermen, who have been enabled to acquire the monopoly of our export trade in fish, and to supply a large part of our consumption. New conventions it is hoped will be entered into the present winter, which shall be satisfactory to all parties. Treasury on the first day of July last. Since this latter period, further purchases of the principal of the public debt have been made to the extent of $2,456,547 49; and the surplus in the Treasury will continue to be applied to that object whenever the stock can be procured within the limits as to price authorized by law. "The value of foreign merchandise imported during the last fiscal year was $207,240,101, and the value of domestic productions exported was $149,861,911, besides $17,204,026 of foreign merchandise exported, making the aggregate of the entire exports $167,065,937. Exclusive of the above, there was exported $42,507,285 in specie, and imported from foreign ports $5,262,643." On the subject of our prospective commerce with South America, about which we have had so much to say, the President remarks: The President declined becoming a party with Great Britain and France to guarantee to Spain the possession of Cuba. He, however, regards "its incorporation into the Union as fraught at the present time with serious peril."The other topics are the Tehuante- "The recent revolution in Buenos pec question, which he says is now in Ayres and the confederated states, the hands of the Senate; the question having opened the prospect of an imrelating to the port of San Juan de proved state of things in that quarter, Nicaragua; the Guano question, in the governments of Great Britain and which an unintentional error is ac- France determined to negotiate with knowledged; the tariff, which is "not the chief of the new confederacy for sufficiently protective to our industry," the free access of their commerce to and in the particular of ad valorems the extensive countries watered by the greatly open to frauds; the Mexican tributaries of the La Plata, and they boundary commission, and the interrup- gave a friendly notice of this purpose tion of the surveys in consequence of to the United States, that we might, if the appropriations for it being made we thought proper, pursue the same conditional on the position of the line with reference to El Paso; the policy of interference in the affairs of foreign powers, etc. etc. course. In compliance with this invitation, our minister at Rio Janeiro, and our Chargé d'Affaires at Buenos Ayres, have been fully authorized to conclude Uruguay Treaty-Japan Expedition. treaties with the newly organized confederation, or the states composing it. The delays which have taken place in the formation of the new government, have, as yet, prevented the execution of those instructions, but there is every reason to hope that these vast countries will be eventually opened to our com merce. "A treaty of commerce has been concluded between the United States and the oriental Republic of Uruguay, which will be laid before the Senate. Should this convention go into operation, it will open to the commercial enterprise of our citizens a country of great extent and unsurpassed in natural resources, but from which foreign nations have hitherto been almost wholly excluded." 159 "We live in an age of progress, and ours is emphatically a country of progress. Within the last half century the number of states in this Union has nearly doubled, the population has almost quadrupled, and our boundaries have been extended from the Mississippi to the Pacific. "Our territory is checkered over with railroads, and furrowed with canals. The inventive talent of our country is excited to the highest pitch, and the numerous applications for patents for valuable improvements distinguish this age and this people from all others. The genius of one American has enabled our commerce to move against wind and tide, and that of another has annihilated distance in the transmission In regard to the purposes, etc., of the of intelligence. The whole country is Japan expedition, the message continues: full of enterprise. Our common schools "I have accordingly been led to order are diffusing intelligence among the an appropriate naval force to Japan, un- people, and our industry is fast accumu der the command of a discreet and in- lating the comforts and luxuries of life. telligent officer of the highest rank This is in part owing to our peculiar poknown to our service. He is instructed sition, to our fertile soil, and comparato endeavor to obtain from the govern- tively sparse population; but much of ment of that country some relaxation it is also owing to the popular instiof the inhospitable and anti-social sys- tutions under which we live, to the tem which it has pursued for about two freedom which every man feels to encenturies. He has been directed par- gage in any useful pursuit, according to ticularly to remonstrate, in the strongest his taste or inclination, and to the entire language, against the cruel treatment confidence that his person and property to which our shipwrecked mariners have will be protected by the laws. But often been subjected, and to insist that whatever may be the cause of this unthey shall be treated with humanity. paralleled growth in population, intelliHe is instructed, however, at the same gence and wealth, one thing is clear, time, to give that government the am- that the government must keep pace plest assurances that the objects of the with the progress of the people. United States are such only as I have must participate in their spirit of enterindicated, and that the expedition is prise; and while it exacts obedience to friendly and peaceful. Notwithstand- the laws, and restrains all unauthorized ing the jealousy with which the go- invasions of the rights of neighboring vernments of Eastern Asia regard all states, it should foster and protect home overtures from foreigners, I am not with- industry, and lend its powerful strength out hopes of a beneficial result of the to the improvement of such means of expedition. Should it be crowned with intercommunication as are necessary to success, the advantages will not be con- promote our internal commerce, and fined to the United States, but as in the strengthen the ties which bind us tocase of China, will be equally enjoyed by gether as a people." all the other maritime powers. I have much satisfaction in stating, that in all the steps preparatory to this expedition, the Government of the United States has been materially aided by the good offices of the King of the Netherlands, the only European power having any commercial relation with Japan." We extract a single passage more, on the progress and resources of the country: It It appears by the report of the Postmaster-General that 526 offices were established, and 236 discontinued, during the past year. Whole number existing November 1, 1852, 21,191. [For statis tics and history of U. S. Post-Office, from earliest period, see Industrial Resources, vol. 2.] In operation in the United States 6,711 mail routes, their aggregate length being 214,284 miles, and employ March, 1847, viz: from 3d March, eighth section of act of March, 1851 From appropriation, for "census mails," authorized by seventeenth section of the act of 23d May, 1850.. Total... 1,065,555 55 663,888 89 12,000 00 .$6,925,971 28 ing 5,206 contractors. The annual trans- There were in operation on the 30th day of June last six foreign mail routes, of the estimated aggregate length of 18,349 miles. The number of miles of annual transportation thereon is estimated at 652,406. The service on three of these routes is under contract with this Department; the annual transportation thereon is estimated at 260,592 miles, at a cost of $400,000, being about $1 99 per mile. The service on the other three routes is under contract with the Navy Department. The annual transportation thereon is estimated at 458,934 miles, at an annual cost of $1,496,250, (including the additional compensation voted to the Collins' line at the last session of Congress,) being about $3 26 per mile. Our ocean steamer service commenced in June, 1847. Its great and rapid increase is shown by the following tabular statement of its cost, for each fiscal year, as follows: The cost of this service for 1848 was... 1849 1850 66 1851 1852 46 $100,500 474,710 721.570 1,023,250 the amount payable to the British tor 101,988 59 The receipts, in consequence of the reduction of postage, have fallen off $1,388,334 from the preceding year; the experiment not having yet had sufficient time to be tested. during the last fiscal year were as follows: Ship, steamboat and way-letters. Mail bags Clerks for offices, (offices of post- Publishing post-office laws and 24,587 94 1,296,765 50 456,594 84 41,046 12 7,890 77 63,157 12 41,946 50 53,861 83 Mail locks and keys, and stamps Repayment of money found in 82 61 Postage stamps.... 9,929 03 Postage stamps redeemed. 3,809 35 Stamps of old issue returned to 8,229 20 582 89 104,355 92 152,561 00 Official letters received by post masters $7,108,459 04 For the next year the expenditures, it 1,896,250 is estimated, will reach $8,745,777 20. The revenues for the same time, including $1,200,000 from government, $7,417,790, leaving a deficit of $1,327,986. The gross receipts of the Department for the year ended June 30, 1852, were $6,925,971 28, derived from the following sources, viz. : Letter postage, including foreign post- Fines, other than those imposed on contractors Receipts on account of excess of emo- Receipts on account of dead letters Miscellaneous receipts From appropriation, authorized by twelfth section of the act of 3d Miles of steamboat Annual cost steam 1848. 4,385,800 4,083,976 4,109,981 4,327,400 4,861,177 6,524,593 boat service..... $262,019 $278,650 $313,943 584,192 635,740 818,227 27 50 38,478 24 Annu'l cost rail-road |