New Hampshire Statesman And State Journal

WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT?

It is the habit of the Locofoco presses to charge upon the Whigs of the United States the evils which have arisen from the abuses of the Banking System, and to lay at their door all maladies which have been the growth of the excesses to which the system has been carried. Nothing can be more unjust. The multiplication of banks in the United States has been almost exclusively the work of the party to which the Post belongs. This assertion the Post will not deny, for it is sustained by proof of the most irrefragable character. Let us look at the facts :

The most striking of these is that, in three or four years, more banks were created by Locofoco Legislatures than had been incorporated for thirty years before. During this period Locofoco Legislatures incorporated

All the banks in Michigan--where, perhaps more banks have failed than in any other part of the world, in any age, with the same extent of population--

All the banks in Arkansas--

All the banks, we believe, in Illinois--

All the banks in Alabama, including the State Bank with a capital of ten or twelve millions of dollars--

All the banks in Mississippi, which have failed and desolated the land--covering it with worthless paper money, as thick as the leaves of the forest. Here the banking capital was increased from less than one to thirty millions of dollars--

The only bank in Missouri--

Banks with forty-eight millions of capital in Louisiana--

Banks with forty-four millions of capital in Pennsylvania--

More than one hundred banks, besides Loan, Lombard and Trust Companies in New-York.

These have been the doings of the Legislatures of States under the rule of the present Locofoco or anti-bank party.

Now on the other hand what has been the course of the Whig States? In Massachusetts, banking though carried to, perhaps, too great an excess, has been so controlled and managed by Whig Legislatures and a Whig Executive, as to conduce only to the advantage of the community.

Of Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the same thing may be said with entire truth. In the other Whig States there have been no such wild and extravagant adventures as in the Locofoco States of Michigan, Mississippi, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. In Maryland, there have been incorporated, within a few years, eight or ten banks. They were, it is true, chartered by a Whig Legislature. "But, it is not to be forgotten, that they were supported and advocated by the Locofoco representatives of the city of Baltimore, without whose support they would never have been created."

Turn which way you will, and you will find incontestible evidence that the multiplication of banks was the direct result of the policy of the Federal Government, and that that policy was carried out by the action of the partisans of the Federal Government in the State Legislatures. The refusal to re-charter the Bank of the United States created an apparent necessity for a large increase of banking capital, and the same hands that were employed in demolishing that sound and stable edifice, immediately set to work to erect new ones in its stead. It was supported by the gothic strength of columns built upon the solid foundation of actual capital, and the undoubting confidence of the people of the whole Union. The temples that sought to take its place, might wear to the eye of the casual observer the air of Corinthian elegance and lightness, but they were built upon sand" and the winds came and the rain descended," and behold the ruins.--Baltimore Chronicle.