730 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



|Nov 12 



them at a distance of hundreds of miles. Banks 

 whose charters required the stock to tie paid in "in 

 specie or the notes of ppecie paying banks" have 

 been organized without a single dollar of either 

 having been "paid in," and now these same banks 

 are issuing and flooding the country with thousands 

 and tens of thousand.-? of their notes. Thepe notes 

 are put in the hands of agents in every part of the 

 country in order to be advanced on the present crop 

 of cotton; and each agent exercises banking privi- 

 leges! It is in this way that the banks intend to rob 

 the country of the proceeds of its industry. They 

 hold out the impression that as soon as they send 

 the cotton to market they will redeem their notes 

 with the good money which cotton will always 

 command; but as soon as they get possession ol 

 valuable property for their false promises to pay, 

 they laugh at their note-holders, and use the funds 

 with which they ought lo redeem their promises, 

 in speculations in pork, bagging and bale rope, 

 and in purchasing up their own or their neighbor's 

 paper at 30 or40 per cent, discount, or the lowest 

 price for which it can be obtained in market, and 

 the pork, &c., is again sold to the people at two 

 prices. 



Every class of men who can exercise an in- 

 fluence in pursuading the honest and unsuspect- 

 ing planter to exchange his cotton lor this irre- 

 deemable and worthless traeh, will besought by 

 the banks to be enlisted in this unrighteous and 

 unholy operation, influential men of all parlie.s 

 are engaged in it. Whigs. Democrats, and we 

 are sorry to say, even Nullifiers, from whom we 

 would expect better things, are found playing this 

 swindling game. Every sense of justice and lofty 

 moral leeling seems to "wither and die at the ap- 

 proach of this odious and avaricious spirit of bank- 

 mg. JVlemb^rs of the legislature, members of 

 the church and ministers of the gospel may be 

 found embarked in this infamous speculation. The 

 saddle-bags full of "Oakland" notes, (already 

 alluded to,) which are probably not worth more 

 than as many oak leaves, have been entrusted to 

 a distinguisht^d reverend gentleman to be circulated 

 in Texas. By praver and the assumption of pi- 

 ety he will more eflectually succeed in disarming 

 suspicion and in imposing on the people. He 

 will, unle.ss this notice arrests his swindling ca- 

 reer, soon obtain leagues of Texas land for the con- 

 tents of his saddle-bags. Men who have heretofore 

 borne good characters, and who would scorn to 

 pick pockets or steal a dollar fi-om their neighbor, 

 have now no hesitation in swindling to the amount 

 of thousands. What is the difl'erence between 

 picking a man's pocket of 50 dollars, and the di- 

 rectory of a bank cons|)iring together to render 

 1000 dollars of their issues worth only 500 dollars. 

 If ten mechanics receive each one dollar of this 

 money (or their labor, or ten merchants the same 

 for their good.s, each of the ten directors might as 

 well filch fifty dollars from the pocket of one of 

 these note-holders. 'I'he moral turpitude is the 

 same. The very men engaged in this business 

 will acknowledge its impropriety; but justily them- 

 selves by saying others are engaged in it, and we 

 must in seK-delence take a hand in the jjame. If 

 we do not we will s\)l]'cr the loss without receiving 

 any of the profits?. Now if the whole world could 

 live in prosperity and happmess, by swindling,, 

 this might be a very good argument. But the 

 *ery idea is repugnant to every principle of com- 



mon sense or common justice, without which the 

 elements of society cannot cohere. 



The notes of one of these establishments will 

 not pass 11 miles from the place of issue unless at 

 enormous discount, fn paying for our dinner ai 

 short distance from Holly Springs, we had our 

 choice to pay 50 cents in irredeemable shin-plan- 

 ters issued hundreds of miles ofl, or75 cents m 

 McEwen, King & Co.^s notes! Those who is- 

 sued this paper might with as much justice have 

 stolen my property to the amount of one-third of 

 their notes which I spent after taking them in pay- 

 ment of debt; and yet it is said that this institution 

 intends to throw out two or three hundred thou- 

 sand dollars more of its paper and exchange it for 

 cotton! 



Now as it is impossible for a cheap or epurioua 

 currency, and a sound one to circulate together, 

 the above evils will curse the country, until public 

 indignation shall have banished them from circu- 

 lation, or until the laws of the country shall have 

 provided apartments in the penitentiary for all men 

 engaged in this nefarious swindling. As the lat- 

 ter is necessaril}' a work of time, we now call upon 

 the people to adopt the former. Every honest 

 man is interested in putting down this system of 

 robbery. Let the honest merchant, mechanic, 

 planter, and professional man meet and declare 

 unanimously not to receive any of these fiilse 

 promises to pay either in payment of debt, or for 

 cotton, or for merchandise. Now is the time to 

 de-;troy these worse than Egyptian plagues. Let 

 the planters refuse to lake their paper in payment 

 (or cotton. If they are indebted to the banks, let 

 thetn sell their cotton for good money, and pur- 

 chase up the trash to pay the bank debts. This 

 will be an effectual mode of disinlecling the coun- 

 try, and eradicating one of the most loathsome 

 disea.=;es that ever afflicted a people not under ihe 

 special vengeance of the Deity. If the people do 

 not pursue this plan, but place their cotton again in 

 the hands of the swindlers, they may prepare to pay 

 40 or 50 dollars a barrel for pork next year. Their 

 currency will also be worth about 50 cents in the 

 dollar, and the banks will reap another glorious 

 harvest, buying up bank notes, extorting from the 

 planters and mechanics about three prices for pro- 

 visions, bagging, bale rope, &c,, and finally they 

 will destroy the whole planting and mercantile in- 

 terests of this country. The honest portion of the 

 community is called on by every consideration of 

 justice, of'^ patriotism, of self-respect and self-de- 

 fence, to consult together and unite in one solid 

 phalanx to resist the desolating march of these 

 bold and daring swindlers. 



Some of the banks will resort to every trick 

 and device to deceive the people this year and to 

 get the control of'the present crop of cotton. They 

 took the lion's share of the last crop, and it will 

 require some ingenuity to cheat the planter again. 

 Last year they held out the idea that they would 

 check on the north in a few weeks and make 

 their paper good; this year they will be compelled 

 to raise the value of their paper, which they will 

 do about the commencement of the season. They 

 will then induce the belief that they intend to re- 

 sume specie payments every month. But let the 

 people have nothing to do with their paper or their 

 promises till they commence paying specie. They 

 were deceived last year; this was the fault of the 

 banks; if they are plundered this year, the fault 



