^>-' 



1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



311 



The Currency. 



This subject is of no small importance to the 

 farmer, and one in which he should be wel' post- 

 ed, for he has lest enough with wild cat shin- 

 plasters to quicken his ideas. 



If the farmer will not take wild cat for his pro- 

 duce, the game ia up at once. It is, therefore, 

 his own fault if the system again gets a foothold. 

 We copy below some sensible remarks from 

 Welli' Commercial Express, one of the best in- 

 formed papers of Chicago : 



The great financial question of this city, and 

 of the orthwest at the presect moment, is sub- 

 stantially this: Will the people consent 'o put 

 out of their hanrfs the fair supply of specie, and 

 notes of well managed banks in states enforcing 

 a system, and accept in their place the issues of 

 Illinois banks endeavoring to re organize or re- 

 galvanize themselves under ihe amended bank law. 

 Last winter, such a movement on the part of Illi- 

 nois banks and bankers would have been most 

 heartily seconded and supported by the commu- 

 nity, but now it is too late. The people find that 

 they can do without wild cats, and they will do 

 without them. They will not trust ngain to men 

 whose obligations have been pompously repudia- 

 ted, or cunningly compromised at 20 and 60 per 

 cent, disci unt, and mny be again in less than six 

 months. It is all useless for the venal editors of 

 some of the papers to proclaim that these de- 

 bauched bankers and decaying corporations are 

 as good as the substantial men and sound systems 

 that have been tried in the hottest furnaces with- 

 out the smell of fire near their garments, for the 

 common sense of the people is only insulted by 

 such assertions. Let the business men, the far- 

 mers, and the mechanics of Illinois, the workers 

 in the community, persistently refuse to have 

 anything to do with paper money issued under a 

 rotten bank system by men who take every legal 

 opportunity, and some that are illegal, to avoid 

 their obligations. 



We want the best banking system for Illinois 

 and Chicago that the wisdom of the age has pro- 

 duced or can produce, and until we can procure 

 such a one, let us endure the present small ills 

 we have, rather than fly to others we know not 

 of; do not let its jump out of the frying pan into 

 the fire, having but just crawled out of that un- 

 comfortable element. We want a banking sys- 

 tem which shall embrace like the following, sug- 

 gested by one of the best financiers of the coun- 

 try, but if we begin to handle Illinois currency 

 in its present shape, we shall have nothing better 

 until we pass again through a sweeping financial 

 revolution more desolating than the last The 

 following outlines of what we requ.re, commend 

 themselves to universal approval : 



1st. Establish a system of redemption at the 

 commercial centre, such as work so well through 

 the t^ufiFclk Bank of Boston, and the Metropoli- 

 tan of New York. This only can give uniformity 

 of value, prevent forced circulation, and secure 

 the requisite drainage. 



2. Require weekly, or at least monthly state- 



ments to be published. Thjse are fatal tos' ams 

 and frauds, enltgh'en, and so protect the public 

 and keep the banks under the best of laws, a well 

 informed public opinion. 



The " weekly statements " of the New York 

 city banks, enlightening their managers and the 

 public, have raised their average stock of specie 

 from about ten or eleven millions, to over twenty 

 millions. 



3d. Allow only those bonds which have the 

 most unchangeable market value to be taken as 

 security for "circulation." 



4th. Let the redeeming banks at Chicago be 

 the depository of coin for all the banks of circula- 

 tion under the supervision of the Bank Commis- 

 sioners. 



5th. Let certificates of deposits of coin in the 

 redeerving bank be taken and held by the Bank 

 Commissioners as security for the circulating 

 notes in addition to the notes which are issued 

 to the banks on the pledge of stocks or bonds. 



An Act for the Protection of Grow- 

 ing Fruit. 



Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illin- 

 ois represented in the Gene- al Assembly. Sec 1. 

 That if any person or pcsons shall hereafter en- 

 ter the inclosure of any person without leave or 

 license of such owner, and pick, destroy, or carry 

 away the fruit of any apple, pear, peach, plum 

 or other fruit tree or bush, such person or per- 

 sons shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 

 and upon conviction thereof, may be fined in any 

 sum not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty 

 dollars, and may be imprisoned in the county 

 jail for any period of time not exceeding twenty 

 days. The penalties incurred by a violation of 

 this act, may be enforced by indictment by any 

 court having competent jurisdiction of misde- 

 meanors in the county where the offense is com- 

 mitted, or the fine may be recovered in an action 

 of debt, before any justice of the peace of said 

 county. 



Approved Feb. 22, 1861. 



We publish the above by request, for the bene- 

 fit of a class of mischievous boys and loose gov- 

 erning parents, who seem to think it a good joke 

 to rob and destroy orchards, melon patches, &c. 

 We are not so puritanical as to think it a henious 

 crime for a boy to enter an orchard when passing, 

 and take what fruit he want** to eat, yet we be- 

 lieve the stringent clauses of the above set are 

 fully justified by the malicious marauding expe- 

 ditions which are frequently led against valuable 

 orchards in this section. Never steal fruit, boys, 

 unless you have asked the owner for it and he, 

 having abundance of plenty, has refused to give 

 you a single apple. A clever man will <jive you 

 fruit when he has plenty, and both clever and 

 mean men ought to prosecute you if you steal. — 

 Mattoon Grzette. 



— The man who 

 to bring it back. 



took a bold stand, resolved 



