It is only by such a course
that the confidence and good will of the community can be preserved, and
in the sequel the best interests of the institutions themselves
promoted.
New dangers to the banks are also daily disclosed from the extension
of that system of extravagant credit of which they are the pillars.
Formerly our foreign commerce was principally founded on an exchange
of commodities, including the precious metals, and leaving in its
transactions but little foreign debt. Such is not now the case. Aided
by the facilities afforded by the banks, mere credit has become too
commonly the basis of trade. Many of the banks themselves, not content
with largely stimulating this system among others, have usurped the
business, while they impair the stability, of the mercantile community;
they have become borrowers instead of lenders; they establish their
agencies abroad; they deal largely in stocks and merchandise; they
encourage the issue of State securities until the foreign market is
glutted with them; and, unsatisfied with the legitimate use of their own
capital and the exercise of their lawful privileges, they raise by large
loans additional means for every variety of speculation.
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