The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 70

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

carrying freight from the deep water points to localities in the in-
terior of the State. It is here that a commission will do the most
good. Goods carried from New York to Galveston or to the mouth
of the Brazos at the lowest rates for which the roads can carry
them will be the criterion by which a commission can judge of
the reasonableness of charges from these ports back into the in-
terior-Dallas, Waco, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and other points;
and the commission can well say to the railroad carriers, "You
have charged so much from New York to Galveston, now your
charges back to Dallas, Ft. Worth and these other points shall bear
some reasonable proportion to this made for the long haul." With-
out a commission to do this, the inevitable effect would be to
build up great cities on the coast and tear down interior towns.
The commission will save our interior cities and not damage the
coast towns, giving all an equal chance.
I am very much pleased with the Democratic platform at San
Antonio, with the exception that I do not believe that an un-
qualified denunciation of the national banks is good. I voted
against the recharter of the national banks since I have been in
Congress, for two reasons; first, because I did not believe that any
other than the sovereignty should issue notes to circulate as
money. I believe that all the circulating notes should come from
the government, and that the power is one that should not be
delegated. It is too dangerous a power. We saw the exercise of it
on the famous Black Fridays when the national banks combined
and produced a panic. The other reason is that the national banks
are forbidden by law to make loans on the security of real estate.
This shuts out the agricultural people who own their lands from
their benefits. With these two objections removed, as they ought to
be, my objection to the national banking system would be re-
moved. The system of inspection and examination regularly and
at irregular times by examiners appointed by the Treasury De-
partment, protects depositors and stockholders, and with the other
safeguards and requirements for a certain reserve for the security
of depositors, when divested of the two objectional features that I
have named, would make the national banking system in my
opinion the best we have ever had. However, if I had to choose
aSeptember 24, 1869.