The value of the paper-money of
Pennsylvania notwithstanding
the obvious manner of accounting for it, is attributed by many to the
land-security on which it is lent; and in support of this notion, the
following argument, whoever first broached it, has been printed; which I
shall
particularly examine; for as it has been
generally
adopted, it cannot
with decency be condemned in the
lump. It runs thus.
As those who take bills out of the
banks in Europe
put in money for security, so here we engage
our Land. And as bills issued upon money security are money, so bills
issued upon land security are, in effect, coined land. Now the
Banks of
Europe do actually
borrow the money lodged
with them, and therefore
give their notes as a security for the
repayment. But the paper-money-bank of
Pennsylvania, to which
the argument is applied, does not borrow but
lend money, and
therefore
takes security from the borrowers for the repayment
at the times stipulated. The two cases then, instead of having the
least resemblance, being
essentially opposite; it is
impossible that any conclusion drawn from the one should be applicable
to the other. Indeed the bills given by an
European bank have
the same power as the silver promised by 'em; because the possessors
have a
right to receive, and do also receive on demand the very
sums expressed by such bills. But those of
Pennsylvania
cannot, for a like reason, nor for any reason, be considered as
land; for tho' they be lent upon land, yet the possessors have no
right to demand from any man, or any body of men, any land for
'em.
