isa-normaladvance-1913-00243

Description:	THE NORMAL ADVANCE243130%. The sales at Jeffersonville still remained about three and one-half times the salesat Vincennes, thus shoAving that the greaterpart of the settlers w7as stopping in the easternpart of the territory. Farther east, the sales atthe Cincinnati office Avere also great.21CURRENCY AND BANKING.With the rise in the sales of lands arose alsothe demand for more money. There Avere nobanks in the territory in Avhich the governmentcould deposit the money collected at the landoffices, so this money Avas taken east for depositing, thus draining coin from the Avest.The people of the Avest bought more goods ofthe east than the east bought of the west, sothe balance must be paid the east in money.These tAvo drains upon the supply of money inthe west Avas so great that the people of thewest Avere badly in need of some form ofmoney. They saAv that the easiest Avay to getmoney Avas to create banks, Avhich could makemoney as fast as printers could print the bills.So, the legislature Avhich met for the first timeat the neAv capital at Corydon, in the summerof 1814, chartered tAvo banks, the VincennesBank and the Farmers and Mechanics Bank ofMadison, the seat of Jefferson County. Thislast bank Avas to proAre a boon to the farmersin the community, and it aided the merchantsin their transactions Avith NeAv Orleans and theeast.22There Avere noAv three main ways in Avhichmoney was secured for imestments. The campaigns in the Avest had brought a good deal ofmoney to this region, as the contractors andmerchants Avere paid for furnishing suppliesfor the army. The continual stream of immigration brought in money to im^est. The bankscould issue paper money almost Avithout limit.Consequently, a period of active speculation intoAvn lots began. During the year 1815, proprietors of A-arious toAvns along White riverand the Wabash adATertised their toAvns for sale.Although the Indians still Avere hostile alongthe Wabash, the toAvn of Carlisle on the Bus-seron, north of Vincennes, was advertised forsale as being in the midst of a flourishing settlement.23 For the next feAV years, speculationwas so extensive that in 1819 the president olthe Vincennes bank wrote: Our banking capital, here in the west, is all tied up in city improvements, and there is none to move ourproduce.24PEACE RESTORED EFFECT.In the first part of 1815 it became knoAvn inthe west that peace had been decided upon betAveen United States and Great Britain. Withthe return of peace, great quantities of cheapEnglish goods were put upon the Americanmarket. The NeAv England goods, too, foundagain a ready market in the Avest. By the middle of the year the Vincennes merchants hadlaid in a handsome assortment of New England cotton cloths.25 The Avhole countrybought more goods than the needs and demandsof the consumers Avarranted.With the return of peace, immigration intoIndiana increased. In his message, December1, 1815, Governor Posey said: Our emigrationAvhich is rapidly populating our fertile lands,in a little time will enable us to be admittedinto the political family of the union, as an independent state. Permit me to recommend tothe legislature the propriety as well as the justice of imposing as moderate taxes on the emigrants to this territory, as may be compatibleto the public interest. Most of them havemoAed from a great distance, at a considerableexpense. They have to encounter many difficulties in opening their farms for cultivation,before they can derive a support, much more aprofit from them and consequently their ability will be lessened from contributing largelyfor a short time to the public exigencies.™ Thisdocument expresses the essence of settlerstroubles—getting on a paying basis after expending so much of their limited capital to getto the ne,Av country and to pay for their farms.^Senate Doc, Cong. 30, Sess. 1, Doc. 41, P. 67ff.22Bsorey, L,., State Banking in Indiana, P. 221ff.^Western Sun, June 20, 1815.24Amer. State Papers, Finance, III, P.-Western Sun, April 8, 1815.o«Niles Regster, IX, P. 351.734.
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/34688
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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