A Defence of the Merchants of Boston Against Aspersions of the Hon. John Z. Goodrich, Ex-Collector of Customs (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from A Defence of the Merchants of Boston Against...)
Excerpt from A Defence of the Merchants of Boston Against Aspersions of the Hon. John Z. Goodrich, Ex-Collector of Customs
Numerous engagements have delayed the prepara tion of this defence of the merchants of Boston, against the serious imputations contained in the pam phlet of Mr. Goodrich upon their well earned and acknowledged reputation. The elections are now over. My constituents have again conferred on me the honor of representing them in Congress; and I deem it due to them, that I should now present to the public these pages, trusting that all who read them will see plainly that the strange calumnies of Mr. Goodrich are without just foundation, and are altogether impotent to injure that good name which Boston merchants have so long enjoyed.
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An Examination of the Theory and the Effect of Laws Regulating the Amount of Specie in Banks
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About the Book
Titles on banks and banking cover the hi...)
About the Book
Titles on banks and banking cover the history and activities of financial institutions that accept deposits from the public and create credit. Lending activities may be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Being very important to the financial stability of a country, banks have over time become highly regulated in most countries, with banks required to hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. Banking evolved in the 14th century in the prosperous cities of Renaissance Italy, but this was really a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had their roots in ancient times. Since the 14th century a number of banking dynasties have played a central role – notably, the Medicis, Fuggers, Welsers, Berenbergs, and Rothschilds.
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Samuel Hooper was an American politician and businessman. He servead as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate.
Background
Samuel Hooper was born on February 3, 1808 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States. His parents, John and Eunice (Hooper) Hooper, were both descended from Robert Hooper who settled in Marblehead some time before 1663. Several generations of the Hooper family had engaged in trade and shipping, and Samuel's father, a man of energy and shrewdness, achieved wealth and influence as a merchant. He built the mansion in Marblehead known as the Hooper (not the King-Hooper) house, in which Samuel was born, owned ships on which the boy voyaged to various European ports, and was president of the Marblehead Bank in the counting room of which he taught his son his first lessons in finance.
Education
Hooper received an ordinary education in the Marblehead schools, and later went to Boston.
Career
Hooper became a junior partner in the shipping firm of his father-in-law, that of Bryant, Sturgis & Company. Gradually his business interests expanded. In 1843 he joined the importing firm of William Appleton & Company, which remained his major concern, and in 1862 it became Samuel Hooper & Company. He was also one of the directors of the Merchants' Bank of Boston and of the Eastern Railroad Company.
Having gained a knowledge of foreign trade and finance which impressed his contemporaries as authoritative, he set down his views on currency in two well-received pamphlets: Currency or Money (Boston, 1855), and An Examination of the Theory and the Effect of Laws Regulating the Amount of Specie in Banks (Boston, 1860). In both he discussed the evils of excessive and unregulated circulation of bank paper as currency and strongly advocated the use of specie, insisting that if a substitute be permitted it should be rigorously controlled. These views were to mature later in his espousal of measures insuring a uniform national currency. Meanwhile he was called into public life. His three years (1851-1854) in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and one year (1858) in the state Senate were unimportant--tentative ventures outside the realm of business which still demanded his best efforts. But after 1861 he ceased being the man of business and became whole-heartedly a man of public affairs. In that year his partner William Appleton resigned his seat in Congress and Hooper was chosen to fill out the unexpired term.
Reelected six times, he sat in the House of Representatives as a Republican from 1861 until his death in 1875, doing significant work on the committees of ways and means, banking and currency, and coinage, weights and measures.
In general he supported the administration's financial program. In particular he advocated the issue of legal-tender notes and the establishment of a national banking system. On both of these measures his work was significant enough to warrant a claim of leadership along with Stevens and Spaulding. In the deliberations of Congress he spoke rarely, and then only briefly. The greater part of his work was in the committee room. But chiefly, perhaps, his influence was felt through social channels. Wealth and refinement permitted him to maintain a house in Washington renowned for its hospitality, and there he shared an intimacy with virtually every man of prominence in the Capital.
In 1865 Hooper founded the Hooper School of Mining and Practical Geology at Harvard University with an endowment of $50, 000. The gift also established the Sturgis Hooper Professorship in Geology. Named in honor of Hooper's deceased son Sturgis, the professorship received an additional endowment of $30, 000 from Hooper's widow in 1881.
After the war, Hooper was a consistent advocate of the steady contraction of the greenbacks until parity with gold should be established. He was prominent in framing the Currency Act of 1873 and invariably stood in defense of "sound" money measures. His influence, however, was waning as new leaders arose in the House. Moreover there were rumblings in his own district that the wealthy merchant was somewhat disdainful of popular sentiment. Hooper himself felt that his health was declining and decided that his seventh term in Congress should be his last. But before he could return to private life death intervened and he passed away while he was still in Washington.
Achievements
Samuel Hooper has been listed as a noteworthy merchant, congressman by Marquis Who's Who.
