Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-03-29
r.. CALHOUN'S SP E c H.
TcONcIunCD

Among the means which have been suggest
ed. a Senator from Virginia, not now a member
of this body, (Mr. RIvEs,) proposed to apply
the taxing power TO suppress the circulation OF
small notes, with a view of diminishing the pa
per and increasing the specie circulation. The
remedy would be simple and effective, but is IL
able to great objection. The taxing power is
odious under any circumstances; it would be
doubly so when called into exercise with an
OVERLOOKING treasury; and still more so, with the
necessity of organizing an expensive BODY OF
officers to collect a single tax, and that on an
uncomfortable subject. But there is announcer,
and of itself a decisive objection. Ii would De
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and dangerously SO.
All ~political powers, as | stated on another oc-
casion, are trust powers, and limited In thelr eX-
ercise to the subject and object OF the grant
The tax power was granted to raise revenue
for the sole purpose of supplying the necessary
means of carrying on the operations OF the Go
vernmen To pervert this power from the 3D.
iect thus intended by the Constitution, to that OF
repressing the circulation of bank notes, would
be to convert it from a revenue into a penal
power-a power in its nature and object essen
tially different from that intended to be granted
i'm the CONSTITUTIONS; and a power, which In It's
fnIl extension. if once admitted, would be suffl-
cient of itself TO give an entire control to this
Government over the property and the pursuits
of the community, and thus concentrate and
consolidate the entire power OF the system IN
this Government.
Rejecting. then, the taxing power, there remain
two obvious and direct means in possession OF
the Government which may tend to effect the OBJ
iect intended, but neither of which, either sepa-
rately or Jointly are o. Insufficient efficacy however
Indispensable they may be as a part OF an etfl-
Gent system of measures, to correct the pre-
sent or repress the growing disorders OF the
currency; | mean that provision in the Constr
tuition which empowers Congress to coin mo-
new, regulate the value thereof and of foreign
coin, and the power of prohibiting any thing
but the legal currency to be received either In
whole or in part, in the dues of the government.
The mere power OF coming and regulating the
value of coins, of itself, and unsustained by any
other measure, can exercise but a limited con-
troll over the actual currency of the country,
and is inadequate to check excess or correct
disorder, as is demonstrated by the present dis
eased state of the currency. Congress has
had, from the beginning, laws upon the statute
books TO regulate the value of the coins: and at
an early period of the Government the Mint
was erected, and has been in active operation
ever sind0, and yet, of the immense amount
which has been coined, a small residue only re-
mains in the country; the great body having
been expelled under the operation of the bank
ing system. 70 give efficacy to this power,
then, some other must be combined with it. The
most immediate and obvious is that which has
been suggested, of excluding all but specie in
the receipts of the Government. This measure
would be ~effectual to a certain extent; but with
a declining income, which must take place I'M
der the oper alton of the act of the last session,
to adjust the tariff, and which must greatly re-
duce the revenue, Ga point of the utmost impor-
lance to the and regeneration of
our institutions,) the efficacy of the measure
must be correspondingly diminished. From
the nature of things, it cannot greatly exceed
the average of the Government deposites, which
hope will before many years be reduced to
the smallest possible amount, so as to prevent
the possibility of the recurrence of the shame
full and dangerous state of things which now
exists. and which has been caused by the vast
amount of the surplus revenue. But there is in
my opinion a strong, if not an insuperable OBJ
lection against r~esorting to this measure, result
ing from the fact that an exclusive receipt of
specie in the Treasury would, to give it effica-
cy and to prevent extensive speculation and
fraud, require an entire diSconnection on the
part of the Government with the banking sys-
tenn in all its forms, and a resort TO the strong
box as the means of preserving and guarding
its funds-a means, if practicable at ALL in the
present state of things liable TO the objection of
being far less safe, economical and efficient
than the present.
What then. Mr.. C. inquired, what other
means do we possess, of sufficient efficacy, in
combination with those to which | have refer
red, to arrest the farther progress and correct
the disordered state of the currency2 This is
the deeply important question, and here some
division of opinion must be expected, however
united we may be, as ! trust we are thus far, on
all other points. | intend to meet this question
explicitly and directly, without reservation or
eoncealment.
After a full survey of the whole subject, 7 see
none-I can conjecture no means of extricat-
ing the country from its present danger and to
arrest its farther increase, but a ank-the agen-
CIV of which, in some form, or under some au-
thoritv, is indispensable. The country has been
brought into the present diseased state of the
currency by banks, and must be extricated by
their agency. We must, in a word, use a bank
TO unbank the banks, to the extent that may be
necessary to restore a safe and stable currency,
inst as we apply snow to a frozen limb, in or
der to restore vitality and circulation, or hold
nm a burn to the fame to extract the in6amma-
ton. All must see that it is impossible to sup
press the banking system at once. 1t must con-
tinue for a time. Its greatest enemies, and the
advocates Of an exclusive specie circulation,
must make il a part of their system TO tolerate
the banks for a longer or a shorter period. To
suppress them at once would, if it were pos
sible, work a greater revolutions greater
change in the relative condition of the various
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