Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1836-12-30
On the Money and Currency
of the Country.
From the National Gazette
TfUIH Tue INHtIOnHI NnEttte.
Letter from Mr. N. Biddle TO Mr. j. q. Adams.
PHILADELPHIA. Nov LII 1896

NY '|co' ou--t ptoCteu 10 the second
subject OF our conversation---the present
state OF the currency-which | shall treat
dispassionately, as an abstract question OF
mere finance
Our pecuniary condition seems to be q
strange anomaly. When Congress adjourn
ed, 1t left the country with abundant crops,
and high prices for them--with every
branch of industry flourishng-with more
specie than we ever possessed before-with
all the elements Of universal prosperity
Not one of these has undergone the slight
est change, yet after few months Cong ress
will re-assemble and find the whole country
suffering intense pecuniary distress. The
occasion of this, and the remedy for it, may
well occupy our thoughts
In my judgment, the main cause Of it is
the mismanagement Of the Revenue-mis-
management in two respects; the mode Of
executing the Distribution law, and the or.
der requiring specie for the Public Lands
lst The Distribution Law.
In July 1886, Congress declared that the
surplus in the Treasury on the LIST of Janu.
airy, 1887, should be divided among the
States. That it might be done as gently as
possible, the payments were to be made, not
at once on the Isl of January, but quarterly
throughout the whole year 1887; and as
the aggregate sum to be distributed is from
thiry-six 10 forty millions, we may assume
the first payment in January, to be about
nine millions To prepare for this, the
Treasury has had in hand forty or fifty mil
lions-it would receive in the course Of the
operation thirty or forty millions of the rev.
enue more-and as there was probably mo-
ney in every State, and the payment to be
made in every State, the operation was SO
simple and easy that it ought not TO have
occasioned the slightest pressure either on
public or private interests; and the whole
might have been accomplished without any
arrangement of trade and without the move
ment of single dollar in specie That
this not only could be done but has actually
been done, you will find in the public docu-
ments of 1929.
In that year the new administration OF Mr.
Jackson. anxious to appropriate every dispo
sable dollar OF the revenue 10 the reduction
of the public debt sought and obtained the
aid of the Bank OF the United States. No
tice was accordingly given on the 3lst of
March, 1929, that on the LIST OF July. the
debt and interest amounting to $S.7l ,462
81 would be paid At the period of the no.
tce, the whole available means OF the Treas
urywere only six millions. scatteredthrough-
out the U. States, and these, with the accru-
ing revenue in the interval, were, at notice |
of ninety days, to be collected to pay nearly
nine millions So closely was the Govern
ment pressed, that after paying these sums |
the actual balance in the Treasury through.
out the whole United States was reduced to |
. 1896 o.. The Bank. however, under
took the arrangement, with what success
may be seen in the following part of the
message Of Mr. Jackson TO Congress in De-
cember, 1899 1.-The payment on account
OF the public debt, made on the lst of July
last was Ss,7l5,462 81. IL ,oas apprehend-
ed that the sudden acifhdrapai of so large
sum from The Banks in ,ehieh IL 1as deposit
ed, al a time Of unusual pressure IN the mo-
neg market, might cause much injury 10 The
interests dependent on Bank mmodations.
But this ecu ,oas pholLy arerted By an ear
iy anticipation Of a. at the Treasury, aided
by the judieious arrangement Of The Officers
Of Tie Bank of Me United States" The
shares of the Bank and the
Treasury may be conjectuied from the Sec
retary's letter of the 18th July, 1929, in
which he takes occasion to express 'the
great satisfaction Of the Treasury Depart.
ment in the preparation for the heavy pay
ment of the public debt, on the LIST instant
which has been Effected by means of The pra-
dent arrangement Of your Board, al a time
Of serere depression on all The productive
employments Of The country, withoat causing
any sensible addition 10 The pressure, or eren
pisibIe effect uD0t The Ordinary oDeraiiORs of |
The STATE Banks"
If then nine millions, being almost the
last dollar in the Treasury, could be thus
distributed-two millions of it TO foreigners
at time Of unusual pressure how hap
pens it that with funds equal TO fifty millions,
and with six months notice, nine millions
cannot now be distributed-excusivel a
mong our own people-at time of great
abundance, without hazarding a conyulsion
The answer is to be found in the different
mode of conducting the operation. This
may be seen by contrasting what the Score
Iary might have done, with what he has
done.
The distribution law assigned to him, two
duties, both simple and both easy-the d.
vision of the funds among the Banks. and
the division among the States. AS to the
first he was to "select as soon as may be
practicable, and employ as the repositories
of the money of the United States, such OF
the Banks as may be located at, adjacent, or
to the points or places at which
the revenues may be collected as disbursed'
that at least one such Bank
shall be located in each State or Territory"
land that no Bank shall have on deposte