The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-10

dcntiaI course Of measures, adopted TO lis true
condition, il trinmphed over all difficulties;
and, in 1929, resumed specie payments.
which il still continues. The confluence OF
me Government and merchants enabled The bank
iaus 10 sustain itself 10 maintain ats sofoeney
and its credit and to perform, with success,
lis commercial and fiscal duties.
In 1915, the State Banks. from the opera
ton of many causes, suspended specie pay
menis, yet tho confidence Of the Government
was not withdrawn Mr.. Dallas and Mr..
Crawford, both able and patriotic men, as
Secretaries OF the Treasury, having sustained
their credit by all the means in their power
Mr. Crawford, particularly, made large depo-
sites Of public money in many OF them and
thereby enabled them to indulge the people,
maintain their own credit, redeem their debt
to the public, and finally, in 1917, 70 resume
specie payment beliepe If The same benepo-
lent and pafriotie policy had been pursued TO-
oards tie State Banks, at the present period,
The cristiag Suspension uosld nat hace continu-
ed 10 Mis time, If IL had taken place at all
Mr. Dallas nor MIR. Crawford however, had
not conceived the idea of total separation
beireen the Government and The banking n-
Siiiutions of the country as fiscal agents and,
therefore, felt some inducement to sustain and
preserve them but different feeling seems
TO prevail with the present Secretary OF the
Treasury, who can only expect to succeed IN
his views by the endorsements and difficult
ties Of the banks. While do not ascribe TO
him any design to produce the embarrassment
which has overtaken the banks, and, with
them the commerce Of the country, yet am
well satisfied, that he has withheld from them
that confidence, which might Justly have been
extended; and which would, before this, have
redeemed them from their embarrassing diff
culties, and have afforded salutary relief to
the people, and the commerce of the country.
The charge made by the President, and
those who now favor a total separation be-
tween the fiscal operations Of the Govern
mcnt and the Banks, :" that they have been
guilty of an excessive issue and circulation OF
their paper" is Fundamentally true. Yet
| cnnnot perceive in all the facts and circum-
stances, connected with the charge, that
they have been actuated by any improper or
impure motives. These institutions are con-
Quoted by men who are liable to be misled by
the same impulses which betray the most
prudent and the most cautious of mankind
into occasional error. A spirit of speculation
had extensively spread itself throughout the
country; acted and reacted from the people
to the banks, and from the banks to the peo-
pie, until all, absorbed by brilliant prospects
Of Unreasonable wealth, were led beyond the
bounds Of prudence and discretion and ruin,
to many, has been the penalty These i'm
pulses have occasionally produced like effects
through all periods, and resulted in like ca
tasrophes, whether their currency was exclu-
sively metallic or not.
All these evils carry with them, however,
sure antldotes. The current Of money always
has its level and whenever it exceeds that
current at its proper level. In its reduction,
serious and distressing injury is often inflict-
ed yet the return is gradual and sure. But
a question arises, whether the banks are
entirely in fault in this matter! Is not the
Government itself much in fault And shall
the banks be compelled to take the whole
responsibility for an error in which the Co.
vernment has largely participated Z AT the
time the public deposites were removed from
the Bank of the United States, the then Sc
cretary Of the Treasury, acting under the
impression, that the charter Of the Bank Of
the United States was not to be renewed, and
that its extensive circulation and discounts
were to be called in, in order that no shock to
the business of the country might be sustain
ed, urged upon the State Banks, in the fol-
lowing note, the duty which would devolve
upon them 10 supply The vacuum which would
be created by this withdrawal, growing out of
their fiscal connection with the Government.
This the banks attempted to do, and gradually
increased their accommodations and enlarged
their circulation. He says,
Treasury DEPARTMENT.,
l# September g. 1888.
SIR The Girard Bank has been selected by this
Department the depository of the public money
collected in Philadelphia and its vicinity, and the
collector at Philadelphia will hand to you the form
Of contract proposed TO be executed with copy Of
his instructions from this Department.
In selecting your institution as one of the fiscal
agents of the Government l not only rely on its
solidity and established character as affording
sufficient guarantee for the safety Of the public
money intrusted to its keeping, but confde, also,
in its disposition to adopt the most liberal
which circumstances will admit towards our money
ed institutions generally, and particularly to those in
the city Of Philadelphia
The deposites of the public money will enable you
to afford increased facilities to commerce, and to
extend your accommodation to individuals. And
as the duties which are payable TO the Government
arises from the business and enterprise of the mer
chants engaged in foreign trade il is but reasonable
that they should be preferred, in the additional
accommodation which the public deposites will
enable your institution to give, whenever il can be
done without injustice 10 the claims Of oher classes
of the community.
| am, very respectfully, your obsdient servant,
| r. b. TANEY,
Secretary of the Treasury
| To the PREsIDzNr of the Girard Bank. Phila-
deiphia.
This recommendation was repeated by the
late President in his succeeding annual Mes