The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-09-09

uo4Iucs tnesc hatantagess otncfn Woulu De hht tio
money in the Treasury, under both Of the plans submit
ted, always be easily kept down to moderate
dimensions by reductions in the revenue, and by tenn
porary investments OF occasional surplus, as there
will be antagonist interest connected with IT, wish
ing for loans and the Of SURPRISES and thus coope-
rating TO prevent reduction
Tho existing establishments and officers, whenever
convenient, would be employed without double ma
chiney the organization Of system OF agents,
Executive control would be diminished rather than IN
creased by them, because any additional officers will be
selected not by the President alone, nor the Treasury
Department the banks now bot virtually be de-
sgnaied by Congress, and the principal ncumbenis APP
pointed by the Of the Senate They would also
remove all ground for the objection sometimes urged
against the former system, that the Executive alone ex-
ercises extensive patronage and great moncyed In
Auence through hoSf bank presidents directors and
stockholders scattered through every section OF the
country and selected without the assent or check OF
either House Of Congress in any particular case. and
making loans Of the public money from considerations
merely political official very wide discretion will
be thus restricted and prolific source of suspicion
and mpuation Of favoritism and partiay be entirely
stopped.
The officers under the plans proposed viii likewise
be amenabe exclusively to the General Government,
and not be embarrassed like the officers Of the banks,
by conflicting duties and interests in respect to the
States involved in those collisions, jealouses and
determinations, often attendant on that position.
vernment in its appropriate sphere will thus be more
fully secured The local institutions general prn-
cipe, will be left to the and uses Of the several
States which established them, without interference
the part Of the General Government, and TO be regu
lated or discontinued as deemed most useful under
their own State policies, and most conducive TO the
original purposes Of their creation. Nor would any
general Inoneyed corporation, aside from the grave
doubts which exist both its constituonality and
general expedency, have been likely in such crisis as
that of the Of 1872 perhaps that Of the last spring.
to have proved much safer public depository than
those local institutions Though more convenient in
form for fiscal purposes than they, and free from some
objections as want OF symmetry and accountability
which Obtain against them, yet, If chartered on usual
principles and Judging from experience here as well as
abroad have failed in trial like those, to have
sustained either pecunlary operations, or Its own,
in strict good faith and in due vgor.
Without entering into details TO illustrate this position,
it is necessary notice only the single circumstance,
that the bank Of England during severe war, suspend
ed specie payments quarter Of century, and
that neither Of the United States Banks existed
to be obliged to encounter such peril. But since
the last spring. the notes OF the second one, to the
amount OF several millions have been allowed to sink
into the Of irredeemabe and deprecated paper,
though issued under all the high securities and
tons Of charter from the General Government, and
with very large funds still under the control Of officers
and trustees deemed by the stockholders exceedingly
skul and bound by both law and contract to redeem
those notes in specie, and on demand.
The systems which have been proposed in this report
If adopted, could be expected to continue entirely
exempt from losses by that unaithulness casualty
which all trusts in human affairs exposed But they
may be surrounded with strong safeguards and would
very probably be enabled TO in satsfac-
tory every purpose OF the Government, IN Its
condition different in many respects from that which
formerly existed, and which is the paramount cause
urged for the incorporation Of our two United States
Ranks Ito are mt huTdened with a ma
tonal debt of from seventy to one hundred and thirty
millions and, besides ordinary expenses with the
annual payment account Of principal and interest," Of
from ten sixteen millions, to be first widely collected
and then transferred and disbursed at only few points
the seaboard. 1t is now with yearly revenue,
duced from thirty and forty millions to twenty, and
probably to be onl, sixteen or seventeen, and
with course Of expenditure which readily be dmi-
nished not much II any to exceed the revenue in
a natural state Of business. In large sections of
country, and such state Of business, this expcndi
ture happens nearly and very conveniently to
pond in amount with the receipts IN the same sections
We are, likewise, reposing IN peace, with very SUI
peror means Of communication, whether by mail or
personal intercourse and with greatly increased and
increasing portion Of gold in the currency, render
distant transfers and payments more easy 1t is mani
fest therefore, that fiscal will be greatly
lessened in well difficulty unless shall
be visited by other scourges involving in
debts and embarassments Of aggravated character,
and which, fortunately, sufficient appears for
anticipating at early day.
Under the proposed arrangements the transfers ro.,
certain points could be often effected, when required
by the department for public purposes, not only with
case, but greatly to facilitate the domestic
changes in the mode Of employing drafts suggested in
q subsequent portion of this report In more natural
and ordinary of receipts and expenditures like
that in 1884, the transfers required to great distance
would not exceed two three millions during the year
and almost the whole Of them weie at that time, in
such direction to yield profit, rather than be
pensve to the banks which made them
II the Treasurer required to receive payment in
a1vance certain convenient points, for oil lands sod
as has once been the construction of the act of 1920,
the probability is that all the unavorablc transfers
rendered necessary would become quite unimportant
amount and less expensive than the transfer OF specie
and paper has been heretofore, from the distant land
offices the deposite banks before much Of
paid to the public creditors. 1t will be that.
by these modes Of keeping the public money, it would
be indispensable to employ any banks prescribed
part Of the system although it might sometimes be
venient them individuals do, and subordi-
nate fiscal officers often do in other countries for The
deposite and transfer of large sums, and particularly for
special deposes, when looking merely to safety and
early occasion to use the money
No act of Congress, until the charter Of the last
Bank ofthe United States in 1916, required the public
money in the Treasury to be kept on depostc in any
bank whatever. The whole subject was left to the dis
creon of this department Even that charter permit
ted the Secretary Of the Treasury the depo
sites from the Bank Of the United States, when he
thought proper
In the supplemental report from this department, in
1894, the keeping and discussing of the public mo-
ney, of things like the present adverted to
aud considered. 1t observed, in regard TO such
occurrence that it will then become necessary to
devovc these duties on some receiver collector al
ready in office, safe agent not in Office,
has been the practice for years in this country pay
no State Bank or branch of the United States Bank,
and has long been the usage in some countries of
Europe, by having tho in certain districts
chiefly received. kept and transmitted through private
agents and brokers'"
Bat it added that "though the fiscal operations
of the Government could undoubtedly, still proceed
through the personal agencies before mentioned, and
without any hanks Siale National. vet Mnnld