The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-07
M VIRGINIA,

OF VIRGINIA,
In support Of The Biz fntroaaeea y ns@ ar IA,
sigaaIiag he funds reee'rdos ~ Pay"Ss ~ - ~
ps5lie rsrcnae, and ~ opposition 80 y,;,sJ
snru .S6Asms. DetipersG ~ he Se" y -
states, 1914 ScPt, 1887
(COneludfd)
-, au ~ nermit me to say something in re.
ard 10 the machinery that Is proposed 70 DC sups.i,
ss,,ed for the Stale Banks. Can you rely upon II
nnss il afford any adequate guarantee Tor 'he sae.
- he nublic moneys4 | say you cannot, All e1per
., w, pprovaS Won cannot Look at the records Of
;nrr Treasury Department, and see IN now many
,ances your receivers of public money, IAN 70 pay
rar as they are required 10 do, the moneys conecteu
b hem. Look al brief, but most pregnant, report
=, an 23d of February 1890, TO this body BY MI
crawford then Secretary oi the treasury. ne
states the amount lost 10 the government py inc h
6Jelity of officers employed in The collection oi .ne
nbIic revenue from 1883 TO 1919, at one million and
Pic r dollars and the losses sustained by the mis-
rnIicalion of the public money by the ohcers OF go
faTTnment employed in discussing i, ne ADDS thele
can h. no doubt greatly erceed those whlch nave
80 an AGGREGATE loss TO the government from The
i6deiy of It's officers employed in The collection OF
disbursement of the revenue, during the hist 'hiry
years of its existence greatly efcesding three NM
lions of dollars This period, y mus. DC rei,ii neu
inv was one characterised, during the greater por-
ION of il by extreme simplicity IN The organization
Of ih. government, as well as by a very moderate
amount both of revenue and expenditure. ~ must
be borne in mind also that the losses sustained were
by The infdelity of officers employed merely In the
roUeet;on or disbursement Of the public money, VINO
held possession of it momenarily and IN fransih
only iii thew could hand il over TO the banks IN which
il was TO be deposited or pay II TO the puplc cfea
nrs whose claims were to be discharged Win IT, But
nnder the system now proposed, these officers are to
be themselves the repositories Of the pubic money,
and 10 retain continuous possession OF II IN calied
for BY the actual expenditures OF me government.
How infinitely would the hazards OF inhdelily and
mSappication be increased by such state OF things
With great Difference then, lothe honorable Sena-
Tor from New York, Mr. Wright this system has
not even the merit of being an untried expedient'
II has been tried though TO limited extent, in the
operations of this government ITSELF and the bitter
fruits of that partial experiment are found In the
facts have Just stated But, sir it has been lntly
tried in my own State. The Treasury OF Virginia,
was formerly organised on that principle OF personal
custody and control of the public moneys, which Is
now proposed TO be made the basis OF new system
of fiscal administration here. Without entering INTO
painful Details will only say, that the experiment
signally and moumfully failed; and from that pc
Rod, the public moneys have been kept in and dis
bursed BY the banks under efficient checks, against
abuse and misappication by the public officers au-
thorised to draw on the public funds upon which
plan the finances of the Stale have ever since been
conducted with perfect success. When consider
the nirmites of human nature, am utterly opposed
to a system, which would subject ii 10 such cruel
trials as that now proposed, must inevitably do
hope sir my standard OF virtue and integrity Is not
conceive that even an honorable man. having large
sum of public money lying idle in his hands, for
which there was no call in the public service ap-
peaed to by friend in distress, whose deStinies
and those of wife and children might depend upon
pecuniary relief at critical moment, confdng in
the solemn assurances of that friend that whatever
money was advanced to him should be restored be-
fore there could be any occasion for its application
TO the public USE say, sir | can conceive that
even an honorable man, thus situated, and thus APP
pealed to, might be prevailed upon by the feelings
and sympathieS of his heart 10 yield from an idle
public hoard the means of salvation and relief to
numerous and interesting family, and his cacula-
lions upon the return of the money, (thus momenta
riy diverted) disappointed in the end, find himself
at last defauter to his public trust But, sir, the
temptations of another character, arising out of the
necessities specuations of the officer himself hav
ing large amount of idle public funds al his dispo
sal, would be constant, habitual and powerful, To
these would be superadded the danger of misapplca
ton to political purposes 1t often happens that pub
tic officers are Jealous and active partizans. Sup
pose that such one had in his hands large amount
of idle public money, at the moment of a critical
election, on which the continuance of his employers
in power depended would he not be strongly tempted
to the funds in his hands to sway the result and
would there not be the more danger Of his yielding
to the temptation he would naturally rely on the
indulgence of those for whose benefit he had violated
his trust2 We are now, MIR. President, TO found a
system that is to last and which may influence, for
good or for evil the destinies OF the country in all
future time; and consequences and dangers, however
remote, improbable they may appear to some al the
present moment, ought to be looked to and weighed
In this view cannot but fear that the system pro-
posed, will be found both demoralizing and unsafe.
The President in his Message says, that the oblec-
ton TO the proposed system as being unsafe, must
proceed on the assumption that " vault In bank IS
stronger than vault in the Treasury" This OBJ
servation does moi seem to me to be well considered
1t overlooks the important distinction that II the
vaults of bank be despoed, and the public moneys
be taken therefrom, the loss is not that of the Go
vernment, but of the bank, whereas when the vaults
of the Treasury violated, the loss falls wholly
and exclusively on the Government. In the one
case, the stockholders Of the bank inerposed be-
tween the Government and the violated vault, (their
whole capital being bound to make good the losS)
whereas in the other, no shield is nerpoSed but the
Government is left naked to the spoiler.
Another most important objection to this system is
the dangerous increase of Executive patronage it
would bring with it. Il seem to give way too
much to old Republican jealouses, hope gentlemen
will pardon me- imbibed them early from the ia
theirs of our political church, and cannot get
rid of them. have always been taught 10 believe
that the great danger to liberty is in the growth of
Executive patronage. Every days observation OF
the operations of our Government confirms me in
the conviction that here is the peccam part of our
system, and that it cannot be too closely watched by
The vigilance otthe people and their Representatives.
The bill upon your table, sir, for organizing new
fiscal agency is the latent germ ola vast growth ofEx
ecutive patronage, which will spread and spread till
it overshadow the land. If the immense moneyed
concerns of this Government which have heretofore
been managed through banking institutions, (extend
ing in number sometimes to near a hundred are
to be henceforward committed to individual agen-
ceS exclusively an enormous multiplication OF those
agencies will be inevitable. The bill now offered,
erely introduces the principle. Let the system
hce receive the sanction of law and it must go
4 will generate force in itself that will be compe-
out to carry ii forward to a fearful development. l
was informed during my residence in France, that
this SubTreasury system, which prevails in that
country embraced there not less than one hundred
thousand officers. Our population is already near
one half that of France; and whether we areno', in
time, to have here swarm of official locuSls that
will bear corresponding proportion to those that
now darken and devour that fair land, may depend