Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-11-15

MDCIlG ~ -
currency--you give IL increased value
in the market, to the extent OF sucn
new demand--and to that same extent
you postpone the day when 1t can re-
turn into use as a part OF the circula-
ting medium. Until that day comes,
it is impossible for the BANKS to pay out
specie upon their notes-they never
can do so, until the demand upon them
is reduced to n naked demand for cir
~culation. If | am correct in this rea-
soning, the best that could be hoped
for, under the proposed law, would be,
that il should remain n dead letter up.
on the statute book.
| think | have shown that we could
have no return to "A circulation OF spc.
Gle under its auspices; and if this be 80,
do you believe, does any man believe
that the law could be carried into eff.
feet
What, air, that the government alone
should be paid ~ silver aud gold, when
those who have the payments to make,
receive nothing but i~rredeemable pa
per! How vain aud idle it is to expect
any such thing. If by any chance or
lucky accident, overriding those stern
necessities to which all human affairs
are subject, the exigency Of the times
should have passed by, before your pc.
Icy begins thea it might thus chance
favored be, that the scheme could be
carried out. But il becomes US not to
logislate upon such improbable contin-
gencles. | want no better evidence of
where the Government would be twelve
months hence, under the operation of
this law, than what is now daily pass
ing under our eyes. There are, it is
said, (and | presume with an aproxi-
nation at least to the truth noW in this
country eighty millions Of dollars in coin-
ed metal. BY the existing law, (as
there is no bank paper convertible into
specie,) Government al nor receive
nothing but com in payment Of any
par, Of its revenue. | ask confidently,
is any part Of that reyenue SO paid p
With all this abundance ofthe precious
metals, fully three times as much as
we have had at any former period, do
we not all know, that none whatever is
paid into the Treasury from any source
of revenue. meal none, when COM.
pared eve with the lowest necessity Of
the public service. The mint, it IS
true, does furnish "a small supply, bare
ly sufficient, if at all, to meet those de-
mands, which coin alone will satisfy.
But this does not come IN any shape Of
revenue-iar from it. 1t Is purchased
by Government at market rates, AM a
premium paid upon every dollar that is
brought in. Such Is the present stale
of things, under the operation Of a hard
money law, while the only money of
the country Is irredeemable paper; and
such must ever continue to be your
condition, under the operation Of any
that you may pass, 50 long as the
money which you require, is b%anished,
by whatever cause, from the channels
OF circulation.
lay down then this position, and dc.
iy any refutation That the Govern
ment must, as a permanent necessity, !
deal in that currency in which the peo-
pie deal ; it Is the law of its creation,
and ~insepcrable from its condition. 1t
receive what the people receive,
and pay what they pay-a necessity
from which Government cannot escape
if it woodland ought not, fit could.
speak of this as a permanent neccs.
.ity, distinguished from the necessities
of immediate want. 1t is struggIingf
now against this very want, and pre-.
cisely as any large capitalist might C.
qualIy do, by using the resources Of its
credit, to supply the temporary absence
of revenue. Have we not just passed
ii law, authorising ar issue Of ten mill
ions ofTrcasury paper, for this very
purpose? | mean for the single pur
pose of rescuing the Government from
the necessity of coming down at once
to the irrcdeemable paper OF the banks.
And This only TO answer the present e.
mergency for it will certainly follow,
unless that medium can be restored, in
which alone the government is allow
cd TO deal, that we must issue at least
ten millions more, before we return
home from the ensuing session. Sir, |
went cordially with you IN this use Of
Government credit, and | will DO II a.
gam should the emergency continue.
But | tell you fairly and candldly, and
tell the people too, that this Treasury
issue is all that saves the Government
now from coming down at once to
bank paper! say this, sir, because
your revenue laws, cxucting gold and
silver, are not, and cannot be enforced.
If you collect any revenue, it can only
be in that paper, because there is no.
thing else to pay with.
Suppose then, your law passed, and
the currency remain, as under such no.