Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1837-1839, 1838-04-28

sound will 20 forth unto all lands We shall q
be like the king 10 the ditty il the nursery.
There sat the king, eounsins Of his monsy.'
Ye will observe, sir, that these receipts N
Payments cannot b made in parcels, withos
the actual handbag II each piece Of coin. II
, marks "a kegs Of dollars, and the labels on bag
Of gold, are not to be srussed. These are 4 pa
Of e,eda-aod all credit, all trust, all cos6deoc,
! Is to be done away with. When the surveyor
Tor instance, 1t the custorn-house, is TO ezamia
tie money On kasd, in possession Of the collector
or receiver general, he is, Of course, to count th
. money. No other examination can come to an
thing. lie cannot tell, from external appearance
: nor from the weight, whether tine collector ha
. loaned out the money, and filled the bags an
boxes up with sand and lead, not. Nor cal
counterfeit pieces be otherwise detectod than b,
actual handling He must examine, he mus
count. And no II the land Offices, the mints, an
elsewhere. lf these officers shall have q tast'
fos silver sounds, they all likely to be grati:i
ed.
Mr.. President, in all sobcrness, is not ,hi
whole operation PreposPerous.
/ II begins by proposing to Keep the public mon
eys. This, itself, in the sense tho word is here
used, il perfect novelty, especially in the U
States. Why keep the public moneys; that is Il
say, Why hoard them, why keep them out Of use
The use Of money is in the exchange. 1t Is de-
government should have to do with 1t, Is to re-
ceive il to-day, that it may pay il away to-mor-
row. il should not receive ii, before II needs IL
and IL should part with IL as > ii owes it.
To keep it-fhat is, to detain it, to hold it back
from general use, to hoard it, is conception be-
longing 10 barbarous times and barbarous gov
ernments. How would it strike Us, il We should
see other great commercial nations acting upon
such a svsicms If England, with revenue Of
City millions .terlings year, were found 20 be
collecting and discussing every shilling Of it in
hard money, through all the ramfcations u her
vast expenditure, should we not think her mad?
But the system is worse here, because it with
Of a country that requires capital, and is paying
interest for capitol wherever 1t can obtain II.
But now, sir, allow mo to examine the opera
tion Of this measure upon the general interest Of
commerce, and upon the general currency Of tho
country. And in this point Of view, the first
great question IS, What amount Of gold and sil-
ger ciu this operation subtract from the e'restd-
sios Of the country, and from the csc Of the
baaks.
In regard to this important inquiry, we not
without the means Of forming some Judgment.
Al Official report from the Treasury, made to the
other House, shows that, for the last ten years,
iherO has been, 1t the end Of each year, an
average, fifteen millions, and four hundred thou
.and dollars in the Treasury. And this sum is
exclusive Of all that had been collected OF the
people, but had not vet reached the Treasury;
md also Of nil that had been drawn from tho
Treasury by disbursng officers, bu: which had
not yet been by them paid to individuals. Ad-
ling these sums together, sir, and the result is,
hat ON an average for the last ten years, there
rave been at least twenty millions Of dollars in
Inc Treasury. do not mean, Of course, that this
'um IS, the whHle Of IL, unappr"priatcd. ] mean
hat this amount has 10 fact been in the Trcasu-
y, either not appropriated, not called for un-
Ter appropriations; that If this Sub treasury
chcme had been in operation, in times past, of
he specie in the country, twenty millions would
ave been constantly locked up in tho safes and
aui.>. Now, sir, do not believe that, for these
en- years. the whole amount Of gold and silver
q the country has exceeded, on average fifty !
6 sixty millions do not believe il exceeds a
ixty millions at the present moment and If we I
nd now the whole system in complete opera p
on, it would lock up, and keep locked up, one Q
III third Of all the specie in the country. n
ockcd up I y-boarded-rendcrcd as useless G
all purposes Of commerce and business, US lift y
1t incunccivabI that any maa should fall upon =
'ch . scheme Of policy as this? Is il possible q
at any can fail TO SEQ the destructive ef u
cts Of such policy on the commerce and the Is
,rrency Of the country.
II is true, the system does not come into ope- 81
ton all at once. But il begins its demands for q
ecie Immediately; it calls upon the banks, and o.
calls upon indiv iduals, for their hard dollars, &c
1t they may he put away and locked up in the a
Feasury, at the pcry moment chen the country is o.
fer.g for the panf Of more specie in the eires- al
lion, and ske basks are offering for MEANS to "
able them to resswe their Pay~enes And THIS, 70
is expected, will improve the currency, a.d IA CT
itate resumption! a.
Il has heretofore been asserted, that the gen. =:
II currency Of the country needed to be strength
ed by tho introduction Of moro specie into the :,
cuiatiou. This has been insisted on for years.
{ il be conceded. l have submitted il, and, in :.
I'd, contended for tho proposition heretofore, -
endeavoscd to prove it. But il must b plain =.
every body, that any addition Of specie in order
b useful, must either 60 into circulation, rs ~
Il AZ that circulation, or else it must 60 into the
.ks, to casble them the better to sustain and y.
|esm their paper. But this bill Is calculated to
mote neither Of those ends, but exactly the re- =,
Ne. II withdraws specie from circulation and ~ -.
the banks, and piles It up in useless heaps in Il,
the Treasury. II wsakens the general circu- =. =,
ion, by making the portion Of specie, which is 8,
q Of il, % much the less; it wsakcns the banks,
reducing the amount Of coin which supports :"
ir circulation. The general evil imputed to :.
rency, fsr some years past 10 that paper, has ~
med too great portion Of it. The operation Of -,
m>eaaneo h. IN hat vary evil Ao'