The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1838-11-21
From fhs Nep York Erening Post.


of this country has for the good conduct Of
the receivers of the public money. What
certainty have we that the money received
will be paid overt None but The character
Of the public officer. What means have we
Of detecting instantly any deficiency IN his
accounts, and preventing any further fraud
by dismissing him None at all. The
regulations Of law, IN regard to this matter,
are The loosest and most inadequate that
can be imagined. They present contin-
unl tempt1tion 10 embeZZlement. Yon might
as well scatter coin and bank notes among
the dust of the street, and expect that they
would not be picked up, ds to expect that
no receiver would ever he found defaulter,
when you offer him such opportunities and
inducements.
Mr. Cambreleng has treated Of this sub
icct in n passage in his late letter 10 his con-
stiInents. We copy it, because it has a
very remarkable application to the case we
are considering.
"Depositing our public money in bank,
especially or otherwise, can never prevent
frauds by our own officers. We are obliged
to employ them in collecting our revenue
and TO confide in them, as we have always
done, whether our deposites were made in
either the United States bank or in the State
banks. Every dollar was under their con-
troll, and the amount which they afterwards
transferred to the credit Of the Treasurer of
the United States, depended entirely upon
their integrity. The proposition to direct
the very officers who have possession of the
public money, to deposit it in banks to pro-
tect the treasury from their own frauds, is
obviously absard. Such is not the remedy
for the defect in our laws. We have always
improperly permitted the same officers to
furnish the statements of the revenue, TO re-
ceive and control it. 1t was thus not in the
power of the Treasury to detect fraud until
long after it might have been committed.
To correct this error, and 10 guard the rev.
enue from loss both by public officers and
banks, the President proposed, where it
could not be protected by adequate bonds,
to employ the officers of our mints and four
Receivers General Ia receive and keep the
public money. The statements of the rev.
enue accruing and received, would then be
furnished by different officers, aud the Sec
retnry would be able to detect errors or
frauds; while the proposed supervision and
actual examination of the money and ac-
counts OF the keepers of the revenue, by 9th.
er and equally responsible officers, would
ms far as law could, prevent delalcations in
future. For want of this udicious modiii-
cation of our laws, our treasury depends
now, as it has always done, entirely upon
the honesty of our officers"
These reflections are full of good seEse
and foresight, but you might AS well .nlk
good sense to n troop of prairie wolves, n'
to the enemies Of the administration in their
party capacity. The democrats in Con-
gress offered to correct the imperfection in
our laws-they proposed checks and respon-
sibll,ics-tbey brought forward n plan by
which constant watch should be kept over
the persons who receive The public money
and any embezzlement detected at once
while the evil was yet mconsiderable, ant
the deficiency small. These plans were
pertpaciously and scornfully rejected, tn,
mischief was allowed to work, and now W,
have, in the instance of Mr.. Swartwout, {
sample of its consequences.
We shall see whether the practical argu
ment afforded by this case will have an,
effect upon Congress. We trust it will
Even the journals which oppose the neces
sary reform in the mode Of keeping th
public money, complain, inconsistently e
; nough, of the loosencss of the present sys
tenn. The Express, for example, quarrel
: with Mr.. lloyt, our present Collector, 70
Keeping II special account with a bank il
E Wall street, and processes great alarm fo
: the safety of the public money. The ap
l prcheusions of the Express are needless il
this instance, but the general position il
true enough, that these things ought not I,
q be left 10 the discretion of any Collector
T Let us then have places of deposiie appoint
ed let us have proper checks upon the re
I ceyers, ample securities, frequent account
D ings, payments, and inspections; let us, il
1 short, have jus, such reform as the demo
' cratic party proposed Immediately on tn
/: suspension of specie payments by the bank
= in 1887, such rs they brought forward a
I the extra session that year, aud again las
winter.
{ The Globe, in alluding to the defalca
tons of Mr.. Swarlwout, furnishes SOM
f. verv remarkable instances of the netficienc
of the late system of keeping and disburs
ing the public money, To prevent fraud
by the receivers. In fact, every instance o
receivers who have missppied the publ
money, which the whig prints have para
ded with SO much noise, is an instance 4
show that the scheme of taking the bank
into partnership, with the government, il
order to make the public money safe, u
hollow aud fallacions, and utterly withou
out any pretensIons to the merit which it
advocates so pompousIy claim for it, Th
Globe says;
at is remarkable fact that the exper
: lence of the State Governments, rs well a
, of the General Government, proves that tb
divided responsibility of keeping the publ
treasure between banks and collectors, ha
InncInI th, A