Columbus Democrat. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-18??, 1838-05-05
From the Extra Globe.
In exposition o the course and principle, Of the Id
miaistratiOn IN relation TO the custody ofths pub
lie moneys.
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE L. STATES.
(CONTINUED.)
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

Let US now turn our attention to the objections |
urged against the Independent Treasury and he |
Administration which proposes it.
/. Ii is declared TO be a measure calculated TO
promote dwelling principles and an equalization
of property-princples which are traced to the
declaration Of Robert Dale Owen, in 1929, ad-
yOca!lng "a civil revolution, which would leave
behind it no trace Of any Government that had
not provided for every human being an equal a.
mount of property on arriving at the age Of ma
turlty and during minority equal food. clothing,
and education, at the public expense" How
the keeping of the money Of the Government
exclusively for lis orn use, instead of letting those
use it 10 ,chom il does not belong, tends to impair
The right Of property, it is not easy to conceive.
However thlt may be, venture to say there is
not man connected with the Administration who
entertalns opinions IN any degree analogous to
the wild aud imprachcable scheme developed by
Mr. Owen. 1t would be equally Just to attribute
to them, as their settled opinions, the incoherent
gvlngs out of any mailman in bedam. On the
contrary, there is believed not to be man con-
nected with the Administration who does not
maintain, as fundamental principle, that every
man has right to possess, enjoy and dispose OF,
whatever he has acquired by the efforts of his
own mind, strength and industry, without mlring-
ing upon the rights of others and that enc Of
the first objects of all Just institutions is to pro-
tect that right. Equal RGHTs is sound doc
time; but it IS wholly incompattable with equal
lily Of property. Equality Of rights" secures TO
every man alike the privilege of enjoying the
property he honestly acquires but II does not
require him TO divide his acquisitions. with his
neghbors who are less able to work, less fortu-
nate, less industrious, or less economical, What
ever he gives out of the proceeds Of his labor, is
not required Of him as matter Of right but is
exacted by holy charity, or other persuasive con-
sderailons, operating upon his liberality and his
will The Supreme Being has not made men
equal in physical strength; in mental power, in
excitability Of passions, in solidity of Judgment,
or IN any other things between whcnflt is posi-.
BILE to draw parallel. Human Institutions which
should attempt to produce an equality Of proper
ty, when Heaven itself has made men UNEQUAL
III the faculty Of acquisition, would be viola.
ton of natural law, of individual rights, impracii.
cable and absurd. Ia country where mind is
free, all sorts of wild theories will spring up like
weeds IN rich soil !; but rooted out by reason
and common sense, they only tend 10 rertilise the
land oil liberty II is as ridiculous as il is unjust,
TO PICK up these ieemng eXtrayagances and at
tribute them to the Administration, or any politi-
cal party IN the country. Sure it is, that the idea
OF an equality of property, or Of a general dstli-
button oil property, is utterly repudatcd by every
man connected with the Administration, and The
charge might, with more pausibiIity, be letored
upon those who SO strenuously MAINTAIN that the
hunkS cboI,lI hova the oc 4
not belong to them.
2 1t is charged that the Independent TIeasu.
ry Is a measure OF hostility TO the general credit
system of the country, and is calculated, fnot dc.
signed, to reduce the operations of trade to the
mere exchange of one thing for another, without
the lntorpostion Of credit paper in any shape.
This charge has as little foundation in fact as
the preceding il is almost as absurd 10 talk Of
banIshIng credit from n civilized community as o.
producing an equality Of property. Credit is
found useful IN the most simple, as well as in The
most complicated forms Of society, and to des
troy It, would be 10 cut one Of the ligamens which
bind men together in civil communities. Doubt
less, like all other honest men, the members 0
Tue Administration are opposed TO that abuse Q
credit which robs the good man for the benefit 0
the knaye, ruins multitudeS by its excuses, AM
produces decentralization, disrus and anarchy il
the business Of society. To draw the prope
line, and say TO credit thus far shalt thou COM
and no farther" is perhaps impracticablc AM
the only difference on tho subject which exists il
the country is beloved TO be. not whether cIedl
shall exist, but to what limit il is cxpedlent 10 pei
init its extension. On that point scarcely an
two intelligent men will be found TO agreo an
as the Administration have no control over it, the
do not entertain the question. While there
not one OF ITS members who is hostile TO the cred
tsysem, there may be the same diversity c
opinion among them, as to some Of its features
which exists among their fclIowcit
B. The Independent Treasury is charged wit
being part of a scheme 10 overthrow the Stat
banks or estate institutions" There is not eve
plausible foundation for this charge. The sir
gle ground on which ii is got up is the know
desire of the Administration to be relieved froi
their aid IN the management Of the public reyt
nue., because they hare signally failed in The pei
Torrance Of their public duties and obligation
IN that respect. Multitudes of individuals, a
well as the Government, had deposes Of specl
funds in the banks at the time of their stoppagt
Suppose one of these private citizens, who va
bound by the law and an oath to pay all his debt
in specie, and had found himself thus unexpec
eddy deprived Of the power TO obey the one
comply with the other, should determine herea
ter TO keep his money in his own chest, ought !
to be charged with design 10 destroy the bank
Must every man keep his money in banks, or
set down as their enemy! Must he buy the
friendship, or encounter their hostility!
The Administration has proposed no measnl
for the injury Of banks. On the contrary It HI
applied for and obtained from Congress an act
indulgence, giving them time to pay over the pu
lie moneys on hand. Its aim, from the time
their suspension, has been TO separate from tbeE
x and lei them alOns-to leave them TO the Stat
s. by which they were created-to leave them