Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-09-19
7 Il T. z
From the National Intelligeneer.
THE INDEPENDENT TREASURY

GBuEI tulS utdu ttfC sAAtS u tN 1870
Advertiser has undertaken, in a series OF essays
written in the argumensative and dispassicnate man
! ner bv which that journal is characterized, to re-
view the merits of what has usually been termed
the sub Treasury scheme, which, It Is apparent,
from late indications, the Administrator has not
abandoned it's Intention, if in its power, TO iasten
upon the country. Although we concur IN opinion
with those who consider this measure not more OBJ
noxious than other Of the distinctive principles OF
the Administration, as developed in ITS practice,
we are yet glad to find that so able a writer as he
of the Advertiser has undertaken TO a~nalyze and IL
lustrate il; for, in doing so, at this moment, when
its revival is threatened, be is rendering a service
to his country.
The third number of the series OF Essays to which
we refer is that to which we propose to invite the
attention of our readers. In the two preceding es
SAYS, the Inconvenience to which the Public would
be subjected in reference to receipts from, or pay
men,s to, the United States, BY the operation OF
this system, had been discussed inconvenience
consisting chiefly in the departure which this sys-
tenn requires from the customary and universally
established modes of dong BUSINESS; in ITS deprl-
wing both public debtors and public creditors OF Ia
cili.ies. by means of discounts, which were habltu-
ally afforded under the old system. through the
agency of the depositing banks and in It's abJurlng
the use of bank notes to any useful purpose IN the
making of payments, and requiring all payments to
DR mduS tilufT tSIiuslNtit IN NltNNs
bank notes as will be Immediately converted into
specie.
In the number now before us mo. III the dis
advantages of the system, as affecting the interests
of the Government and of the country, are consid-
cred as follows:
"It will be admitted, We presume, that tbs OBJ
iectiops which we have thus stated are OF consider
able force, but it will be contended that they are
outweighed by the pretended advantages Of tue
new system. The question therefore arises, Hhnt
are tie advantages, real or pretended, OF the suo-
Treasury systemi We answer, that there are no
real advantages, and we shall endeavor TO show
that the pretended advantages are ilIusory, because
they are founded un a false assumption oil facts'-
These pretended advantages are, that the lndepen-
dent Treasury system renders the public moneys
more secure, and that it has a tendency TO intro
duce into general use in the country a specie or
hard-money currency. These, we believe, are all
the advantages which it has ever been pretended
are to be derived from the new system; and we
shall undertake TO show
"Ist. That 1t is not true that the Independent
Treasury system will render the public moneys
more secure; and
"'2d. That no advantages can result either to the
Government or TO the Public at large from any at
tempt to introduce into general use a specie curren-
cy..
As the last Of these propositions is more init
mately connected with another branch OF tue SUD
iect, which we propose to treat hereafter, We shali
confue ourselves, for the present, TO a eohsideie'
ton of the first.
III il then maintained by the friends of the In
dependent Treasury that the adoption OF that sJs
tenn, the leading feature OF which Is to divorce the
Cove from the banks, will render the pubic
money more safe, by being placed IN the imnedi.
ate custody of agents OF the Government, instead oil
being in the custody of banks because banks may
and III fact do fail, that is, become delinquent OF
srkrupt; but that agents Of the Government, en-
trusted as public officers with the custody OF the
public money, cannot become delinquent without
dishonesty, and without consisting an act which
il is proposed shall be made, by a special enact
ment, felony, punishable by imprisonment nj hafo
labor for from two 10 five years. In proof oil the
position that banks fail, and may fail again, refer
ence is made TO the actual experience OF the Gov
eminent in past years. Such, we believe, IS the
whole substance of the argument in favor OF the In
dependent Treasury, founded on the assumption
that it will render the public treasures more Sc
cure.
alt must be admitted that, within the experience
of the present Administration, the Government has
suffered severely from the failure OF the banks
which were employed as the repositories OF The
public money. These failures have been parity
bankruptcies, by which the Government VIII be D.
nal losers Of a portion of the funds so dePositedi
and partly, and to a much greater extent, a delay
Of nayment. in consequence of the general susPen-
sion of specie payments, which will not be attend
ed with any material final loss. But there IS more
Than one answer to the argument drawn from tins
admitted fact.
1.-THE first is. that, during the same period in
which The Government has suffered from the talt
ure of banks selected by its repositories, 1t has sui
fered with equal severity from the frauds and pee
ulations of public officers selected by it, and entrus-
" H. l. ,nn NJ
fact shows that, if the hazard of loss from deposi-
,;n0 The public treasure in banking institutions Is
one which can be avoided only by abandoning banks
as pubIic repositories, even this expedient is not a
remedy for the evil, because the substitutes adop-
led in place Of banks have thus been proved. IN adj
vance, equally undeserving of confidence.
"Another and more conclusive answer TO the ar
sument is, that the actual losses when nave oeeh
sustained by the Goyernmet from the failure OF
banks have arisen, in nearly all the cases, rom d
gross and culpable want of judgment in the selec-
lion of The banks which were made repositories;
or. rather, from the notorious adoption OF a laise
and dangerous principle, in the selection OF me
banks from which those losses have been sustained
Ii is a fact so notorious that 1t cannot be conirhdic-
ted. that the banks referred 10 were selected as de-
positories of the public money, not on The ground
that thew were rega~led as aiiording the greatest
degree of security against loss, but on Inc GROUND
that their proprietors and conductors were num-
hered among the personal favorites and part'sans
ne the Administration. Banks selected TO be the
keepers of the public treasure, on ms prlhcipie'
might well have been expected to tail; wh'ie' on
the other hand, it must be admitted by the most ar
dent friend Of the sub-Treasury, that there is not a
State in the Union which does not possess banks
which. if proper discretion bad been used IN the Sc
lection, might have been employed for the purpose
with the utmost safety, or at least with very htiie
- 4-ri-. h. Il avar hpan pretended tnat Our
large capitalists find any difficulty in selecting banks
for their repositories, in which to place their funds
in perfect safety Has any one ever heard OF any
large capitalists, of sound judgement having lost
their money by its being deposited in The lnsii'uiio1s
in which the Government has been so heavy a loser I