The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1840-05-15
s p E E c IL
MIR. BUCHANAN, OF PENNSYLVANIA,

DENT: 1t is not my purpose, on the present Oc-
cason, to go very much at length into discussion
of the provisions of this bill ! intend in a great
degree, indeed almost exclusively, to con6ne my
self to reply, ut least to attempt to reply to
the remarks of the senator from Kentucky Mr.
CLAYl
In all discussions, five desire to arrive at salts
factory CONCLUSIONS it is absolutely necessary that
we should distinctly understand what is the ques-
ton to be discussed Then let me ask, what is the
nature and character of the Independent Treasury
bill now before the Senate
Since the origin of the Government, onr own re-
sponsible officers have always collected the pub
lie revenue, and have always disbursed the public
revenue. Heretofore, during the intermediate space
of time between its collection and its disbursement
it has been deposited with banking corporations
The object of this bill is to provide that our own
responsible officers shall be substituted AS depOs-
itaries, instead of these banking corporations and
that these officers shall hereafter not only collect
and disburse the public money as they have always
done but that they shall also have the custody Of
it between its collection aud Disbursement.
Under the provisions of this bill, every officer
throughout the United States who receive public
money is constituted depositary. But there are
certain points where very large sums of public
money are collected, or are dish urscd or both, and
at these points, both the security ofthe revenue and
the public convenience required that there should
be dcpostares distinct from, and independent of,
the collecting officers. These points are Philade-
phia, New Orleans, New York, Boston, Charles
ton, and st Louis. Accordingly, the bill proposes
to convert the Mint at Philadelphia and the Branch
Mint at New Orleans into places ofpublic deposite,
and entrust the custody of the public money to
the treasurers oflhese institutions respectively and
| :, I,
troll of recever-general. Mt New York, at Boston
at Charleston, and at -, Louis
Thus far, sir, it will be perceived that this bill
makes no change in the settled polIry of the coun-
try, except merely to provide that the public money,
in the intermediate time, between lis receipt into
the Treasury and its disbursement, shall be entrust
ed to our own responsible officers, instead of rres-
ponsib|e corporations.
In addition to these provisions, the bill contains
what has been commonly denoniinated the specie
clause, This section provides that one-f0urth OF
| lie dues Ofthc Government shall be collected IN
gold and silver, after the 3Oh June, $780, one half
after ihc3Oth June lS4l, three iOurths after the
Goth June 1912 and after the Both June, 1913,
all the revenue of the Government shall be col
lertcd and all It's disbursements shall be made III gold
and silver coin.
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the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill
which lms excited so much unnecessary alarm
throughout the country.
In discussing this bill, the Senator from Ken
lucky has divided his remarks into two general
heads lie has first considered the bill according
TO what It's friends say it is and in the second place,
has discussed il according to what he himself be-
lcvcs il to be. In my reply shall invert this or
der because it is necessary first to prove that the
Senator himself has entirely mistaken the nature
and effects of the measure, and tina, its friends en-
terrain just conception Of its character:
The Senator held mp the bill triunphantly to
public view, and declared that it contained within
iis provisions great Government Treasury Bank.
Now, il cannot make il manifest as the light OF
day, that in this proposition he is cntiiely mistaken,
| shall then agree to surrender the whole argument
The Senator has had nm unsuccessful chase, through
the provisions of this bill, after the luiking mon
s,er. Had he succeeded in dragging him into light
! should have been one Of the first men in the.
country to assist in putting him to instant death
But,
ale must have optics sharp, wccn
| Who what is not to be sern,'
Now, sir, what is bank According to tho
usual acceptation of the word in country, il per-
forms three Offices 1t receives deposites, loan,
money uDOu discounts, uIlh n ISSUES paper cur
rency. | acknowledge that, in order to consiiut,
a bank it is not necessary that it should perform
all these three functions. There are banks OF dis
count and deposie merely, and there are asc
banks Of deposiie aud issue only and this latter
class Of banks are the most secure oil any IN The
world when the deposi,es are confined to the pre-
cous metals, and the issue, in the form OF ccrii.
Gates do not exceed the sums actually deposited
Such was the Bank Of Amsterdam, and such i
now the Bank of Hamburg. Ii would be diiicu
To form m idea of u bank of issue alone, without
deposlcs or discounts, although know. from The
utter inability of the Bank of England 10 regulate
the p1per currency of that kingdom, the question
has been seriously considered whether one bank Of
issue ought not to be established, and whether all
other banks ought not TO be prohibited from emit
ing paper currency. 1t is certain that at the pre-
sent moment, bank of issue, purely as bank Of
issue, does not exist on the face of the earth
Now sir, this bill does not authorize the public
depositarie. To receive money from individuals on
depositc and il not only does not authorize then
loan the pnbc money entrusted TO their care
bu, ii makes such an act felony, punishable by
fine and Imprisonment. This bill, then, clearl,