The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1840-05-15


vancing money to his agents by drawing drafts
upon these banks that, therefore, he himself had
established bank of issue. The cases are pre-
csey analogous.
In what part of this bill has the Senator discover
ed the charter ofhis bank He has referred to one
and only one clause for the purpose of proving its
existence This is to be found in the tenth section
of the BILL and, as is very brief shall read il to
the Senate. 1t is as follows:
"And for the purpose ofpayments on the public
account, it shall be lawful for the Treasurer of the
United States to draw upon any of the said depos-
itaries, as he may think most conducive to the pub
lie interest, or to the convenience OF the public
creditors, or both."
There, sir, is the charter and what is il but
mere recognition of the power which have just
described, and which has existed and must neces-
sarily have existed, ever since the origin of the
Government. 1t requires the Treasurer of the
United States to consult both the public interest
and the convenience ofthe public creditor, or beth
in selecting the depOsitary on which to draw his
warrant. This he has always done. In the first
he must select a depository with whom there is an
amount of money sufficient to meet the draft /;
and among such depositares he must, unless the
public interest forbids, draw upon that one where
it will be most convenient for the public creditor
TO receive his money. Why, sir, this clause, so
terrific to the imagination of the gentleman, might
he stricken from the bin altogether, without pro-
ducng the slightest Inconvenience. The practice
which it prescrbes, is that which must necesslr-
" be pursued in paying the debts of the Govern
ment. And yet this simple and necessary power is
the only part of the bill on which the Senator relies
to establish his great Treasury Bank
But said that this bill contained AN important
limitation which had never heretofore existed
rus was 'n.aouuoeu" ~. 'PI" ','as ,Ian ANNA
"Pon ~. o"n IiSosac ,i T.oasnr, ,,,r rr
'G ;h, no., ..asn, ,hsm tor n,ynen, within rem
S, ,, p ,nd ,hn, lprsc amount Of them
n,;yLt remain outstanding and be used as bills of
exchonue Az these outstanding drafts would ne
crssnr;y rcprcsent AN eoual amount of gold aud sill
YER in he hands Of the depositaries. ii was uppre-
bended that nnless ,bev wore speedily presented
for p,yment n mao, Of them might continue float
inc In tho community, and thus produce an accu-
mutation of specie in the hands of the depositarics
which might prove injurious to the banks. To
nreyent this evil--tO render the draft upon the
ma,ks for specie rs light as possble-and to cause
the gold and silver to flow ont of the Treasury into
general circulation, as rapidly as it had flowed into
it., this amendment was adopted. II now constl-
tutes the Odd section of the bill, and is as follows
SEC. %. lind be il further eaaciei, That it
shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury
to issue and publish regulations to enforce the spec
DIV presentation of all Government drains for pay
man, "a, the place where PAYABLE ana 10 pres,.lpe
the time, according 10 the dhcreht distances oi ,ne
depoSllarics from inc seat oil government Wn',h
winch all drafts upon 'he'h' respectively, sna'' W
presented for payment ana III oeiaut OF sucH
presentation, to direct any otlier lnode ana pace
OF payment when ne may deehi proper, nu, III ~
those regulations ana dlrec,iohS' II sha DC 'he d'-
ty ofthe Secretary OF the treasury 10 guard a.
far as may be, against 'hose drafts pelhs "se"' OF
thrown into circulation, us paper currency or me-
dunn Of exchange"
One might have supposed, from the extreni,
horror of the gentleman lest that this bill might con
tain a Treasury Bank, that he would have been de-
lighted with the provisions of this section. Not so
On the contrary he has declared in the most solemn
manner that il cOnfersa tremendous power on tho
Secretary of the Treasury, to which no people, jea
Gus of their liberties, ought to submit. The Sena
tor il hard TO please. lie first denounces, in tn,
strongest terms, the tenth section of the bill, be-
cause the Treasury drnlls issued under It's auhorl
~ VIII, IN ms opinion, become ihe crcu'a'lns me
dunn offs Treasury Bank and almost at the very
next breath, he denounces, in terms equally strong
the very section which renders 1t impossible that
they ever can become such crculailhs heahiili
And what Is this tremendous power vested III tn'
Secretary Of the Treasury by the 23d section u
depcndently OF posinlasicrs, there are perhaps
hundred and fifty receivers OF public money IN tn
United States. These are scattered from Name Il
Georga, and from the Atanlic'to the tar Wesl.-
Some of them are at the distance OF my miles
and Others are thousand iil!es rom washington
From the nature and necessity OF the case, the dis
cretionary power Is conferred upon the sccretar,
to regulate 1.-THE speedy presentation OF ,hes'
drafts, according to the different distances oil ih'
dcpositarics from the seat Of Government bu
even this is to be done IN such manner AS TO pre-
vent them from being thrown into circulation us
paper currency or medium Of exchange. And !e
this is the tremendous power so much to be dread
ed No other provisions could have been made
II would have beena work of endless and un
necessary labor 10 have attempted to enunerat'
each of the depositaries in the bill and TO have pre-
scribed the time within which drafts on each o
them should be presented for payment. This Is Il
mere matter of detail which must be yielded to the
discretion Of the Secretary
And now what. in plain English, is this Govern
mcnt Bonk f., |, Is no other than the power which
has always beep exercised by the Treasurer of III,