The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-03-05
THE TRUE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN, TICKET.
FOR PRESIDENT,
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON
FOR VICE PREsIDENr,
JOHN TYLER.
TREASURY NOTES.

10 issue rOc miH0nS In treasury notes.
The President told US in his message in
December last, that the financial operations
of the Government during the present year,
have been very successful" that the whole
amount Of Treasury notes unredeemed, then
fell short of three millions, and that there
was every reason TO believe that those could
be redeemed, and the ordinary expenses of
the Government betrayed " without imposing
on the people any additional burden, either of
loans or increased taxes"-See Ho. Doc.
No. 2, ~.
Only few weeks had elapsed, and before
Congress had made any appropriations what
ever, except to pay their own contingent ex-
penses, it was proven, by the application for
five millions Of money, that an additional
burden was, in some shape or other, to be i'm
posed on the people To supply bankrupt
Treasury, proposition for an open loan, or
direct tax upon the people, would have been
the honester way But, lest either Of those
resources should prove, for the moment I'M
popular, the administration thought proper to
indulge itselfin the employment of resource,
which might appear to the mass of the PEP
PIE so light and easy as not to excite their
opposition. And we might be justly surpris-
ed that the President should propose mea-
sure which is contrary to the policy of most
Of the leading Republicans Of former times,
and apparently at war with the spirit of the
concluding portion of his message. In adj
verting to the " embarrassment and debt" in
which the States and the people are plunged,
he solemnly told them that "reliefis not to be
found in expedients'- indebtedness
cannot be lessened by changing the form Of
the debt" and that :. our currency cannot be.
improved by the creation of new banks, or
more issues" And what is the Treasury
note system but "an expedient"-what is it
but one form, and perhaps the worst of
National Debt, and what but the creation Of
" more issues p"
Let us recur for moment, TO the opinions
of Thomas II Benton on this subject deliver
ed in the Senate during the extra session of
1887. We presume the Administration party
will receive them as orthodox.
Mr.. Benton sad
81 am no friend to the issue of Treasury notes
Of any kind. As loans, they are disguised mode
of borrowing money, and easy 10 slide into cur
rency: currency, it is the most seductire, the
most dangerous and the ost liable TO abuse, of all
The descriptions of paper money. The stamping of
paper (by GovernmenD is an operation much
easier than the laying of taxes, or Of borrowing mo-
ney, that government in the habit of paper ennis
sions would rarely fail in any emergency 10 indulge
itself in the employment Of that resource, to aroid
much as possible one less auspicous TO present pop,t.
larity. So said General Hamilton; and in that, all
he fathers of The Republican church. Jefferson, Madi-
son. Macon, Randolph, and all The resi-, concurred
with him"
And, as though it were TO illustrate the Sc
ductive character of this kind Of paper mo-
ney, Mr. Benton incidentally admitted in his
late speech in the Senate (of Jan. icy on the
Sub-treasury bill, by way Of apologizng for
the policy of the Administration in 1877, that,
cat that time an issue OF Treasury notes, re-
ceivable IN payment of public dues, was a
part Of The policy Of Tie Government; and an
exception in their fdpor seemed 10 be neoessa-
ry. But" continued Mr.. B. "that necessity
nor (lS40) no longer crisis
Mr. Benton further said in his January
speech:
IL am opposed TO Federal paper money Just as
much as am TO bank notes, either local national.
So far as mischief is concerned, consider ESdcrdi
paper money the most dangerous which country
could see; for consider the mschicfs Of paper mo-
ney to be in proportion to the power and rresponsi
bilty OF the issuer. The greater that power, and
| the more irresponsible, so much wider will be the
sphere of its circulation and so much The more help
less its holders in the event Of the catastrophes
which all paper money is subject This icas he
Nth The paper money ofthc Continental Congress"
In addition to the name of Mr. Benton, and
the high authorities he quotes, we can refer
to other Republicans whose opinions were
entitled to the greater weight because they
had peculiar reasons for looking deeply into
the subject. We do so, by way of forti(yng
oursef for we are opposed to this exploded
irredeemable paper money system of the
! Federal Government, and intend to make
vigorous war upon it, although some of our
friends, capitalists, merchants, and others,
may be led into its support by that seductive
power justly attributed to it,
WILLIAM ii. CRAWFORD, a name which,
we are sure, will command the respect OF
Mr.. Van Buren, himself, in his report as Sc