The North-Carolina standard., 1840-01-08

sell the goods consigned to them, generally, at
auction; and alter paying the duties out of the
avalls remit the rest abroad in specie or its equiv
alent That the amount of duties should, in
such cases, be also retdinedin specie. can hardly
be made matter of complaint. Our own import
ing merchants By whom the residue OF the du-
ties is paid, are not only peculiarly interested
in maintaining a sound currency. which the
measure In question will especially promote, but
are, from the nature of their dealings, best able
to know when specie will be needed and to pro-
cure 1t with the least difficulty or sacrifice. Re-
siding, too, almost universally in places where
the revenue is received. and where the drafts
used by the Government for its disbursements
must concentrate they have every opportunity
to obtain and use them in place of specie should
Il be for their interest or convenience. Of the
number of these drafts and the facilities they
may afford, as we'll as the rapidity with which
the public funds are drawn and disbursed, an
idea may be formed from the fact that, of nearly
twenty millions Of dollars paid to collectors and
receivers during the present year, the average
amount in their hands at any one time has not
exceeded million and half; and of the fifteen
millions received by the collector of New York
alone during the present year, the average a.
mount held by him, subject to draft during each
week, has been less than half million
The ease and safety of the operations of the
treasury In keeping the public money, are pro-
NOTED by the application of its own drafts to the
public dues. The objection arising from having
them too long Outstanding, might be obv lated,
and they yet made 70 afford to merchants and
banks holding them an equivalent for specie, and
In that way greatly lessen the amount actually
required. Still less Inconvenience will attend
the requirement of specie in purchases of public
lands. Such purchases except when made on
speculation, are, In general, but single transac-
tions, rarely repeated by the same person and
it is fact, that for the last year and half du-
ring which the notes of sound banks have been
received, more than moiety of these payments
has been voluntarily made in specie, being
larger proportion than would have been required
in three years under the graduation proposed
1t is moreover principle, than which none is
better settled by experience, that the supply of
the precious metals will always be found adequate
to the uses for which they are required. They
abound IN countries where no other currency is
allowed. In our own states where small notes
are excluded, gold and silver supply their place
When driven to their hiding places by bank sus
PENSIONS little frmness in the community soon
restores them in a sufficient quantity for ordina-
! ry purposes. Postage and other public dues
have been collected in coin, without serious in
convenience even In States where deprecated
paper currency has existed for years, and this
with the aid OF treasury notes for a part of the
time, was done without interruption during the
suspension of 1887. At the present moment
the receipts and disbursements of the govern
ment are made in legal currency in the largest
portion of the union-no one suggests depar-
ture from this rule; and if it can now be success.
fully carried out, it will be surely attended with
even less difficulty when bank notes are again
redeemed in specie.
Indeed, l cannot think that serious objection
would any where be raised to the receipt and
payment of the gold and silver in all public trans
actions, were it not for an apprehension that
surplus In the treasury might withdraw large
portion of it from circulation, and lock it up un-
pro6tably in the public vaults. 1t would not, in
my opinion, be difficult to prevent such an in
convenience from occurring; but the authentic
statements which have already submitted to You
in regard to the actual amount in the public trea
sury at any one time during the period embraced
in them, and the little probability OF different
state of the treasury for at least some years to
come, seem to render it unnecessary to dwell up
on it. Congress, moreover, as | have before
observed, will in every year have an opportuni-
ty to guard against it, should the occurrence Of
any circumstances lead us to apprehend injury
| from this source Viewing the subject in all its
aspects, 1 cannot believe that any period will be
more suspicious than the present for the adop-
ton OF all measures necessary to maintain the
saucity of our own engagements. and TO aid in
securing to the community that abundant supply
of the precious metals which adds much to
their prosperity and gives such increased stabil-
ty to all their dealings
In country so commercial as ours, banks in
some form will probably always exist; but this
serves only to render it the more incumbent on
US. Notwithstanding the discouragements of the
past, to strive in respective stations to miti
gate the evils they produce-to take from them,
as rapidly as the obligations of public faith and
careful consideration of the immediate interests
of the community will permit, the unjust charac-
ter of monopolies; to check, so far may be
practicable by prudent legislation, those templa-
tions of interest and those opportunities for their
dangerous indulgence. which beset them on ev-
cry side, and TO confne them strictly to the per
formance of their paramount duty, that of aiding
the operations of commerce, rather than consult
ing their own exclusive advantage. These and
other salutary reforms may it is believed, be ac-
complished without the violation of any of the
great principles of the social compact, the observ-
ance of which is indispensable to its existence. or
interfering in any way with the useful and profit
able employment of real capital.
institutions so framed have existed and still
exist elsewhere. giving to commercial intercourse
e. oQof1O do