Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1840-01-24

should hencelorth be made in Specie, and
The Divorce would have been effected at a
word. Why has he not done il2 Why are
Bank notes and Bank checks at this day re.
ceived at the New York Custom House,
and at other Custom. Houses and Land Off.
ces. in payments TO the Government Why
ARE even one dollar notes freely taken at The
New York and other Post Offices-in def
ance, il we mistake not. Of an express law OF
Congress- Why does Snb-Treasury South
Carolina at this moment cherish and pamper
he- own suspended Banks. and receive their
irrcdeemable notes in payments TO her Treas
ury2 Why does Sub Treasury New amp
shire collect and keep her own revenue in
Banks, and permit them to issue One Dollar
Bills2 Why does not Sub. Treasury Mis-
souri, divorce herself from her own mid
dlesized monster" with which her Govern.
ment appears TO be in unusually close and
kindly alliance These questions may be
multiplied abuntantly. and they demand a
candid answer They are pertinent to the
matter. We intend no impeachment of the
sincerity and motives Of those who differ
from us on this great question we only in.
sst that they are holly riding their hobby
upon ground where they would not think OF
deliberately walking.
2. It's Effects on the Currency and Produe-
tire Interests of The Country
The President seems to us to pass over
this view OF the question hastily and super
ficially He asserts that "ibe danger of in
convenience to the public and unreasonable
pressure upon sound Banks has been great
ly exaggerated" How 500 Because, as
he tells us, they are eighty-ive millions Of
Specie in the country, and the operations OF
The Government would require only four or
FIVE millions. But this last assertion is re-
iuted by well known facts BY an official
report from the Treasury Department. il
was recently promulgated that the average
amount OF Public Money remaining in de-
post or in the hands OF public officers thro'
the ten years preceding 1885, was abou,
Fifteen Millions During these years, il
will be remembered. there existed National
Debt, which absorbed any available surplus
as fast as it accrued. while the Expenditures
and Financial operations generally OF the
Government were on scale far more limi.
ted than al present There must AT all times
be large sums in the hands of Disbursing
Officers. OF Collectors in the shape OF dispu-
ted Duties, &c. which are not regarded or
reported as a portion OF the balance in the
Treasury. Ifihe Independent Treasury is
not TO be suffered to ripen Immediately into
great Government Bank, there must be
large sums of Public Money constantly in
transitu from the points of collection to
those OF disbursement-of course, adding by
so much TO the amount necessarily kept on
hand. Ii the experience of the past be oil
any worth. then the amount oil Specie regu-
larly and certainly absorbed by the action oil
the Government cannot be less than Ten
Millions OF Dollars In other words, this
amount Of Specie must be subtracled BY the
operation ofthe Independent Treasury from
the purposes which il has hiuheuo subserv.
ed Of sustaining the Credit, thereby slimula
ling the Industry and Production Of the
Country, and locked up in Government
vaults and safes, where il will be practically
of no more utility than granite. The ten
dency Of this absorption TO weaken and ther
violently contract the Currency, 10 dcpres:
prices, discourage industry. and produc,
bankruptcy and suffering, need not be ur
ged. s, 81
But this, after all, is but single Item
| The inevitable influences of rejection ant
prescription of the redeemable paper Of gu
solvent Banks must be far more potent thar
this. Let the Independent Treasury b,
once fully established. and we shall have lh,
Government at every point, through lis lhir
teen thousand Custom Houses, Land Off
ces, Post Offices. &c. putting the stamp 0
insolvency., fraud, or at least inveierate dis
trust and dislike. upon every dollar of Pape
Currency in the country, The good Bank
with the bad. the sound with the unsound
the sternly upright with the reckless OF dis
honest, are all involved in the general con
demnatior. Their paper is to be ipexorabl
rejected by the Governmenl--and why i
Most surely. for reasons which, if valid a
respects the action of the Federal Govern
inenl, are equally potent with respect to til
Stafe Governments; and not these only. bu
individuals, If The case is truly stated b
the President, then not the Governmer
alone but the People ought 10 reject and cor
tenn The notes Of Banks, And, if they su.
Lain the views of the President, they ici
dol Possibly for a time the greater nun
Der would be resigned TO running from Ban
Ito Bank picking up Specie 70 pay tbei
Duties, their purchases Of Public Land
Their Patents, and their Hostages, But
would not. could not be ever thus. Me
would grow tired Of being sent home fror
the Land Office or Post Office empty handed
because they did moi happen to have the SUI
required OF them in Specie. Bank note
stripped by an act Of Government off the e
senlial character Of money would cease !