The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-07-02
WHOLE NO. ss5.

which has peopled the forests Of the West
which has spread our commerce over every sea
The American history is full of the memorials
OIL credit from the time Columbus sought ior
credit through the courts Of Europe, TO the pre-
sent day. We cannot now dispense with H. II
IS necessary element in free, commercial,
and enterprising nation. The people of this
country Will not dispense with it. They are too
familiar with It's uses and its benefits. You are
attempting to take advantage Of the present dis
orders, To dissolve the system but you cannot
force upon the people this odous hard-money
policy The people of this country, sir, rcmem-
Der the days of their former prosperity, when
credit was well regulated; when we had the
most beautiful currency on the globe; when
every department of industry fiourshed; when
labor everywhere found constant employment
and just reward. | believe that every day
experience is strengthening the conviction in the
public mind, of the necessity of returning TO
| those tried paths in which we had travelled SO
/ long and so successfully.
Sir, the Government itself cannot dispense
with the use of credit Ii is not little remark
able, that in the face of all the clamor we have
heard against credit and paper money-in the
face OF all the professions about a specie cur
/ rency, the Government has been compelled, du-
ring every year of Mr.. Van Burens admins
tration, to issue many millions of lis own bills
OF credit, in the shape Of Treasury notes. 1t is
also fact worthy Of notice, that this very bill,
which compels the people TO pay their dues 10
the Government in gold and silver, contains a
provision under which the Government may pay
IN ITS own paper. ] allude, sir, TO the 10th sec
ton Of the bill. BY this section the Treasurer
OF the United States is invested not only with
the power of making transfer drafts, but with
an unlimited power Of drawing upon any Of the
depositaries for the purpose of payments on the
public account. This latter power is given in
\ these words:
"Anl for the purpose of payments on the public ac-
counts, it shall be lawful for the Treasurer Of the
United States to draw upon any Of the said deposita-
ries, he may think most conducive to the public in
teress, to the convenience of the public credito s.
i or both
The Treasurer may draw on demand or on
time. He may draw with or without funds
He may draw withoutan other limitation than
his own discretion, as to what is most conducive
TO the public interests Who does not see that,
under this section, bills of credit, in the form of
drafts, may be issued in any form, and to any
amount, the necessities or convenience OF Go
vernment may require? The only check i'm
posed by the bill, is contained in the 23d sec
ton, by which another unlimited power is vest
ed in the Secretary Of the Treasury and is made
to depend on his discretion how far these drafts
shall be used as currency.
public depostaries without funds, has already
been anticipated. In the letter of the Secretary
| on the Treasury, transmitting statement OF
miscellaneous claims paid at the Treasury, find
the following charge:
! November IA, lS39-Willam b. Slaughter Sc
crctary of Wisconsin Territory amount paid by him
to Justus y Seehorst for going and returning from
Green Bay for the purpose of collecting draft for
$4,000 on the receiver Of public moneys al Green Bay
which draft was protested for payment 1865 %
| | have not examined, Mr. Chairman, to see To-
what extent these drafts on the public deposita-
ries have been protested or what amount the
Government has paid to political partsans for
making journeys with drafts, when they ought
TO have sent them in the ordinary channels Of
business. The instance to which have alluded
will, however, illustrate the system
| In ordinary times, when the commerce of the
country is prosperous, the credit Of Govern
ment paper may be sustained. But ii great pub
lie emergency that should create the necessity
of large issues Of these drafts, would, at the
same time, take away the revenue and resources
of the Government to pay them. Our expert
ence in the war Of the Revolution, and in the
last war, should teach us lesson on this sub
| ject. 1t is, however, no part OF my present pur-
pose to discuss the policy of issuing this kind of
Government paper, either in its political bear
ngs, or as financial measure. ] allude to this
provision in the bill for another object, and that
was to illustrate the indispensable necessity of
credit. IT the General Government, while IL
enforces the collection of its dues in gold and
silver, cannot dispense with the use of paper
currency, how can the immense and multiplied
business transactions Of this great commercial
and manufacturing nation be conducted in a
hard-money currency? The scheme is utterly
mpractcablc. Why, then, keep up an agitation
that only tends to subvert confidence, and pro-
! long our present troubles? Why not come at
once TO what you must come al last-the adop-
ton of some system under which we can enjoy
the Just use of credit? Why not come at once
to the only practicable systematic system of
convertible paper currency
The present scheme, Mr.. Chairman, has from
time TO time been called by different names, sup
posed to be significant of its meaning and policy
ii was at first called Sub Treasury. But the
Sub Treasures absconded with the public mo-
new and this name was brought into disgrace
As lille to be trusted as q Sub Treasurer, had
become almost a by-word. Its friends then
called il by the more imposing name of 'the In
dependent Treasury" and sometimes "the di-
vorce Of the Government from the banks
Now, sir amid all this array of words, what is
the Treasury Of the United States, and what
meaning do gentlemen attach to an Independent
Treasury If we look into the Constitution we
find that Congress has the power ito lay and
collect taxes, duties imposts, and excuses, to
pay the debts and provide for the common de-
fence and general welfare Of the United States"
And this is all. There is nothing said about
Treasury Department. There is no form pre-
scribed in which the public dues shall be col
lected or disbursed. II is TO be done in the most
safe, convenient, and beneficial manner. The
money is the money Of the people, collected of
the people, and held in trust for them. What
possible difference is there, in this respect, be-
tween the case of the General Government and
that Of State, county, town, trustee, or private
individual? Suppose all these should resolve
to divorce themselves from the banks, and set
| I'D independent treasures; that they shonld In