Litchfield enquirer., 1841-06-10

an aggregate of about S6, ,43OUUO ana Ieaxnf able deficit on the lsi of September next oi S4oHov
 In order to supply the wants Ot the GoVeInMiens i an intelligent constituency, in view of theT oest e rests will without hesitation, submit to ah burdens But it is nevertheless important so " nr them as to avoid delc atng the just eHpecaOns nf inc country growing of the pre-exstlng avs The act of the 2d of March, 1853 commonly caeu tne compromise act, should not be a'eieo a ,hs ,;ue urgent necessities which are not belIeVed a tOS e m exist One year only remains 10 compete the se res of reductions provided for by that law at when
 time provisions made by the same 1aW, a.u .o,,f"c'
 mvnr interests of the Union, will not faI 10 pEoouce inc most beneficial results. Under system ot ols- criminang duties imposed for purposes o' revenue,
 in unison with the provisions O existing laws, It IS to he hoped that our policy wll Tn the future, be hxed md permanen 50 as to avoid those constant huciua' tOns which defent the ry objects they have m view We shall thus best maintain a position which, whIe ii will enable us the more readily meet the advan- ces of other countries calculated 10 promote our raoe and commerce, will ni the same time leave m our hands the means OI re;aaDg with greater eHec' un- just regulations.
 In intimate connection with the question of rcve; nue is that which makes provision for suitable hsca agent capable of adding increased taciites m the collection and disbursement of the public revenues rendering more secure their custody and consulting true economy in the great multiplied and delcate op- eratiOns of the Treasury Department upon suGn u" agent depends, in an eminent degree, tne es!auEsh
 ment of currency of uniform value, when ls oI so great importance all the essential interests of soce
 Iy; and on the wisdom fH be manifested m IFS cfea
 ton much depends. So intimately interwoSen are
 it's operations, only with the interests of
 as but with those of the States, that It may ne re-
 garded in great degrt controlling both paper
 be used as the chief medium of circuIation and the
 power be vested in the Government Ot ssuing U at
 pleasure either m the form of Treasury o5ans E
 with liberty to regard all surpusses from day 10 oay
 as so much added to their active capital, prlces are
 exposed to constant fluctuations, and industry t1 se
 were suIerings. In the case, political consldera' m
 lions, directed to party purposes may con!ro' "Te
 excessive cupidity may prevail in the other. ne
 public is thus constantly liable to lmpestons Ex-
 rapid succession, the engenderinga reckless splr
 it of adventure and speculation. which embraces
 States as well as individuals the other causing iali aspect of affairs Stocks of all kinds rapidly decline individuals are ruined, and States emoarrassed even in their efforts to meet with punctuay tne inte
 rest their debts. Such IhhaPpliy, IS the p.ate 3
 fleets may readily be traced to the causes above re, ferred to- The public revenues. on being removed
 from the then Bank ofhe United States, under an or banks which, actuated by the double motive of con cilatng the Government and augmentng their prohts to the greatest possible extent, enlarged ly their discounts, thus enabling all other existing
 Large dividends were declared, which, stimula- ting the cupidity of capitalists, caused rusn to pc made to the Legislatures o the respective states TOT similar acts of Incorporation, which, by many of the states, under temporary infatuation were readily granted and thus the augn entatlon of the clrcula ting medium, consisting almost excluslvely oi paper produced most fatal delusion. An ilqstTatlon, de- rived from the land sales, of the period alluded to- will serve best to show the effect of the whole sys- tem The average sales of the public lands, tor a period of ten years prior to ls54 had not much e1 ceeded per annum In lSsa they atdaieG, in round numbers, to the amount of $69 @ o ln the succeeding year of 1895 they reached $looOoo. And the next year, of 1886, they amounted to the enormous sum of 25,OOc,OO0. Thus crowding into .1' ryDrAa
 ha hs Ss 1ss DsSse 1 rsf e Ke Ke"p pbR doa so parent had become the necessity Of arres.ng 'als course of things, that the Executive department as stunned the highly questionable power of dlsc!lsna classes of public debtors-a discrimination which was doubtless designed to correct this most r9nous state of things by the exacton of specie all pay ments for the public lands, but winch couid not at once arrest the tide which had so strongly set ln- Hence the demands for specie became unceasing, and corresponding prostration rapidly ensued under the necessities created with the banks to cultal their discounts, and thereby to reduce their clrcula ton. recur to these things with no disposition to censure pre-exsting administrations ot the govern ment but simply in exemplhcaon ot the truth ot the position which have assumed. H. then' any hsca. agent which may be created shall be placed without due restrictions, either in the hands ot the admlnl- strators of government those of private ndlvdu- als the temptation to abuse will prove to be resist duce the first, and the promPtngs of boundless cu- pidty will assai the last. Aided by the experience of the past it will be the pleasure of Congress so to guard and fortfy the public interests in the creaton Of any new agent, as to place them, so far as hu> man wisdom can accomplish it, on footing of per feet security. Within few years past, three dit- lerent schemes have been before the country The charter of the bank of the United States expired by it's own limitation in 1886. An effort was made to renew it, which received the sanction of the two Houses of Congress, but the then President of the United States exercised his Ueto power and the mea- sure was defeated. A regard to truth requires me to say that the President was fully sustained in the course he had taken by the popular voice. His suc cessor in the Chair of State unqualifedy pronounce ed his opposition to any new charter ot similar ln- brought him into power but the elections through much of his term, seemed clearly to indicate con currence with him m sentiment on the part ot the people.
 After the public moneys were withdrawn from he United States Bank, they were placed in depo- site with the banks and the result of that policy las been before the country. To say nothing as to he question whether that experiment was made un- der propitious or adverse circumstances may sae- be asserted that 1t did receive the unqualified demnaton of most of its early advocates, and 1t Is believed was also condemned by the popular senti- seem to stand in higher favor with the people, but has recently been condemned Tn manner too plain ly indicated to admit of doubt Thus, in the short period oi eight years the popular v1lce may be re- the three schemes ot finance to which have advert ed. As to the first, 1t was introduced at time (lSl6) when the state banks then comparatively few in number had been forced to suspend specie pay ments, by reason of the war which had previously prevailed with Great Britain. Whether, if the Uni ted States Bank Charter which expired in lsil had been renewed in due season. would have been ena- bled to continue specie payments daring the war and the disastrous period to the commerce ofthe country which immediately succeeded, is, to say the least problematical and whether the United States Bank of 1916 produced restoration of specie payments, or the same was accomplished through the instru- mentality of other means, matter ot some diiii-