The Yazoo Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1841-07-16

United States, especially for the last twelve
years, furnishes abundant proof that the
public money is unsafe in the custody of in
dividuals, and that their official bonds are
no sufficient security for lis safe keeping and
faithful application. Within the period a.
bove named many receiving officers connect
ed with the Treasury Department have be-
come defaulters to the Government. The
aggregate loss from that cause within that
period, as shown by the books of the De-
partment, amounts to $4,000, 500, but
small part Of which will probably be recov-
cred from their bonds. 1t is true, that in
any system which can be adopted, some
part of the public money must, in the pro-
cess of collection, pass through the hands of
individuals, and be subject to their defalca-
tons: but the act Of July 4, 1910, extends
and continues the risk beyond the period of
collectiOn,and it sub ects large masses which,
in the fluctuations Of commerce, some
times acCumulates to the same dangerous
custody.
Not only is the public money in the hands
of individuals more exposed to loss from Or
binary defalcations, than when deposited in
a we'll regulated bank; but the Government
is also liable to the risks of fire, robbery, and
other casualties occurring either in deposit
or transmission, from which it is entirely pro-
tected when well regulated bank is the
depository and the fiscal agent.
The present system is also, in many re-
spects, cumbrous and inconvenient. Its ten
dency is to centre the disbursements of the
public monies at some of the Eastern cities,
chiefly at New York.-THGt being the great
commercial emporium of the United States,
lis the point at which funds are the most
valuable, and, therefore, the most sought;
hence those who are entitled to payments
!, out of the public Treasury, claim them
r there. 1t is true there is general discre-
| ton in the head of the Department to refuse
or grant the favor of such payments accord
ing to its convenience; but when the cur
rency is deranged, and the premium or ex.
change is high, this discretion involves
discrimination TO a large amount among
: creditors equally entitled, 1t then become!
, a dangerous discretion, and one that ough
; not TO exist. But, under the present system
L it cannot be avoided, save in few cases
{ without discharging every public liability a
" the most favored point. This would at ono
- centre all the disbursements at a few of tn
y Eastern cities, and involve the Treasury il
, the risk and expense of transporting tn
l public funds from the various points of col
lection TO the places of disbursement.
u An item of less Importance, but still
!. worthy of consideration, IN settling on pei
= manent and economical arrangement, is th
, direct expense Of the present system, inclu
- ding the cost of the buildings for the depo
: site of the public money, and the salaries G
l, the officers and their clerks who receive an
u disburse it. No portion of this risk, incon
y venience or expense need to be INQUIRE,
where well regulated bank is made th
+ fiscal agent.
~ But the present system is also, in tn
" opinion of the undersigned, injurious to tn
Al business and the currency of the country
: Instead of permitting. the credit and the t
nances of the Government to lend their il
IS direct but efficient aid in. sustaining tn
Dc credit and regulating the currency of til
Is country, it brings into direct hostility thos
VI important interests. In the progress of th
70 system a sufficient amount of gold and silvc
" to supply the wants of the Treasury mu
oe be Withdrawn from circulation and locke
81 | up in vaults, leaving no representative
40 supply its place in the general circulation
IL A large amount, also, in the hands of hos
81 who pay to or receive from the Treasury,
equally withdrawn from general circulation
co and made to flow through those channels
u.s. lone which lead into and out of the publ
Il! Golfers. The other avenues of commerC
al and intercourse are thus deprived of the
'n- proportion of the precious metals.
Within the ffty-twO years during viii
Lie our constitutional Government has existe
we have had, for two periods of twenty yet
NY each, bank chartered by Congress as a q
re- pository of the public moneys and as fist
the agent. We have had, also, at two interva
OF amounting to about nine years, State ban
ent employed for like purposes, and, during /
csc remainder of the time, the funds of /
OF Government have been kept and the fin;
ent ces administered partly by banks and par
de- by individual officers and agents. The loss
&C sustained by State banks, as depositori
bic during the first period of their employing
IN extending from 1911 to 1885,, agreeably
ssh statement prepared by the Secretary Of
IT Treasury in 1888, and revised and rep
and lshed in 1887, were $l,OOO,676. In
latter period, from 1888 to 1887, though
the actual loss is believed to have .concurr
= yet the Treasury and the county suffe
Win Inconvenience and embarrassment from
srn- fiscal arrangements with those numer,
ien- and disconnected Institutions. But, dur
the the forty years that the two banks of