Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-07-10

A large amount, also, in the hands Of
those who pay 20 or receive from the
Treasury, is equally withdrawn from gen.
cral circulation, and made to flow through
those channels alone which lead into and
out of the public coffcrs. The other ave.
nues of commerce and intercourse are |
thus deprived ;of their proportion of the
precious metals.
Within the fifty two years during which
our constitutional Government has existed,
we have had, for two periods of twenty
years each, bank chartered by Congress
as a depository of the public moneys and
as fiscal agent. We have had, also, at
two intervals, amounting to about nine
years, State banks employed for like pur-
poses; and. during the remainder of the
time, the funds of the Government have
been kept and the finances administered
partly by banks and partly by individual
officers and agents. The losses sustained
by State banks, and repositories, during
the first period of their employment, ex-
tending from 1911 to 1916, agreeably to
statement prepared by the Secretary of
the Treasury in 1888, and revised and re-
published in 1887, were $l,000,676. In
the latter period, from 1888 to 1887, though
no actual loss is believed to have occurred,
yet the Treasury and the country suffered
inconvenience and embarrassment from
the fiscal arrangements with those numer-
Gus and disconnected institutions. But,
during the forty years that the two banks
Of the United States were the repositories
Of the public money and the fiscal agents
of the Government, no loss whatever was
sustained, nor any delay or any expense
incurred in transmitting or disbursing the
public moneys, so far as the agency Of
those institutions extended. Then, as re-
CARDS the wants of the Treasury merely.
the safety of the public funds, and economy
to their administration, experience has de-
monstrated the superior utility of bank
constituted and adapted by Congress as a
fiscal agent. 1t has also proved to us that
the active business of the country, its cur
rency, its credit, its industry, and its COM
mcrce, are intimately connected with and
dependent upon the financial arrangements
of the General Government. If they be
wise and benefcent, they indirectly, but
efficiently, promote those great interests of
the People; if constant and uniform in their
action, they give to those interests conf
dence and stability.
Since the removal of the public depositcs
from the Bank of the United States, in
1888, the Government has had no perma.
nent fiscal agent and no definite financial
system. All has been experiment, transfer
and change. The business of the country
has yielded to the unsteady impulse, anC
moved forward with wild irregularity; a
one time stimulated to excessive action, a
another sunk into lethargy. And, in pro
viding for the wants of the Treasury, it i:
surely important to look, also to the want.
and welfare of the community, from the
products of whose industry the Treasury il
supplied.
And as regards those great interests, we
find the testimony of past years is no less
distinct and strong in favor of a monied in
sttution chartered by the General Govern
ment, and possessed of its confidence anc
credit. The period embracing the last ter
years of the existence of the late Bank OF
the United States as the fiscal agent is fresh
in the memory OF us all, and is looked back
to as period of great public prosperity
and though other causes did, doubtless, CO.
operate to produce that favorable condition
of things, yet one Of the governing princi
pies on which depended the steady advance
of the country in commerce, in industry
and in substantial wealth, was the existence
of fiscal agent established by the Genera
Government, and charged with the equal
zation of exchanges, and the regulation o
the currency.
In the present condition Of our country
the relief to be anticipated from such an in
stitution cannot be immediate, but must be
the work of time. The business of the
country would, however, in the opinion o.
the undersigned, steadily and certainly re
vivc under its influence.
In whatever point of light the undersign
ed is able to view this subect he is irresis
tably led to the conclusion that such fsca
agent so framed as to possess those impor
tant functions, is alike essential to the want.
of the Treasury and of the community
Such an institution should be framed witt
elaboration, for it must have high duties tC
perform, and extensive interests to protec
and promote, and it should be granted witt
care, for it will be liable TO great and dan
gerous abuses. AS the fiscal agent of the
Government, and an effective regulator Of
the currency in a widespread community
it should be steady and uniform in its action
and fixed and stable in its character.
The undersigned has no doubt of the
power Of Congress to create such an insti
tuition. Experience has proved its neccssi
~ to carry out other expressly granted pow
ers; il has been exercised and recognized