The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-02-16

~ or deferred with justice with honor have
peen denied or postponed and finally that this agent
Is about 10 hand over 10 his successor in office def
c'eh. and exhausted Treasury, and an impoverished
estate with heavy burden Of undsclosed debt resting
upon IT,
| Very different indeed however from al this is the
s'e" "hch The President presents IN his farewell
port TO Congress and the People. il is evident that
he PRESIDENT has done in this precisely what the
honorable chairman of the Ways and Means has just
.o'u ~ TINS House ought TO do. We ought, he says,
70 ieiy implicitly on the statements and estimates Of
the Secretary of the Treasury To whom should we
COLO whom can go--bui to thee, thou most wise
anu accurate Head Of Financel Well, the President
mas done TINS he has set down humbly at the head OF
TINS ciear-headed Minister of Money, and learned of
him. Look into the report Of the Secretary, and then
nto INC Message and you will that the President
mas gwen us no lessons, Information OF instruction
whatever, IN finance, but just such he had first
learned out OF the financial gospels according TO Mr.
woodbury.. Hear what the President says, Mr. Chair
| man:
The present sound condition Of their finances and
the success, &c are matters upon which the People
ana Government Of the United States may well con
| gratulate themselves
- From the commencement Of this period the com
mencement Of his administration to the present day.
every demand upon the Government, at home and
abroad, has been promptly met"
" he small amount of Treasury notes not exceed
ing fots and half millions of dollars still outstand-
ing sc. may be redeemed out OF accruing revenues
&c.
The available balance in the Treasury on the list
January next 1871 is estimated at million and
hall OF dollars Tins sum- with the expected receipts
from all sources during the next year will il is believed
be sufficient TO enable the Government to meet every
engagement, and leave suitable balance in the Trea
sury," &c.
II is also, this Government is as is believed the
only Government which, having fully and faithfully
paid all its creditors, has also relieved itself entirely
from debt"
The facts here stated recital Just made fully au-
thorize the assertions that all the purposes Tor which
this Government was constituted have been accom-
plshed during four years" &c. and that this has
been done when the ordinary Of the Gov
eminent were generally decreasing" &c.
Now, Mr.. Chairman, am forced to take issue with
the Prcsidentor rather should say, with his Score
taiyon every Of these bold positions and state
ments and TO give to every one Of them, do
bold contradiction and denial. There is not one Of
them that will bear examination and the test of facts
shall examine them in order and with some particu-
larity In this work, must such facts and data
as have been able TO gather for myself without the
aid of those important disclosures which had hoped
before this time, to have the benefit Of under my
luton of inquiry, introduced at an eary'day in the
session. and directed to the Secretary of the Treasury
hope yet under favor of the house and the friends of
the Secretary here, to get the information sought for
by that resolution, before the session ends; when
believe it will be found the truth and the whole truth
being honestly told, that things in the
department Of finance than worst apprehensions
have led US to suppose them to be.
Mr.. Chairman, begin my examination of the posi-
tions assumed by the President assumed always,
| conclude the authority of the Secretary--with
that unqualified claim and declaration made, Of course
TO confirm and illustrate the somewhat boastful au-
| sion TO the general sound condition of the finances
and the which has attended their management
the declaration that in the whole four years of his
administration every demand upon the Government
at home and abroad, has been promptly met"
Sir, what is meant by meeting demands promptly
What would a business man be understood to mean,
who should be found walking up and down Chustnut
| street, Wall street, procaiming to every one he
might meet, while rubbing his hands with selfsatis-
faction that he had promptly met every demand upon
hint Suppose it were universally known of him on
Change that, whether dishonest only unforu-
nate he had found venent, for series of months
together, to make terms with many of his creditors,
of whom had been kind enough, trusting to their
knowledge of his ultimate responsibility, and his gene
raj good credit to take for their debts and demands
due and past due, instead of cash payment, his
promissory note payable year after date bearing
such rate Of interest not exceeding six per cent and
not always above mill or two, they could bargain
| for What would be thought of such man and his
bold declaration of habitua and nvariabe promptness
in meeting all demands upon him. Well, sir, what
has this Government been doing for four years past
In that time it has issued twenty five millions Of Trea
sury notes-and asks authority to issue five mil
lions more and Of this twenty millions, know
not how much but very much of it, has been issued
directly to creditors in payment rather in postpone
ment of the payment due to such creditorsyet every
demand upon the Government mas uetn promptly met
One who paysa debt past due, with his own promis-
s,ry note, may change and does change, the form of
Indebtedness but certainly not the fact of indebted
ness. If he gives negotiable note, he may change
his creditors satisfying one by raising up another
take his place, but the debt remains. True in this
case the immediate demand is met but how then
| Not certainly with payment in cash, which is what
the creditor wants, but with bit of paper, which is
nothing more less than authority TO the holder
to 90 into the money market and borrow, in the
and for account of the Government money enough to
pay himself with, of any body who will lend 1t. Sir
brokers very odIous tribe to the present Adm-
nistration and It's supporters and the Administration
has furnished in four years. more business to kers
through the issue Of its promssory notes and lrcasu-
nv and sub Treasury drafts, than they have had, |
venture to say, of the operation of any twenty, or
fy perhaps Of the largest propretors and dealers IN
he land Instead of cash payments, which the Go
vernment ought always to make, 1t has dealt extern
sively in its own paperts notes and its drafts arti-
ces Of traffic and brokerage, and sometimes bearing
one value and sometimes another IN the market some
times above par and sometimes below. Govern
mcnt dealing thus with its creditors had best talk as
little as possible about the promptness with which II
meets demands upon it. If some have been favored
fortunate enough to gain premiums on their paper
received from the Government others, am well adj
vsed have suffered losses theirs Some of the
DOR clerks in the Departments in this city, think,
might testify to losses if they would. But their de-
mands promptly met and they were satisfied
Oh YES il was better to be satisfied with the loss Of
small cent on their salaries than to be turned
SATISFIED And so was | satisfied, sir, when, at the
close of the last session, received for little balance
Of per diem due me- first the Speaker note, and then,
upon that Treasury note or two in part payment,
though the gold had been demanded at the Treasury
in nv name for the whole-just by way OF cxperi-
ment Sir it has been said and the accounts OF these
things have frequently been published that the drafts
of the Government drawn depositarics or holders
OF public money, and issued to satisfy creditors have
often been protested and dishonored. suppose the
fact TO be So though not prepared to state 1t on
nv own or any certain and reliable authority. feel
much more certain of another fact and that IS, that