Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1846-09-07
Government Paper Money.

When the Sub-Tressury scheme was hTst preached
one the great arguments by which was recommended
10 the people. that would be the OF supplying
the people with hard moncyhe Unconstitutional currency,
M lie advocates called it, although the adoption
Of the constitution tho government had been content to
receive the notes specie Banks in payment OF its
dues The abuses Of the Bsnkng system, and the dan
sers OF Nauonsl Bank especially were portrayed in
ihe darkest coo and the necessity OF dvorens the Gov
eminent from the Banks enforced with earnostness
which rarely surpassed upon other
ton IL was, therefore, naturally TO have been expected
when the SubTessury enacted, thot PAPER Monty
all its forms, would be repudased by the head Of the
Treasury Department and that scheme based ayowediy
upon hostility the Banking system would not be permit
ted itself exercise OF the most delicate and imPor
tani functions vi BankthaI ot issuing notes Tor ercu
lauon. The effort made by the Secretary OF the Urea
sury through Senator Lewis, engra upon the bill
clause authorizing dsbursng officers pay public ere
ditors with Treasury draft. instead Of gold and silver
indeed well calculated excite suspicion both with regard
10 tendency Of the and the purposes OF Sec
Rotary Walker Iwho by the way, decidedly in favor
Of the National Bank dune tie celebrated Jackson and
Bdde war; and at later period ridcued the hardmonOy
notions Of Senator Benton an impFaeucabe humougJ
But for granted after the signal defeat oil that
proposition which had it ecded would have made the
Sub-Trcasury, all intents and purposes Government
Bank sus that the Secretary OF the Treasury would not
had been thus emphacsly denied to linn. Yet that he
has done So evident the revelations made by the St
Louis Republican in the following article
"Will the Union dare deny, that Major Walker, Pay
master of the u S. and attached the "Army OF the
West" under Con. Kearney, furnished with between
one half and million Of dollars in Treasury Drafts, for the
purpose being discussed in payments that army in
SAINTS Fel Viii deny that they printed Of uniform
onomnuonS and Psr'ook very strongly OF the character
OF paper money Will say that tree circulation, by dis
burpemcnts i'm Santa Fe and California the shortest and
speedesi va Of obtaining from the depose banks
upon which thew have been drswn Was not anti
epated these drais would be doursed 20 the array
Santa Fe or sold possibly heavy discount to the Amer
lcan uaaers. might have specie funds - command
which they mgnt desire TO place. without mucn sk, IN
the United Saies The Treasury l. passed suisse
quent to the delivery of Msr Walker, Of the immense sum
at TeAsurv drafts winch We have alluded, pI1viies
that when furnished 20 discussing officer u
dras he shau these dras TO be eented al then
places Of payment, and properly paid according % Jaw"
Viii the mead Of the Department attempt 10 secure the
hones Of this law, by providing funds and re-
calling these drsfsl or wall ne the RISK of Their depreca
non New Mexcoat they do under eNizIs crcum-
stances. attempt made cash them, TO supply tht
wants OF tic Army2 Iwss very convenient thins 10 "
failing treasury, and the depose banks upon which they
might be drawn, issue perhaps million OF d1llars Ter
Major Spzudng is believed have had the same deseTP-
ton Of unds) Treasury dTatfs, 10 be circulated beyond
The territory the United States where they could not De
returned several months for payment, and might be
withheld for years. long the army remained aoroad
Its obvious from the foregoing paragraph, that Seere
tay Walker DOING precisely what Congress declared he
should not do-that Is paying public creditors not with
the consuutonal currency but with government paper
which must OF course constitute the circulating medium in
the distant region to which he troops have been sent
among whom It has been discussed. senator Benton
- sSsacitv. foTesaw precisely what has Occu
81 have heard that, time, II money wanted Ia
the Rio Grande for eTanPe) instead Of giving draft
fifty thousand dollars a depose bank 10 New Orleans
which he will collect from the bank in gold carry with
him TO the army and pay ou-nstead Of that old fash
Toned operation the epon that the paymaster Is fur
nished with hyo hundred little drafts orders made psya
bic To himself the deposit bank, which he CARRIES not
10 the bank. but TO the army for paymon-pay them out
TO all who will take them, with his blank endorsement on
the back; after which they transferable by delivery like
common bank note, or bankers check and pass into
general circulation. Ii such tho am induc
ed 20 believe i'll have hesitation In denouncnR the
practice Illegal and fraudulent Constituting high mis
demeanor ia those who have done ~ and besides making
the federal government illegal issuer OF paper currency
actually makes the federal treasury stand security for al
the deposit bsnksor If the paper all the deposit
banks fail the treasury will have take up dshunor-
ed paper This Is said be the practice now; and If
49, pronounce illegal. fraudulent and dangerous is
sue ut paper money by the federal treasury"
We have had the paragraph from the Louis Repubh-
can lying by severa. days, with the expectation that
would elicit either contradiction satisfactory e1pana-
ton from the organ Of the Executive But as rgid si-
snee has been preserved that quarter, take for
granted that the Of the ST. Louis paper is true
and, IN the language Of Mr. Benton, III is (we) de-
nounce IL iegmne, fraudulent and dangerous ssue
OF paper money by the federal ulasury."