The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-19
REMARKS OF MR.. LEWIS,
OF ALABAMA.

REMARKS OF MR.. LEWIS,
In Senate, Monday, July "a, 1876.
The independent treasury bill being under con.
Alteration, with the amendments Of the Committee
on Finance, and the question being on the amend
ment Of the committee TO the 2ist section, which is
as follows ..-... ....., Eek.
Sac. a. .ana bs JstAsr ,aaei,d That 10 exchange o.
funds shall be made by Disturbing nee OF agents OF
connected with any branch Of the public service Other
than esshanss for gold snd silver and s,s such as,
furnished 10 him In gold and silver shall make ms pay
men,s In the money 80 orwhen hose means arr
shall those drafts TO DO presented at their place Of
Psy@s1 and properly .d 70 WE % s ssa
furnished unless In either uek he can exchange the
means in his hands for gold and silverst par
The words in italics were proposed to be inserted
by the Committee on Finance 80. ~, ...,r
Mr. LEWIS, in reply to the objections made To the
amendment proposed by the committee, said that,
from the character which the discussion Of this prop
ostion had assumed, il might be inferred that the
committee had proposed an issue OF government pa
per for the purposes Of circulation Now, sir, said
Mr.. L. IL is unnecessary for me to say TO those
who have read the bill with its amendments that no
such thing was intended. So far from u, the com
mittee had left in full force every provision Of the
original bill which guarded against the OF treasu-
ry drafts for the purposes Of circulation. They had
not stricken out single syllable from the 22i sec
ton, which expressly provides that it shall be the
duty of the Secretary OF the Treasury adopt such
regulations as shall cause a speedy presentation OF
such treasury drafts at the place OF payment for the
purpose of preventing thsm from continuing IN ereu
laiion a paper currency. But, as decided as this
section is against the use Of treasury drafts as cir
culating medium, | am willing, If any gentleman
will suggest them, to adopt still stronger means; and
before | take my seat shall myself propose addr
tional safeguards against tho consequences which
gentlemen impute to the amendment Of the commit
tee. .t ~ tstl Q! = - u q
But, Mr. President, the true question is, not
whether we snail adopt paper currency by this
amendment bat whether we shall use treasury drafts
nj all in the disbursement Of the public revenue All
are willing to provide against the creation Of pa
per currency; but the gentleman from Ohio, Mr..
ALLEs,l and some others who oppose this amend
ment, contend that we must dispense sntirsly with
the use of paper in the collection and disburse-
ment of the public revenue. He says we
pledged to the use of hard money to the ex-
clusion of every kind of paper, whether
in the form of checks, drafts, or paper mo-
ney. This deny. We are pledged to the aban-
donment Of bank paper in every form. This is
called an independent treasury because IL is entire
ly independent of banks or bank issues. IL ia in
fact divorce Of the government from all connexion
whatever with banks or bank paper But i deny
that there has been any pledge by the friends Of
this system, to dispense with the use Of treasury
drafts for purely revenue purposes. The operations
of the treasury cannot possibly proceed without them
for single day, and never has proceeded without
them a single day, even in the hard-money times
of the I7e9 when nothing but gold and silver was
ceyed into the treasury. Whatever may be the
medium used--whether Of gold and silver, or paper
the treasurer must draw these funds in favor
of the public creditor These drafts are upon actual
amounts Of revenue already in the treasury. They
effect the fiscal purpose for which they drawn
their functions cease and by this bill the Secretary
of the Treasury is required to accelerate that result
by regulations which shall enforce their speedy pre-
sentation at the points on which they are drawn;
and that, too, fol. the express purpose that such
drafts shall not be made paper currency.
Having said SO much on the character of these
treasury drats and the necessity for their use ask
what is the amendment proposed BY the bill, as it
came from the House, it is provided, that when a
discussing officer is furnished with treasury drafts
unless he shall exchange the same for gold and sill
yer at par he shall cause such drafts to be present
ed at their place ofpayment, and shall then pay the
gold and silver SO received TO the public creditor
Now the committee propose 70 insert, after the
words "when those means are furnished to him in
drafts" the words, (which cannot be disbursed at
par"
The effect of the amendment is, that when the
drafts can be discussed at par-or in other words,
when the public creditor chooses to receive treasu-
ry draft at par with, in preference to, gold and sill
verhc disbursing officer shall not be compelled TO
draw the gold and silver from the treasury to ex.
change his DRAFT for gold and silver but may pay
over the draft at once to the public creditor. This
is the extent Of the amendment, and no more. It
proposes the payment Of public creditor by draft
drawn on gold and silver, when such public creditor
is as willing TO receive the draft before II is presented
as the gold and silver after it presented, at the place
of payment or after it is received exchange for the
draft And this simple treasury transaction is in the
vivid maginatons Of gentlemen, license for the
ofan imitable amount Of government paper for cir
culatioD!
But have said that this amendment was inserted
at the instance Of the Secretary Of the Treasury, be-
cause il would afford him great facility in dsbprsng
the public revenues and that IL this and other ike ia
cilitIes refused him. il would be almost impos-
sble IN some cases, TO carry out the provisions OF
this bill.
Let me suppose (said Mr. L.) that the Secretary
Of the Treasury wishes to disburse Ave thousand
dollars To an army contractor at Point Isabel. lie
sends draft drawn on New York to a disbursing Of
fcer at that point When the draft arrives, the con-
tractor is most anxious receive il discharge OBJ
legations which he has incurred in New York; bu,
the disbursing officer tells him he is not at liberty BY
the law TO pay over the draft but compelled To- ey
change il par for gold and silver and If that can
not be done, he must take the draft to the assistant
treasurer in New York, draw out the gold and silver
and then return with the gold and silver 80 drawn
the astonished contractor tells him he prefers the
draft 10 the gold and silver, even il we're ready TO
be paid to him. The law is memorable.
The disbursiog officer Is compelled by the law
first to see il he can exchange the draft at Point
Isabel for gold and silver. Failing to find any one
with that amount Of gold and silver at Point Isabel
he hurries back to New Orleans. There he finds
exchange against New York, and he cannot ex-
change the draft for gold and silver at par. In this
d lemma, he Is forced either TO make good the loss
in exchange out Of his own pocket, or TO GO on to
New York and draw the gold and silver, and then
and mil IN ~ m,