The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1848-09-30

H.
4 e government. if plainly denied all authority to col
IL. specie, while senly required to disburse nothing
., How could the treasury disburse to any creditor
Aose precious metals which thoughtful ancestors
ave 10 every creditor equal right to demand' How
d the public be collected in that even,
m currency which the federal constitution requires,
,hs naner of a thousand banks--all differing in value,
IA often nconverble into specie at any depreciation,
t,,sver runous-were daily received into the treasury
o.vment of the public dues The safety and dignity
a ,be government require the opponents OF present
.,sry system to these questions with candor
and direciness.
Our lust and equal government was formed to protect
D lawful pursuits but not to pamper corporate bodies
, the expense of everybody else To give to banks
bt to possess public funds, and to trade upon the
credit and revenue of the naton is not only partial and
o,ust but highly mschievous. 1t fosters perniclous
contempt for industry, and general desire to live upon
m publc means 1t creates passion for restless ad
,,re and fatal reliance on the hazards of specua-
,D empts the banks themselves to violate their
Contracts by keeping from the government its lawful
dss that bankers and stockholders may pocket the dis
counts upon loans of the public deposites And if, in
seasons of profound peace, the banks withhold from
the government the public revenue in despite OF every
saort to regain it, war would offer opporuni-
es repeat and aggravate the mischef conhscate
hs public funds; and, in moment of excitement and
alarm, to upset the government In May, 1897, the
hanks stopped payments and wholly refused to restore
the public funds Happily, universal peace then blessed
our land But had we been at war. the OF safety,
the missiles of strife, the snews OF victory would have
been wenched from the nation by the folly and in
L.
rage could never have been committed if the public
revenue had been wisely collected in the proper cur
ency and placed in the custody of the constitutional
officers of the government; and it is for thoughtful
patriots to decide whether they willing TO expose
their government TO the of disasters pain
full and mischievous That shameful misconduct of the
depos,e banks forced President Van Buren, to convene
Congress September ls37-a sicky and inconvenient
sason--to repair the evils which banks had brought
upon the government by selfish, repehensble misuse
Of the public funds. Yet, during recent with
Mexico Congress strongly advised to discard the
present treasury system and conde the public revenue
10 sundy banks Nay. boldly told that, unless
Congress did so, the banks would obstruct the public
oans and subject the government to bankruptcy, impo
ience and contempt. Had Congress done So the gov
eminent might have fallen, betrayed and undone by its
own guards
Republicans and ederalsts, democrats and whigs have
at sundry periods of government, strongly favored
our present treasury system General Hamilton the first
Secretary of the Treasury under the federal constitutions
was welded to corporate bodies and monarchical
finance listen to any proposals 10 divorce the govern
ment from banking institutions He used banks and,
without authority, received their notes in payment of
Inda III;
great amount of spurious and deprecated paper was
Iamed upon the treasury But, 1903, President Jeer
son-lookng TO the expiration Of the United States bank
and wishing to substitute for it different fiscal agency
asked his secretary Mr. Gaatn, to prepare the details
Of financial system upon the principle of present
But public mind not being ripe for the measure
perfected Mr. Jefferson wished. The lawless
misconduct OF the national bank reused the people to re-
sst it, and under the guidance of President Jackson TO
prevent renewal OF the charter. Congress then con.
hded the pablo to State banks whose inherent
evils soon became more strongly developed than they
were before Meanwhile the wings in Congress brought
forward the very scheme which they now denounce In
1884, Mr. W. +. GoTdon-then leading orator leaning to
the wings, though before and subsequently decided re-
publcan-brcught into Congress bill to create and
to organize the present treasury system Mr. John Rob
ertson-an able whig-moved to instruct the Committee
OF Ways and Means to report bill to dispense with
banks as agents OF the governments and all the leading
wings, with Mr.. J. G. Adams in the van, voted for the
motion, as the journals prove They agreed that total
separation of the public treasury from all banks was the
proper way dsarm the President of those dangerous
powers which they often said the banks had given him.
The wings of the Senate echoed these movements in the
other house. Mr.. B. w. Leigh, wing leader in the
Senate, said
The trainers of the federal constitution had thought
oil any bank agency whatever State federal either Tor
facilitating the operations of the treasury, for regulating
Tue currency that administer the government ia the
Tue spirit OF the federal constitutions and according to the
Intention OF its founders the treasury ought be divorced
iom all connection with any banks and that the certain
and obvious effect of the independent treasury system was
10 take the public treasure of the custody and control
oil the President Yet he had hopes, he said that
woad ever be adopted because the friends of the State
BANKS the friends of national bank and the friends of
executive claims power over the TREASURY wn,d all an
pose it,"
The people were slow TO approve these Movements of
the federal party. until the folly and injustice of the de-
pose banks were fully revealed in 1887 Before the
banks were found unsafe, our friendly government
eynced every disposition to assist them, though the fed
eTaists treated them too ahess be trusted and too
worthless to effect any useful end as agents of the gov
eminent But after the banks were fairly convicted of
e grossest wrongs, and became unmndful Of eyery OBJ
legation to the public the democrats withdrew from the
banks their confidence and support while the ederasts