The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1848-02-25

ground Tor apprehension Ot like unfor-
tunaie error. From this statement Of
facts two or three questions must force
themselves on the mind of every gentle
man, and every one must desire a Solu-
tion of them. How did the former mis-
calculation happeul Is the additional
loan now asked for the present year g.
noughl He would confine himself in
what he had now to say to discussion
of these questions, which he feared would ,
more than consume his hour, and reserve
to himself, as he necessarily must do, an
answer to such objections as might be
made against the principles of the bill.
BY looking into the Executive estimates
of the revenues of the last and The pres
ent year, and into the estimate of the ex
Ipenditures, it will be apparent that the
receipts were largely ocer estimated, and
the expenses still more largely andeT-es-
Hmated. And here we find the true
cause of the sad necessity which is now
imposed upon us of raising a loan of six
teen millions of dollars to balance this
unfortunate mistake; for most unfortun-
ate it is both for the Government and the
people. We all know that if forty mil
lions instead of twenty-thlee had been
asked for and put in the market it would
have found ready purchasers; that it
would have been purchased is proved by
the fact that bids for more than fifty mil
lions were made for the loan when these
twenty-three were put up for sale. AT
that time of unprecedented commercial
prosperity loan to the amount of forty
millions could have been taken up with
out any serious injury to the business
and currency Of the country; while now
by reasons of its own mistakes, for which
it alone is in fault aud alone responsible,
the Government must go into the market
for these sixteen millions when trade is
depressed, when money is scarce, when
great commercial distress prevails and
still greater is anticipated.
Perhaps it would not be going too far
to say. that putting wholly out ofviewthe
, distress and arrangement which The Gov
, ernment must produce by going now in
/ to the money market as bon over, for
every dollar it borrows it will cause the
| loss of more than another dollar To the
. business of the country. And here he
+. would add, that the Government commit
4, ted, if possible, still greater blunder in
e the manner in which the loan was issued
4 Having got what the Secretary calls {
% divorce from the banks, which the Gov
ernment had been long suing for, anc
= which took effect on the first of last yea
' lust at the moment when the law went into
J. operation requiring all payments to the
r Government to be made in specie, ant
IT which enjoineG it on the Government t'
II pay its debts in coin also, he seems It
n have been in great haste to set up the bu
" siness of banking in description OF pa
,f per credit which the records of the wa
m of the Revelation and of the late wa
e with Great Britain abundantly prove t
,r be far more worthless than bank paper
to if pushed to any great extent beyon
}. what the accruing revenues would at
I'd sorb. Instead Of funding the loan all
s- issuing certificates of stock for 1t, whlc
W could not have been returned upon tn
an Treasury in payment of Governmer
he dues, he committed the oversight OF Il
nd suing in exchange for the specie h
~ borrowed Government promissory note
,e, commonly called Treasury notes, whlc
lis are receivable in payment OF all deb
mt due the Government. Now, as thes
ar notes are nothing more nor less than
ID, anticipation or realizing in advance tt
in. revenues of the Government, 1t is pc
ty fectly apparent they should never be P
ed out except in case of overrulng neces'
his ty; and it cannot be pretended that al
ue such necessity existed then, when mo
he than fifty millions were seeking inve'
ler ment, and when specie was more aon
ian daut than it ever had been before IN a.
ms, period of our history. In place OF IN
to abundance great demand tor spec
md now exists, which has caused these no1
led to fall below par. and nov, being wo'
ere less than specie, they are flowing ba
this into the Treasury in payment OF all "
itch ernment demands; and thus the Cove
the ment is, or shortly must be, unable
be meet its engagements in specie, In VIII
op- the sub-ueasury act directs the put
that creditors to be paid. The amount
be. these notes now outstanding is equal
r to all the revenues of the Government
hen half year to come. 1t should have b'
the obvious to the Secretary, when tn
pro. notes were issued, that as soon as spe
had became scarce they would all be bi
he upon his hands in payment of custo
tion lands, and other public dues; thus for
cted time being beggaring the Treasury
ries, rendering the formal machinery OF
,ear, sub.lreasury nought but deposltor.
min Government prommissory notes inst
ions of specie, for which it was provided
the elaborate care.
year, But, passing by this topic, he We
MS in proceed to assign his reasons more IN
and tail in saying that the income OF the I
ton. ernment had been over-estlmated an
ed to expenditures underestimate. The
We ter greatly exceeded in amount the tc
reas. er. For the over-estimates, the Secl
From ry of the Treasury is responsible, an'
ses- the still more serious unoer' es'',li"'e
le for Secretary Of War is accountable.
,ad of would not charge either of these OH
tive. with having purposely prepared and
ms at sented to Congress erroneous estm
have but he must say that the war estln
ms in are so wide of the mark as to raise