The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-11-25

sury system. 1t will not be the only disserta-
tion on the subject that the public have had Of
late Mr. Dix, Of whom the world has heard
very little since he wrote that ingenious but
unsuccessful letter to Georgia, made fresh
DEBUT in the recent election, in the part of apo
logst and encomiast of the sub-treasury sys-
TEN. According to him. it is the perfection Of
human wisdom-the climax of financial inge-
nuity. If we strip his statements of verbiage,
we lhall find that his affection for the sub-trea-
sury rests on three grounds. First it enables
the government to hoard up coin secondly, it
imposes salutary check on trade in times of
undue expansion and thirdly, it enables the
government to redeem its securities, and by so
doing to relieve the embarrassments of the COM
percial world.
Now, these may seem to Mr.. Dix to be
sources of heartfelt congratulation but they
present themselves to our mind in a very diff
ferent light Wea living in the impression
delusion, Mr.. Dix would say-that the policy
of boarding up coin, whether in q hole in ones
cellar or in Treasury vault, was exploded
long since. 1t was quite the thing some half.
dozen centuries ago, when misers dug pits in
their garden for the purpose, and raved and
tore their hair when the young reprobate next
door discovered the deposit and helped himself
to share. Nor was it very heinous crime
when poets styled interest accursed usury,"
and Shylock was Kissed for exacting his six per
cent. But, with all Difference to Mr.. Dix be it
said, that age has past. The hole-in-the-gard
cfan, hoe hon Nav, ~ fbo
less esteemed to-day because they invest money
on interest. In fact-we would not be brusque
with Mr.. Dix--a man who would refuse to
do SO would be mercilessly laughed at. He
would be regarded as narrow-minded SIM
pleton. Nay, more-he would be despised
as man who deprives society at large
of an element of progress Mr.. Dix him
self would join in scouting him. And yet
it is this very conduct in the State which
seems to him so laudable The United
States sub-treasury subtracts twenty or thir-
ty millions in coin from the business of the
country; and for all practical purposes, makes
away with it-buries it in hole--so that no
one reaps any benefit from its existence Such
an act in an individual would stigmatize him
as a wretched miser. In the government, Mr..
Dix calls it wisdom
Again We are told that the indirect action
OF the sub-treasury system in checking or slim
ulating trade, is a source of qualification. May
interfere with trade at all :? Is it any part Of
Mr.. Guthrie's duty to regulate the commerce
Of New York? Was his Office created for the
purpose Of controlling trade, or was it merely
intended to collect and disburse the govern
ment revenue !? Mr.. Dix may answer these
questions at his leisure. For our own part we
cannot see what better right the subtreasury
has to interfere with trade than it has to med
die with the business of the courts or the pro-
fession OF surgery. The tyranny Of such
course would be equally obvious to whichever
Of the three it was applied. Merchants are as
we'll able. as lawyers or doctors to take care
OF themselves without the fatherly care Of
Mr.. Dix; and when the sub-treasury-as we are
free to admit it does at present-avails itself OF
it's influence either to check or to stimulate
speculation, it oversteps its natural limits, and
manifestly violates the liberties of large class
Of citizens. This may appear incomprehensibie
to Mr.. Dix, who regards periods of expansion
and contraction as extraordinary phenomena
in mercantile history. to be carefully guarded
against and prevented; but as the bulk OF our
readers know well enough that thes. oscilla-
tions between confidence and mistrust arc the
natural course of trade-that every
era OF mercantile activity must be fol-
lowed by corresponding reaction, and
that though individuals suffer, So
ciety at large gains as much by the latter as
the former-it will hardly be necessary to enter
into an argument to prove how unnecessary as
well as impertinent is the controlling power
now exercised by the United States sub-trea-
sury. Mr. Dix thinks it excellent; we regard
it as equally arbitrary and unnatural.
Unnatural is in fact, the only fit epithet for
the whole system, as at present developed. 1t
is unnatural and improper that the people of this
country should be taxed for a larger amount
than is required to support the government
No government has right to raise more money
than it needs. Where it does, it violates it's du-
ty to the people, and nurses seeds Of corruption
in it's own breast. The government of the Uni
ted States is precisely In That position at pre-
sent.
To extrcate itself, the first proceeding must
obviously be a reduction of our taxes--its
sources of revenue. The tariff must be cut
down and adjusted, SO that no more money
shall be extracted out Of our pockets than the
support of the government requires. This pro
cess must be repeated whenever the receipts
from the customs shall exceed the required con-
tingent for the public service. This done,
means must be devised for employing the pub
lie moneys in such way that they shall nei
Their lie fruitlessy idle, nor place in the hands
Of the Treasury tyrannical influence over the
mercantile community. Some system Of inter-
nal exchange and currency must be invented
and established on the basis of the public funds
Not bank. whose constitutionality has been so