Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-09-08

pened to be current among you. Did you not
If am wrong. should like to be corrected
/ know that the Treasurer of State received
whatever was paid to him by the Treasurers O
the counties, in most cases, received whatever
was paid TO them by the people, and that.
suppose, was the case here 1t was, of course
authorized by law. for the law made no provision
whatever as to the funds 10 be received. Then
what would follow7 Ofcourse you pay in notes
of Indiana banks; you pay in notes of the Ken
lucky banks; You pay in notes of the New York
or Eastern banks. generally. You are not re-
quired to pay either in gold or silver, or notes
authorized by the laws of your OWE State, but
you pay in everything. Now, your Treasurer
we will say, has ten thousand dollars in notes
of the Bank of Indiana. or in notes of some bank
in Michigan. What is he doing with it,
Watching it. Watching what? Paperi Has
he got the specie? Mol Has he got anything
that he can convert into specie in the State OF
Ohio? mol He has got paper2 Then suppose
| have thousand dollars in specie, and l have
issued my notes for FIVE and zen dollars, and
these, notes go into your treasury, and there is
your Treasurer watching them. What is he
watching? Money! No; he is watching my
notes. Who then is your sub-treasurerf Is
your county Treasurer the sub-treasurer, when
he is watching nothing but my paper, or am l
the sub-treasurer, who have the specie in my
pocket?
Take the instance of banks. They have lssu-
ed their paper. These foreign banks, speak
of. 1t passes into the hands of the people; the
people pay their taxes with it. 1t is placed in
your Treasury and your Treasurer has got no
authority but to pay out. What has he to do?
He is watching with all his might, but he has
got no specie, SO far as these banks are concern
ed. The banks have got the specie, perhaps,
and perhaps not. u is not in Ohio, at any rate;
it is not, perhaps, within thousand miles of
Ohio. and yet we are told this is Sub -Treasu-
~. and safe, very safe.
Suppose the foreign bank fails. You have no
law in Ohio by which you can reach it;.it is
subject to no Legislation of yours; you cannot
control it; your money is gone, and how are you
get redress? You can sell the notes to broker
if they are worth anything, and if not you get
nothing. That is what they call the Sub-Treasu-
ry system-a safe systeml ! say it is entirely
unsafe.
UNsAFETY OF THE SYSTEM.
But it is not only unsafe in this, but in other
respects. There is no provision in this law by
which the sub-treasurers are required 10 give
bonds to the State for the proper performance
of the duties required of them by what is called
the Sub-Treasury act. They give bonds to the
County Commissioners, and those bonds are
in the custody OF the County Commissioners,
examined by no Stale authority. In this it is
entirely unlike the general Treasury system of
the United States and to this extent it is un-
sefc. 1t is question among gentlemen learned
in the law, whether these bonds. in many in
stances, are good; whether they oblige the Treas
urer in respectto the particular duties required
by this act. If they are not good they have
given no bonds, and there is no security at all.
say in both these particulars this system is not
only unsafe. but is entirely unlike the thing after
which it has been named.
FoRcIBLE ILLUSTRATION.
Here was the Treasurer Of Coshocton county
robbed the other day-so he said; he may have
been robbed, or he may not, but so he said
One thing, however. is certain, that as yet no.
body has been judicially convicted of having
robbed him. If he was robbed. in point of fact,
every body knows that the people of Ohio would
notrequiie him 10 pay The money taken of him
by force; there was, therefore, no occasion TO
hurry for the release of this gentleman. But,
after he was said to have been rob-
bed; he rushes to the Legislature, and there he
asked his Democratic brethren to releaee him
and his securities from the penalty oftheir bond.
In hot haste without evidence of any kind but
these mere statements and his own words, they
release him from that bond.
Fellow citizens, does not that illustrate
the insecurity of this thing? Your Treas
urers represent party in every county in
the State. They have their securities up
on their bonds, and these and their party
friends are interested in befriending and
defending them. They have party friends
in the Legislature, and all they have to do
is to hurry to the Legislature and get re-
leased. If you wanted anything to dem
onstrate the want of security of what is
called the Sub-Treasury system, You have
it in this.
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
But, fellow citizens, there is one other
point in legislation to which | want to call
your attention. Our friends Of what is
called the Democratic party, are great ad-
'ocates of popular Sovereignty" whenev-
,r popular Sovereignty" inurss to their
benefit; but they are very much opposed
10 it when they lcse some Office by its
For instance, if the people elect
, Governor of State who.is of the Dem
ocratic party, they think that Governor is
! very clever fellow, and ought to be al |