The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-01-11

timing the late Board until the first
Monday of April, I949. l withheld my
approval of that bill for the reasons present.
ed in my message. | entertain no doubt
that the fund would be entirely safe in the
hands of the late Commissioners, and that
they would manage it with integrity and
ability.
The Constitution gave the Legislature
the power of establishing two systems
of banking in this State, The first Legis-
lature which assembled after the adoption
of that Constitution passed a general banking
law, under which ninety-one banks were
organized. Before the meeting of the Leg
islature in 1855, experience showed that the
law which authorized their establishment
was insufficient.
Forty-one of them had failed to redeem
their circulation The friends ofthe general
banking system seeing the deficiency in the
law, urged the passage of the act of March
| 3, 1855. Since the passage ofthatlaw there
has been but one bank organized under it,
| that has failed to redeem its circulation
! At the last session of the Legislature, an act
was passed establishing the Bank of the
| State of Indiana The full amount of stock
rendered by law was subscribed, and it COM
menced its business. The circulation is
now S4, 502, 345. It's notes and bills discount
| ed So, I54, 549 or It's cash on hand in
! gold and silver, 81, 685, 1895 80. From the
| time that these laws Wee passed, the cur
rency authorized by the State has been
promptly redeemed although in the inter
mediate time, the financial crisis of 1857
has been passed. When you consider that
| between the passage of these laws and the
present time, the State Bank has withdrawn
| four millions of dollars of her circulation
and called in six millions of dollars of her
Indebtedness, and without which laws the
! State Bank would have been unable in so
] short period of time to collect the debts
| due to her-One half OF which belonged in
reality to the State, you must regard the
legislation of that session as lightly benef-
cial to the financial interests of the people
as any could have been which provided for
the establishment of banks and the circula-
ton of paper currency. The Bank of the
State has quietly acquired the position &C.
cupied by the old State Bank. Those who
formerly directed the one now control the
other
If the rule could be uniform throughout
the United States it would perhaps be bet
ter that no paper currency was circulated.
But inasmuch rs that uniformity is practi-
cally impossible, | think Indiana has eStab-
lished a safe system of banking as any other
State in the Union, giving to her people as
high security for the redemption of the notes
of the bank as any ether State.
The last Legislature levied no taxes for
the years 1857 and 1853. The officers of
State were therefore deprived of the ordi-
nary revenue which should have been pro-
vided to sustain the various departments
and institutions of the State. Believing
that there was no reasonable prospect that
the members of the Legislature, if re-assem-
bled, would change their policy or action, |
did not call them together, choosing rather
to wait until the people had elected other re-
representatives.. Notwithstanding the failure
of the Legislature to levy the taxes, the Off
GERS of State have endeavored to carry on the
! government, and in so doing they present
to you, as the result of their action, that
they have only been required to borrow
| $3.50, 000-SI63, 00G in June, and $I65, 600
in December, l858-which has been appli-
ed to the payment of the interest upon the
public debt. They have paid from the Gen
eral Fund to the Swamp Land Fund $751;
600. They have drawn from other funds
about 100000.
If the revenue for those years had been
collected, upon an assessment equal to that
of 1856, it would have amounted, in the
two years, to 81, 200,00e which would have
left in the Treasury now $SG0,000 Of a sur
plus. Still, with all this failure to raise the
revenue, there is yet in the Treasury sufii-
cieut means to sustain the Government until
the lst Of next March; and if authority is
given to negotiate temporary loan for
| 5000, 900, the revenue which will be derived
from the taxes of 1859 and 1860, levied at
your last session, will pay every debt created,
and sustain the government until the end of
the year 1861.
The taxes of the State must necessarily
be collected by the county officers. Hitherto
they have had no direction by law, as to the
kind of money they should receive the re-
suit of which has been that the Treasurer of
State, in times Of financial difficulty, has
been compelled to exercise his discretion in
receiving from the Treasures the money
they had collected. Between the time of
the receipt of such money by the County
Treasurers and the payment of the same to
the State, much of it has deprecated in
value. While the County Treasurer acted
in good faith, receiving for the States taxes
the ordinary currency OF the country, it
would have been wrong for the State to de-
cline accepting the same from them and it
would have been equally wrong to hold the
Treasurer of State responsible for any de-
probation in such currency while in his pos
session. But in the receiving, holding and
paying out of the money thus collected, the
State has sustained many losses.
The State has never yet provided q safe
depository for her money. While the
Treasurer has been required to give bond
for the faithful return Of all by him col
lected, he has been comRelled to exercise his
Judgment in selecting the place where il
) should be deposited. The result Of the ex-
crcise of this judgment has sometimes
proved unfortunate. Is it not therefore,
better that the Legislature should determine
by law, the kind of money which shall be
) received by the various County Treasures
for State taxes, and provide a suitable place
of deposit in which the Treasurer of State
shall retain it, until the law requires its dis
bursement. In determining the kind of
i money to be received, is not the highest
/ safety of the State secured in requiring it
in. the constitutional currency of the gov
| ernment? II you provide that the taxes
may be paid in the notes of banks, you