Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-09-22
The Treasury Question,

treas ury system oi inc Slote'
to the plan advocated by the Republicans,
which is the same as that adopted by the
Legislature of 1867, the Enginerer says
at is the same system under which Bliss
Breslin and Gibson operated, and the State
lost nearly million OF dollars. While the
operation of those Treasurers, and the dis
appearance of such enormous sums, under
the old system, are still fresh in the memory
of the taxpayers. it would seem to be the
b light of effrontery to ask the voters to
give up their present mode of keeping the
public money, for the rotten, discarded one;
yet we find Dennison and Company recon-
mending them to do So"
Now, the Enquirer cannot offer the ex
cuse of ignorance for the misrep.esenta-
tion contained in the foregoing paragraph
The truth is the effort being made to sustain
the present treasury system, is unadulterat-
ed demagoguery, and the leading politicians
are encouraged in this work by desire and
hope to get their hands once more into the
public treasury. 1t is plain enough that it
would be full as easy to steal the peoples
money under the present law, as under the
enactment that Breslin professed to be
governed by. If, therefore, the existing
law is continued, we may prepare foi new
addition of the Breslin- Gibson swindle.-
Gov. Chase, in his Sandusky speech, pre-
sentsd this matter SO clearly, that We are
induced in this connection to reproduce a
portion of his remarks. 1t will do the peo-
pie no harm TO read the annexed paragraphs,
a second, or even third or fourth time;
and it might be-indeed we have no doubt
it would be-proftable to the readers Of the
ENQUIRER to have the views Of His Excel.
lency, substituted in the columns of that
paper for the glaring misrepresentation to
which they have recently been treated
Gov Chase said:
What is the provision in this law in re-
gard to the receipt of moneys! Is there
any, None ;at all. Every Treasurer Of
every county is left to receive just what
money he pleases, and ! suppose that in
your county you paid in any money which
happened 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 OF the counties, and
know that the Treasurers of the counties,
in most easos, received whatever was paid
to them by the people, and that suppose,
was the case here. 1t was, of course, auth
orized by law for the law made no provision
whatever as to the funds to be received =
Then whatever you happen to have. You
pay in notes Of Indiana banks; you in notes
of the Kentucky banks; you pay in notes
| of the New York or Eastern banks, gener-
ally. YOU are not required to pay either in
gold or silver. or notes authorized by the
laws Of your own 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! Paper!
Has he got the specie, No! Has he got
anything that he can convert into specie in
the State of Ohio, No! He has got paper.
Then suppose have thousand dollars in
specie, and have issued my notes for FIVE
and ten dollars, and these notes go into y our
treasury, and there is your Treasurer watch
ing them. What is he watching! Money!
No! he is watching my notes. Who has
got the specie! l have got it. Who. then,
is your sub-treasurer. Is your county Treas
urer the sub-treasurer when he is watching
nothing but my paper, or am the sub-treas-
urer, who have the specie in my pocket!
Take the instance of banks. They have
issued 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 dol He is watching
with all his might, but he has got no specie,
SO far as these banks are concerned. The
banks have got the specie, perhaps, and per-
haps not. 1t is not in Ohio, at any rate; it
is not, perhaps, within a thunsand n,iios Of
Ohio, and yet we are told this is snb-treas
ury. 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 to get redress! You can sell
the notes to broker if they are worth any,
thing, and if not you get nothing. That is
what they call the sub-treasury svstem-a
safe system. say it is entire unsafe.
But it is not only unsafe in this, bet in
other respects. There is no provision in
this law by which the sub-treasurers are re-
quired to give bonds to the State for the
proper performance OF the duties required
of them by what is called the suS-treasury
act. They gave bonds to the County Com.
missioners, and those bonds are in the
custody of the county Commissioners, ex-
amned by no State authority. In this it is
entirely unlike the general Treasury system
of the United States, and this extent it is
unsafe. 1t is question among gentlemen
learned in The law, whether these bonds, in
many instances, are good; whether they
oblige the Treasurer in respect to the par
ticular duties required by this act. If t[ey
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.
Here was the Treasurer of Coshocton
county robbed the other dny-so he said;
he may have been robbed, or ne may not.
but so he said. One thing, however, is
certain, that as yet NOBODY has been judicial
ly convicted of having robbed him. II he
was robbed, in point of TACT, everybody