Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-02-13
Ehs gutlsua 9srald.,
THURSDAY, FEB. Is. 1859.
THE TREASURY NOTE BILL.

THE TREASURY NOTE BILL,
Mr.. Alley, of Massachusetts, IN a
speech recently delivered in the House Of
Representatives on the financial necessi-
sies of the Government, took occasion at
the threshold to animadvert on the delay
which has attended the initiation Of meas
sres for the preservation Of the public
credit and the efficient prosecution Of the
~ar. To this effect he spoke as follows :
/" Here in mid winter, with stagnant
trade, and all the Industrial energies Of a
great people palsied by the nightmare that
3 upon us, we, whom the people have
sent here to provide ways and means Of
relief, have done nothing; and 90 far as
our monetary affairs are concerned, if we
except perhaps the Committee Of Ways
and Means, are apparently as unmoved
as though all was well. With our Treas
Dry upon the eve of bankruptcy, those
who have been supplying the wants Of the
Government are knocking at the doors Of
the Treasury for the payment Of their
honest dues until hundreds are already
ruined, and unless something is speedily
done you may soon count them by thou
sands; yet, hour after hour, day after
day, and week after week, we have done
little except waste our valuable time in
continual talking about comparatively un.
important matters"
The National Intelligencer says: We
{ cannot conceal from ourselves the fact
that this singular postponement OF sub
ject directly and vitality concerning the et-
.-Gciency and credit of the Government in
sall its operations has created a painful i'm
preston throughout the country among
satriotic and thoughtful citizens. In view
a, the much needless criticism visited up
on Congress by the public press, the COM
me mind might be led to suppose that
the clamors raised by many newspapers
und er this head had no better motive than
the pirit of habitual fault-fnding which
seems to prevail in certain quarters. But
when we find member OF the body, on
his responsibility as Representative, cal
hing the attention of the country to this
Uwaste of valuable time in continual talk
ing about comparatively unimportant mat
ters." it is but natural that a share of that
impatience which certain members Of
Congress are said to cherish towards our
military authorities, because the latter
ado not move" should be visited upon
the legislators who are so slow in matur-
4 ing the measures without which the whole
:. schinery of the Government, in its con-
auc, # the war, must come to stand
..;u re Secretary of the Treasury, in
. no.e adare,. sed to the Chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means in the
House of Representatives, has officially
announced, what all might have presum-
ed. that 4the condition of the Treasury
certainly renders immediate action on the
subiect, of affording provision for the ex-
q penditures of the Government both ex-
pedient and necessary" 1t is greatly to
be deplored that the Committee of Ways
and Means could not have matured the
project Of bill for levying internal tax.
es in advance of the passage of the Treas
ury note bill, that this latter measure
might rest on basis more appreciable
than mere resolution of Congress. We
earnestly hope that both measures may
engage the instant and constant attention
Of the House, whose constitutional func
ton i, is to take the initiate in this matter