Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-10-12
The Treasurer OF the United State,

A very complimentary letter from the
Secretary of the Treasury, extending q
two months leave of absence to General
Spinner, the Treasurer of the United
States, by some surreptitious means, re-
Gently got into the newspapers. The
General had refused permission to publish
it, and had requested the Secretary to do
the same but the copy lying on the table
Of the Assistant Secretary was carried off
during his momentary absence from the
room.
Warm as were Mr.. McCulloch's praises
of the bluff old watchdog of the Treasury,
they were no more than all familiar with
the financial history of tho war will say
he abundantly deserved. Imagine a bank
ing business counted, not by thousands or
millions, but by billions, with the constant
receipt Of millions in small sums, from
Customs, internal Revenue, and other
sources, and payments again in every
possible sum {; continue this for over four
years, without the miscount of q dollar,
or an error in a simple calculation, and
you have Gen. Spinner's work as the pay
ing officer of the Government.
I remember the fever into which the
old gentleman was once thrown by a mis-
take of $4,000 made in the count by a
female clerk Of a package of notes received
during the Seven Thirty Loan, from one
of the New York banks. The lady had
carelessly thrown aside the little strips Of
paper pinned around each package, and
labeled with its amount, date Of counting,
etc., and when she found the whole sun
forwarded by the bank only $25, 600, in
stead of the $4,000 which the bank had
charged, she was without a clue to the
date or place of counting. The packages
had been received in New York from the
country correspondents of the bank, and
forwarded without ~re-counting, OH the
faith of the accuracy of the sum marked
on the strip of paper surrounding each
package. The New York bank, without
that strip, was unable to say from what
correspondent any particular package had
been received, or to trace the error.
The Treasurer was, therefore, powerless,
and it looked as if there was to be a loss
of $4,000. He promptly said that he
would make it up out of his private
means. The poor girls who had done the
counting in the Department were fright
ened out of their wits, and Mysteries for a
day or two came as nearly ruling as arith-
metic. To the surprise, however, of every
one, by some accident, n of the country
correspondents of the New York bank
discovered an error of $4,000 in one of
its returns, and forwarded the missing
package, next day. When it was shown
that the error was not in his department,
the old Treasurer was the best satisfied
and the ~proudest man in Washington. He
had been for nearly four years striving to
be able to say that he had gone through
the payments for the greatest and most
expensive war on record, without an error
of o dollar, and his work was not lost.
He can say that now.
When the war began, the General de-
clared that he would 90 to no place Of
amusement till it was over, and he kept
his word. Wife and daughters many a
time sought to entice him to the opera,
but he was memorable. For the same
reason he refused to leave his post of duty
for q single day; and for five years he has
uCNeI eeSH lilo PleooouI AOulS IA SHO NAo-
hawk valley.
The simple hearted old fellow was UNI
fashioned, in that he cannot forget that
there has been a war. A repentant Ala
bamian reached his hand across the table
to him, the other day, at dinner: "Don't
you remember me, General? l used to
sit with you in Congress, down to 1860"
~ remember you well enough. You
staid here a good while after 1850, walked
through all our camps, and saw altogether
too much before you left. If you were
going to be a traitor, you might have had
the grace to go a little earlier, so that your
old friends shouldn't be compelled to sus-
pect you of being also a spy" but,
General, no man ever regretted this thing
more than I did "Why in the name
of manhood, then, didn't you stand up
against it But no, you had to go with
your State and get Office under the Gov
eminent of traitors; and now you come
up to this mudsill, Andy johnson, to get
p~drdoned. I'd hang you, that's what I'd
do with you, old friend as you are