National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-21

les than seven distinct tarifs.
Export duties On cotton were also rooou
mended. The chief reliance Of tie govern
mont was, however, upon loans, and commits
sione1 were early appointed 70 borrow On,
million Of dolhrs At Q fate not exceeding ter
Per cent, on bond running for not Lee. THAI
I've or more than ten ysaH; the Commissioner
being authorized to pledge the public faith, thu
public iandsj tie pabhc revenues, and IN shor,
lsvsrythfng that Texas possessed In the way Of
:ecunfy ar sh;ir Repayment. - 4o..i. - (, 4. /.
The fbrmalestahlishmento Of national treas
fury was one thing; the filing of It with money
was quite another and different thing. And q
suMcient funds for deftaying the sxpenses Of
nom any Of the expedients Of staxation, loane
the establishment Of companies with bankine
privileges, the sale of lands, begging, or eds
ing private property BY land and sea, the 70.
lPub!ie next undertook to pay 10 way By draw.
ing drafts on itself. --15 T..74 sI5s-5 ; -.
10 give these drafts credit and circplstsos
an oct WAS passed, December, .1as6, "That Il
shall Be the duty Of the several eofsctors (oi
customs) to receive the ordsrs Of tbs auditor
By importers 10 payment Of duties 1t the Tine
Of Importation" and In June following h Wa
enacted, "rhAt properly audited drafts on the
treasury of the republic shall be received In
payment Of taxes imposed, except on billiard
tables, retailers Of liquors, and nine-pin alleys,
or games Of that kind" By these two acts
Texas gave her audited drafts . greater value
than they would otherwise have possessed,
and caused them to pass into hands that 9TH
erwise would not have received them. From
arst to last the issue Of these audited drafts
amounted to- about eight millions Of dollars,
They do not appear to have ever, to any ex-
tent, answered the purpose Of currency; and
the circumstance that they were issued Tor odd
numbers Of dollars and cents, and when passed
from hand to hand required Q calculation,
They gradually deprecated In value, and in
December, 1887, one year after the passage OF
the act authorizing their reception for custom
dues, another act was passed declaring that
the State would no longer receive such drafts
in payment of debts due to itself.
The greatest and best stroke Of financial
policy on the part Of the new republic was,
however, reserved to the last and in Novem-
Der, 1857, when borrowing, begging, selling
land scrip, and issuing audifed drains had been
exhausted as expedients for raising money, the
government commenced the issue Of treasury
notes. These notes were In the form of bank
notes, and by law were required to be printed
" In neat form" They were also for round or
even sums, and mainly for small amounts, and
specified on their face that they will be
dues, or be redeemed With any moneys in The
treasury no. otherwise appropr;ated,S
And here commences 81 far the most yalua-
BILE of ali tbe Lessons dedncihIe from The stndv
Of the fiscal expedence Of the Rennblic of
Texas-a lesson, moreover, exceptionally In
terestihg, from the circumstance that we fnd
in It showing and characterization that the
working and effect Of . system Of irredeemable
6eid Gifts influence be = rich. nseIv-nonnls,teS
old country IiIxe Auatria a, l3reat Rrtfs,n ~ !.
disturbed. thinlv- nonuIatad comu,unitv- ~,,s
little accumulated capitaI. and occanyin1. A n
were. the yerv border lima hetvesn SsrS,.,.r,
and ciyilixstiou. - -'3s-,' - : -" =, ''-'
/ fNotwithstandfnp that the tresmrv .ud,..a
drafts were depreciated to lea than Sssssn
Were rspidlv tsken A. nar. for the ressSn 40
there was no Other met.iun az srchanre thst
vas AVAILABLE. They maintsined hi. So.isso,,
for months. or until the issne erceeicd HsiS
million doliars. When the voinn"s src.eI.S
the necessities Of the nsonle for ! m.Sinu ~.
value commenced to deprecists. This issne .i .o
carried ten DER cent, fnterest. which csnseS
them to he hoanied bv coma n tha w.sith,e.
citixens The whole revenus f,or, .',.sons.
about $40 900 ner snnnm1 w. nisd.ed ~ .hs
sustenance of the treasury notes. Inc nonn.
lation was then about forty thousaud. snd a.
lowing that one .fifth of thesa tan'ne,-c.nt
bonds were noated Of and held in che United
States, or boarded at home. Il WIN be seen thst
ten dollars De, eapifa remained a the neces.
sary volume in Texas. President Houston Al
that time expressed the opinion that no fsrther
ofthe currency WAS needed, and
asserted that 1.-THE government will never be
the demands Of private speculation and inter
est"
He vetoed Q bill authorizing the Increase of
the volume to one million, but It was soon
passed again in different form, and the notes
bearing no interest were issued in payment of
the army and navy.
Gas might have been expected, with the au-
thorixation Of the new Issues the notes began
70 depreciate; and the depreciation increased
money in the form Of treasury notes to the
nominal amount OF 9A,717 $50 was issued. In
January, 1888, these notes were worth no more
than forty cents o. tAs dollar; IN the spring Of
1889 they were worth thirty-seven. and half
cents; In 184l, from twelve to fifteen cents; and
IN 1879 they fell to ten cents, 10 Ave cents, to
four, to three, to two, and finally became ut
terly worthless. 81 -. -.
In the characteristic language Of the times,
mars administration, fifteen dollars in treas
ury notes 10 buy three elasees Of brandy and
wafer, pishosl Sugar: To the Treasury notes
succeeded what were termed sexchequer
bnls;' but they wefe comparatively few in
pppb9r, lnd never passed to any extent into
circulation. by this time, says Mr.. Gouge,
there was little circulating medium Of any
kind In Texas; but this MAS n6 great calamity,
q the people had but little left to circulate.
The evils this system did were immense, and
such a. for which, even were Il 20 disposed, the
The sufferers, ,fe---''~'' -
0sThey no doubt hov,aver l,Ire okhers IN s,r,-
~ .,.y.s' .ysSlt siAs o.Ieis ~ I'm
liar circumstances, attributed to the want OF
medium the evils they suffered from
my VI @SU'.sl.S SaP.sei., An Al, nun ME,
audited drafts 'e1chequsr bills,' bonds.
~ : Srsstss =. - $500 ~ sc;..,,I..,-sS
8iS~e. " eosSsr - SnSoaettLS
meo1um, amounted to S1S ,Sl6, lAS or reck-
tSe the Population q az. my thousand. more
CART. n nsns, ;..nes .n.,iX th..sSo.s ~.
made . peopie rich. he Tenn oueht to nave
haen fhs rich..4 ,,.n,,I. &, ~. ,,,t-ee. y
: rs.s 80 rsSYss =. IL
a1eeo nooos wsso mover NIUE ieSat tender
IN Texas for private debts: The whole system
son ool.p:sd and s Ts... Ia: never os: cher
but . hard money basis. Her experience q
,UepG sd - g ana as