The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-13
THE vFFkIY CONSTITUTION ATLANTA R

union party during the notification excite
ment. In the legislature he was at the
head of the finance committee for nearly
twenty years.
The day after ,le Inauguration of Presi
dent Davis at Montgomery Mr.. Mem
mincer was appointed secretary OF the
treasury. The new official at once selected
Henry ID. Capers as private secretary, and
that energetic gentleman speedily estab-
lished the treasury in a room furnished
with walnut table, desk and several
chairs. 1t was not long before the business
of the department opened in earnest. Cap
tain Deas appeared one morning with a
letter from the president requesting the
secretary to furnish money for the purchase
OF blankets and ratons for the first confeG-
crate company, 100 strong. from Atlanta.
under the command of Captain George
Washington Lee Private Secretary Capers
read the letter and explained to the cap
tain that he had been on frolic and had at
that time only five dollars in his pocket.
Secretary Memminger was then seen, and
an account was then opened at the Central
bank, based upon the personal obligation Of
Mr. Memmnger himself. In this way the
money was secured for Captain Lees COM
pany.
The treasurer at Cace went to work to
organize his department. He had many
things to do. First a loan of S15, 100000
had TO be negotiated, and arrangements had
to be made for engraving confederate notes
and bonds. The first bonds and notes were
printed in New York, but fell into the
hands of the federal government and were
seized as contraband of war. Several
engravers were imported, but for a long
time it was difficult to get the proper kind
OF paper. The first issues were of one hun
dred, fifty and twenty dollar notes. The
printing was done entirely by hand, and
the process was very slow. For about a
month after its issue confederate money
was on par with gold. In August, 1861,
it was only at eight per cent discount in
Richmond, and at par in New Orleans,
Mobile and Charleston. Very satisfactory
arrangements for gold credits were made
with foreign bankers, but the closing of the
southern ports interfered seriously with
these contracts.
Mr. Memminger followed the methods of
Alexander Hamilton in organizing his
department, but the conditions were so
widely different that success was impossible.
The veteran tinancier gave all his energies
to his work, but he soon found that the
human intellect was incapable of giving any
fixed value to a paper currency based upon
nothing, and depending entirely upon the
almost hopeless success of a steadily losing
cause. Confederate notes were issued until
they covered the face of the earth. The
plucky secretary put forth his best efforts
for nearly three years and half, and then
he retired from office. 1t must have oc-
CURED to him at the time that when it took
Sl00 OF his currency to buy cheap hat, the
same sum for pair of common shoes, and
twenty dollars for a pound of coffee or a
pound of butter, the outlook was indeed
gloomy.
But the secretary had nothing to regret
and nothing to be ashamed Of so far as his
record was concerned. After the collapse
OF the confederacy he retained the esteem
of all who knew him, and he will be re-
membered as lofty-minded statesman,
patriotic citizen, and a man in all respects
honorable and lovable. If in his official
capacity he did not turn out to be an Alex
ander Hamilton, it was because he had to
contend with difficulties which even Hamil-
ton would have found it impossible to over
come.