There is little in the administration of the finances by Wolcott to attract comment. He managed the details of the department with integrity and skill. On his retirement a committee of the House on the condition of the Treasury was appointed. No similar examination had been made since May 22, 1794. On January 28, 1801, Mr. Otis, chairman of the committee, submitted the results of the investigation in an unanimous report that the business of the Treasury Department had been conducted with regularity, fidelity, and a regard to economy; that the disbursements of money had always been made pursuant to law, and generally that the financial concerns of the country had been left by the late secretary in a state of good order and prosperity. During his six years of administration of the finances Wolcott negotiated six loans, amounting in all to $2,820,000. The emergencies were extraordinary,--the expenses of the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794, and the sum required to effect a treaty of peace with Algiers in 1795. To fund these sums Mr. Wolcott had recourse to an expedient which marked an era in American finance. This was the creation of _new stock_, subscribed for at home. No loan had been previously placed by the government among its own citizens. Between 1795 and 1798, four and a half, five, and six per cent. stocks were created. In 1798 the condition of the country was embarrassing. There was a threatening prospect of war. Foreign loans were precarious and improvident; the market rate of interest was eight per cent. Under these circumstances an eight per cent. stock was created, not redeemable until 1809. An Act of March 3, 1795, provided for vesting in the sinking fund the surplus revenues of each year.