Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
most strongly operate? The people would have to blame none but themselves
for any injury that might arise from a course so reckless, since their
agents would be the wrongdoers and they the passive spectators.
There can be but three kinds of public currency--first, gold and silver;
second, the paper of State institutions; or, third, a representative of the
precious metals provided by the General Government or under its authority.
The subtreasury system rejected the last in any form, and as it was
believed that no reliance could be placed on the issues of local
institutions for the purposes of general circulation it necessarily and
unavoidably adopted specie as the exclusive currency for its own use; and
this must ever be the case unless one of the other kinds be used. The
choice in the present state of public sentiment lies between an exclusive
specie currency on the one hand and Government issues of some kind on the
other. That these issues can not be made by a chartered institution is
supposed to be conclusively settled. They must be made, then, directly by
Government agents. For several years past they have been thus made in the
form of Treasury notes, and have answered a valuable purpose. Their
usefulness has been limited by their being transient and temporary; their
ceasing to bear interest at given periods necessarily causes their speedy
return and thus restricts their range of circulation, and being used only
in the disbursements of Government they can not reach those points where
they are most required. By rendering their use permanent, to the moderate
extent already mentioned, by offering no inducement for their return and by
exchanging them for coin and other values, they will constitute to a
certain extent the general currency so much needed to maintain the internal
trade of the country. And this is the exchequer plan so far as it may
operate in furnishing a currency.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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