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Page 49
EXPENDITURES _of the United States, exclusive of Payments on account of
the Public Debt._
Years 1789-1792, Washington, $3,797,000
" 1793-1796, " 12,083,000
" 1797-1800, John Adams, 21,338,000
" 1800-1804, Jefferson, 17,174,000
" 1805-1808, " 23,927,000
" 1809-1812, Madison, 36,147,000
" 1813-1816, " 108,537,000
" 1817-1821, Monroe, 58,698,000
" 1821-1824, " 45,665,000
" 1825-1828, John Quincy Adams, 49,313,000
" 1829-1832, Jackson, 56,249,000
" 1833-1836, " 87,130,000
" 1837-1840, Van Buren, 112,188,000
" 1841-1844, Harrison and Tyler, 81,216,000
" 1846-1848, Polk, 146,924,000
" 1849-1852, Taylor and Fillmore, 194,647,000
" 1853-1856, Pierce, 211,099,000
" 1857-1860, Buchanan, 262,974,000
During the past fiscal year, 1862-3 and the year 1863-4, the Government
expenditures are estimated at ten hundred millions of dollars. These
heavy disbursements cannot be carried on merely by the ordinary bank
paper and the gold and silver of the country. Instead of sixty-five
millions of dollars, the average annual expenditures of the Government
during the last administration, these now involve the sum of five
hundred millions annually. Hence the obvious obligation on the part of
the Government of putting in circulation the most reliable currency, and
of avoiding those of local banks, which do not possess the confidence of
the people at a distance. This can be done only by maintaining a
currency of Government paper which every holder will have full
confidence in, and in which no loss can be sustained.
There is here no conflict or competition between the Government and the
State banks. The latter have the benefit of their legitimate circulation
in their own respective localities; while the national treasury
furnishes to the troops and to the creditors of the nation a circulation
of treasury notes which must possess confidence as long as the
Government lasts.
The policy of the English Government in this respect was a wise one. At
the adoption of the last charter of the bank (1844) the Government
allowed the country banks to maintain from that time forward the
circulation then outstanding, which was not to be increased; and as fast
as the banks failed or were wound up voluntarily, their circulation was
retired and the vacuum became filled by the notes of the Bank of
England. The latter was forbidden by its new charter to exceed certain
prescribed limits in its issues. They could issue to the amount of their
capital, �14,000,000, and beyond that to the extent of gold in the
vaults. Thus the bank circulation of England, Scotland, and Ireland is
less now than in 1844, when the new principle was established, viz.:
BANK CIRCULATION.
Bank of England. Country Banks. Ireland. Scotland. TOTAL.
1844, �22,015,000 �7,797,000 �7,716,000 �3,804,000 �41,325,000
1862, 20,190,000 5,680,000 5,519,000 4,053,000 35,442,000
Had this principle been adopted in the United States at the same
period, the excesses and extravagance of 1856-'7 might have been
obviated, as well as the revulsion of the latter year, and the distress
which followed.
Let us recur to the eventful history of the bank. Although a private
institution, owned and controlled by private capital, its large profits
accruing for the benefit of its own shareholders, yet it became so
closely interwoven with the commerce, manufactures, trade, and the
public finances of the nation, that it may be considered as in reality a
national institution. At its inception its whole capital was swallowed
by the treasury. This was a part of the contract of charter. Its
subsequent accumulations of capital, from �1,200,000, have likewise been
absorbed by the Government, until now the bank reports the Government
debt to them to be �11,015,100, and the Government securities held, to
be �11,064,000. Without the aid of the bank, the national treasury could
not, probably, have made the enormous disbursements which were actually
made between the commencement of the American Revolution in 1776, and
the termination of the continental war of 1815. The bank here furnished,
almost alone, 'the sinews of war.'
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