SEC. 21. And be it further enacted, That no exchange of funds shall be made by any disbursing officer, or agents, of the government, of any grade or denomination whatsoever, or connected with any branch of the public service, other than an exchange for gold and silver; and every such disbursing officer, when the means for his disbursements are furnished to him in currency legally receivable under the provisions of this act, shall make his payments in the currency so furnished, or when those means are furnished to him in drafts, shall cause those drafts to be presented at their place of payment, and properly paid according to the law, and shall make his payments in the currency so received for the drafts furnished, unless, in either case, he can exchange the means in his hands for gold and silver at par, and so as to facilitate his payments, or otherwise accommodate the public service, and promote the circulation of a metallic currency; and it shall be, and is hereby made the duty of the head of the proper department immediately to suspend from duty any disbursing officer who shall violate the provisions of this section, and forthwith to report the name of the officer, or agent, to the President, with the fact of the violation, and all the circumstances accompanying the same and within the knowledge of the said secretary, to the end that such officer, or agent, may be promptly removed from office, or restored to his trust and the performance of his duties, as to the President may seem just and proper.

SEC. 22. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for the secretary of the treasury to make or continue in force any general order, which shall create any difference between the different branches of revenue, as to the funds or medium of payment, in which debts or dues accruing to the United States may be paid.

SEC. 23. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the secretary of the treasury to issue and publish regulations to enforce the speedy presentation of all government drafts for payment at the place where payable, and to prescribe the time, according to the different distances of the depositaries from the seat of government, within which all drafts upon them, respectively, 27

VOL. II.

shall be presented for payment; and, in default of such presentation, to direct any other mode and place of payment which he may deem proper; but in all those regulations and directions, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the treasury to guard, as far as may be, against those drafts being used or thrown into circulation, as a paper currency, or medium of exchange.

SEC. 24. And be it further enacted, That the receivers-general of public money directed by this act to be appointed, shall receive, respectively, the following salaries, per annum, to be paid quarter-yearly, at the treasury of the United States, to wit; the receiver-general of public money at New York shall be paid a salary of four thousand dollars per annum ; the receiver-general of public money at Boston shall be paid a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; the receiver-general of public money at Charleston shall be paid a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; and the receiver-general of public money at St. Louis shall be paid a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; the treasurer of the mint at Philadelphia shall, in addition to his present salary, receive five hundred dollars, annually, for the performance of the duties imposed by this act; the treasurer of the branch mint at New Orleans shall also receive one thousand dollars, annually, for the additional duties created by this act; and these salaries, respectively, shall be in full for the services of the respective officers, nor shall either of them be permitted to charge, or receive, any commission, pay, or perquisite for any official service, of any character or description whatsoever; and the making of any such charge, or the receipt of any such compensation, is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, for which the officer, convicted thereof, before any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, shall be subject to punishment by fine, or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court before which the offence shall be tried.

SEC. 25. And be it further enacted, That the treasurer of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to receive at the treasury, and at such other points as he may designate, payments in advance for public lands, the

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payments so made, in all cases, to be evidenced by the receipt of the said treasurer of the United States; which receipts so given shall be receivable for public lands, at any public or private sale of lands, in the same manner as the currency authorized by law to be received in payment for the public lands: Provided however, That the receipts given by the treasurer of the United States, pursuant to the authority conferred in this section, shall not be negotiable or transferable, by delivery, or assignment, or in any other manner whatsoever, but shall in all cases be presented in payment for lands by or for the person to whom the receipt was given, as shown upon its face.

SEC. 26. And be it further enacted, That for the purchase of sites, and the construction of the offices of the receivers-general of public money, by this act directed to be erected at Charleston, South Carolina, and at St. Louis, Missouri, there shall be and hereby is appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten thousand dollars to be expended under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, who is hereby required to adopt plans for the said offices, and the vaults and safes connected therewith, and to cause the same to be constructed and prepared for use with as little delay as shall be consistent with the public interests, and the convenient location and security of the buildings to be erected: Provided, however, That if the secretary of the treasury shall find, upon inquiry or examination, that suitable rooms for the use of the receiver-general at Charleston can be obtained in the custom-house now owned by the United States at that place, and that secure vaults and safes can be constructed in that building for the safe-keeping of the public money, then he shall cause such rooms to be prepared and fitted up, and such vaults and safes to be constructed in the custom-house at Charleston, and no independent office shall be there erected.

SEC. 27. And be it further enacted, That, for the payment of the expenses authorized by this act, other than those herein before provided for, a sufficient sum of money be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 28. And be it further enacted, That all acts or parts of acts which come in conflict with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby repealed. APPROVED, July 4th, 1840.

MR. WOODBURY'S SPEECH,

ON THE REPEAL OF THE INDEPENDENT TREASURY.

JUNE 9, 1841.

Mr. WOODBURY said: It was my misfortune, sir, to be in a minority on the committee which reported this bill. I have heard nothing since to weaken my objections to the repeal of what is called the Sub-treasury, but some things to strengthen them greatly. The die, however, is cast; the Sub-treasury must, I presume, be abolished. But I feel it due to my opinions, expressed in the committee, as well as to friends, and the importance of the question to the whole country, that the reasons for my opposition to this hasty and extraordinary change in a great system for managing the finances for the government, for the whole Union, should be publicly given. I am aware of the impatience felt by the majority for a decision, and shall, therefore, use all possible brevity.

It is difficult to comprehend the causes of so much haste in acting on the present subject. Why repeal what exists till some plan is presented instead of it? Let us have what you consider the bane and antidote before us at once. But, on the contrary, we are in this case asked to destroy an existing system, in full and successful operation, and which would continue to be so, if fairly administered, without expressly presenting any substitute whatever. We pull down our present house, to use the simile of the senator who originated this measure, without a new one elsewhere to reside in, or even a shantee. No, sir, not even a log cabin for shelter till another house is

built. We thus depart, also, from legislative usage in all like cases. The act of June, 1836, in regulating the state bank system, did not repeal the former one till the new regulations could be provided and duly executed. So the sub-treasury act did not repeal the state bank system till the sub-treasury had time to be carried into full force. He challenged gentlemen to cite a precedent for any such rashness as the present. Even in 1816 the public funds were not forbidden to be kept as before, till the United States Bank was chartered and in full operation. We create, then, a sort of dictatorship as to the finances in the President or secretary of the treasury, till some new system is hereafter established by law. We leave the sacred funds of the public, in a period of profound peace, and with no emergency, no urgent necessity impending, to the arbitrary will or caprice of mere executive dis

cretion.

There is no escape from the conclusion as to the lawless expediency which will then reign, unless, by mere construction, some other system is revived by this repeal. The repeal would be on its face uncertain, vague, loose. It cuts loose from the old moorings, and puts to sea with the whole public revenue, without rudder or compass. But it is said that much can be remedied by implication, by construction, by discretion. Then in abolishing the subtreasury, we abolish what is a system, well considered, and in full force, and we do this for one to exist by implication, and that may mean any thing or nothing, to suit those who administer it-one temporary, not certain in its character, gone into disuse, obsolete, impracticable, and which, if no better is devised immediately, may be fastened upon us for years as the law of the land. I know that repealing a repealing statute, according to an old technical principle, well settled in Blackstone, Bacon, and Coke, revives in force the act existing before the first repeal. We shall have, then, apparently, the act of January, 1836; and bad and impracticable in many respects as that act is admitted by many of them to be, they would justify their course in reviving it, by the apology, that a better system can and will soon be substituted for it.