6348. PAPER MONEY, Contraction.—[further continued] .
Different persons, doubtless,
will devise different schemes of relief.
One would be to suppress instantly the currency
of all paper not issued under the authority
of our own State or of the General
Government; to interdict after a few months
the circulation of all bills of five dollars and
under; after a few months more, all of ten
dollars and under; after other terms, those
of twenty, fifty, and so on to one hundred
dollars, which last, if any must be left in circulation,
should be the lowest denomination.
These might be a convenience in mercantile
transactions and transmissions, and would
be excluded by their size from ordinary circulation.
But the disease may be too pressing
to await such a remedy. With the Legislature
I cheerfully leave it to apply this medicine,
or no medicine at all. I am sure their
intentions are faithful; and embarked in the
same bottom, I am willing to swim or sink
with my fellow citizens. If the latter is
their choice, I will go down with them without
a murmur. But my exhortation would
rather be “not to give up the ship”.—
To Charles Yancey. Washington ed. vi, 516.
Ford ed., x, 3.
(M.
Jan. 1816)
