8520. TREASURY, Conduct of.—
There
is a point * * * on which I should wish
to keep my eye, and to which I should aim
to approach by every tack which previous arrangements
force upon us. That is, to form
into one consolidated mass all the moneys received
into the treasury, and to the several
expenditures, giving them a preference of
payment according to the order in which they
should be arranged. As for example. 1. The
interest of the public debt. 2. Such portions
of the principal as are exigible. 3. The
expenses of government. 4. Such other portions
of principal as, though not exigible, we
are still free to pay when we please. The
last object might be made to take up the residuum
of money remaining in the treasury at
the end of every year, after the three first
objects were complied with, and would be the
barometer whereby to test the economy of the
administration. It would furnish a simple
measure by which every one could mete their
merit, and by which every one could decide
when taxes were deficient or superabundant.—
To Albert Gallatin. Washington ed. iv, 428.
Ford ed., viii, 140.
(W.
1802)
