had directed the amount in the Bank of Pennsylvania, that remained unexpended, of the sum deposited for the redemption of Treasury notes, to be transferred to the Bank of the United States, on the first day of October last. The transfer, to which he alludes, not having been made to this bank, I have thought it my duty to call your attention to the subject. I am, with great respect, sir, THOMAS T. TUCKER, Esq. Treasurer United States. Your obedient servant, JONA. SMITH, Cashier. Office of Discount and Deposite, Bank U. States, Chillicothe, Jan. 9, 1818. SIR: Agreeably to an order of the board, I have to request information of the names, &c. of the Collectors and Receivers of the revenue in this state, directed to make deposites in this office. SIR: In consequence of your letter of the 31st ult. which I had the honor to receive in due course, I should have sooner troubled you with this, but for the difficulty of procuring receipts from some of the few persons from whom I had purchased stock. I now inclose those receipts, together with my account, accompanied by two transfer certificates of funded debt, lately picked up and included in the account. Bank of the United States, Jan. 20, 1818. SIR: The Cashier of this bank called on the Cashier of the Bank of Pennsylvania, this morning, with your letter of the 16th instant, and the receipts prepared in conformity thereto, in order to receive the sum which you had directed him to deposite in the Bank of the United States, to the credit of the Treasurer. Mr. Chauncey ob jected to the form in which the payment was directed to be made, and declined acting upon your order, saying that the money had been placed to the credit of the Treasurer, by your order; that his draft would be necessary to authorize the payment, and that he had written you to this effect. I have the honor to be, With great respect, sir, The Hon. WM. H. CRAWFORD, Secretary of the Treasury. Your obedient servant, WM. JONES, Pres't. Bank of the United States, Jan. 21, 1818. SIR: Agreeably to the request of your letter of the 16th instant, I have now the honor to inclose you the firsts and seconds of each set of the following bills, payable in London; by to-morrow's mail, I will forward you the thirds and fourths of these bills, with my account for the same, viz: John V. Wilcox on W. & A. Maxwell, Liverpool, payable in London, favor Thomas Neilson & Co. at sixty days sight Gideon Johnson, on John Gilliatt, London, favor James Bank United States, on Baring, Brothers & Co. London, favor Jonathan Smith, at sixty days sight I have the honor to be, sir, 1,200 0 0 1,000 0 0 · 5 16 7 Sterling, £2,205 16 7 With great respect, your obdt. servt. The Hon. WM. H. CRAWFORD, Secretary of the Treasury. JONA. SMITH, Cashier. Bank United States, January 22d, 1818. SIR: By the last mail I had the honor of forwarding you the firsts and seconds of three sets of exchange on England. You will now please receive enclosed the remainder of those bills, with my account and vouchers for the same. SIE: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, and having also just received advice from the Cashier of the office of this bank at Chillicothe, that, although not fully prepared to commence the general operations of the Office, for want of the notes which we are now preparing at this bank, yet they were sufficiently so for all the purposes of the public business, which fact I take leave to announce for your information. SIR: On the 11th November last, I had the honor to request your directions, whether I should proceed in making purchases of the funded debt of the United States, for account of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and was favored with your reply, directing me to continue my purchases; which letter, I regret to say, I have mislaid, and cannot, with the most diligent search, now find. The price of stocks having fallen, I have been enabled to buy a few par cels of old six per cent. deferred, and Louisiana, to the amount of about 10,000 dollars. More may be expected to be offered. Not recollecting precisely your last mentioned instructions, I am compelled again to ask your directions, relative to the kinds of stock, and amount which I have your permission to purchase. I am, most respectfully, Yours, LYNDE CATLIN, Cashier. WM. H. CRAWFORD, Esq. Secretary of the Treasury. Bank of the United States, February 24th, 1818. SIR: I have the honor to submit the enclosed extracts of letters from the Cashier of the Office of Discount and Deposite at Boston, which may serve to convey some idea of the means employed to extract the specie from this institution, not only by individuals, for the purpose of foreign trade, to which we must expect largely to contribute, but, by certain Eastern banks, whose discounting business being entirely subordinate to their traffic in specie. enables them to collect the notes of, and drafts on, this institution, and draw the dollars, the sale of which, from 3 to 4 per cent. premium, repeated in quick succession, is far more safe and lucrative than the tardy accumulation by discounts, at the rate of six per cent. per annum, upon precarious personal security. When the dollars are exhausted, gold is drawn and sent into Canada, there exchanged for dollars, which pass through the same process, and thus the country is drained of both gold and dollars. The precious metals will follow the current of commercial demand to its highest elevation; but, when the impulse of bank capital is superadded, the circulating coin will be condensed, and its exportation accelerated to a degree, which individual means could never effect. The evil is undoubtedly great; but, whether it is practicable to correct it, your better judgment will determine. If the banks who sell their specie, instead of circulating it, were to import what they sell, the effect would be advantageous; for, to that extent it would supply the commercial demand, and so much less would be drawn from circulation; but the reverse is the fact; they do not import; their traffic is in the circulating coin, and their capitals being always at command, they control the circulation of other institutions, whose capitals are acactively employed in the business of discounting, and extort from them their coin, the sale of which furnishes new means for repeating the operation. With reference to the subject of the enclosed extracts, permit me, Sir, to inquire, whether the instructions to the Receivers and Disbursers of public money, in the districts where the Bank of the United States and its Offices, are respectively established, to keep their de posites and accounts exclusively therein, have been issued or suspended, and respectfully to suggest the importance of that regulation, if carried into effect, in the manner you were pleased to intimate. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, Your obedient servant, The Hon. WM. H. CRAWFORD, Secretary of the Treasury. W. JONES, Pres't. Extract of a Letter from the Cushier of the Office Bank United States, at Boston, dated January 24, 1818. "I have this day paid out $78,000 in specie, $45.000 of which is destined for Montreal, in payment for Spanish dollars: $33,000 was an indirect demand for the draft of the Treasurer, in favor of John Chaffee, an agent for Government, and by him endorsed to Edmund Dwight. From the measures taken to disguise this last operation, I am inclined to think it an unfair one. Mr. Dwight, who I understand has some agency in the Geneva Bank, applied to the Cashier of a neighboring bank, for his check on the Office, in exchange for the draft, which was refused. He then had recourse to a broker, who deposited the draft with us, and drew the specie the next day, by his check for the same amount. From these circumstances, and some remarks which I am informed were made by Mr. Dwight, I conclude that this draft has been wantonly used as a weapon of annoyance to us, or to furnish bottom for the circulation of the bills of the Geneva Bank, in this neighborhood." Extract of a Letter from the Cashier of the Office of Discount and Deposite at Boston, dated February 21, 1818. "A draft of the Treasurer, in favor of Winslow Lewis, contractor, &c. for $50,000, was deposited in the Manufacturers and Mechanics' Bank, the 18th instant, and has been principally drawn for by that Bank, thus operating as a specie demand upon us. Would not the Secretary, if requested, direct the public agents in this quarter to make their deposites at the Office?" Bank of the United States, February 25, 1818. SIR: The very unequal contribution to the demand for specie which circumstances have imposed upon this Bank, has induced the |