To Thomas Jefferson from Albert Gallatin, 30 November 1803
From Albert Gallatin
[30 Nov. 1803]
Dear Sir
I enclose my intended1 answer to the Comee. of W. & Means, respecting the intended suppression of the offices of Comrs. of loans. Will you have the goodness to examine it & communicate your remarks?
There is but one observation, not inserted in the answer, which may deserve consideration. There are near 5000 Stockholders in Massachussets, and a considerable number in some other States. As the suppression of the loan offices will lay them under the necessity of having transfers effected only at Washington; although the inconvenience may not substantially be great, it is difficult to calculate how far it may be magnified by party & used as an engine to enlist under its banners the whole of that body. It is indeed possible that, by raising a clamour, stockjobbers should produce an artificial depression in the price of stock.
With sincere respect & attachment Your obedt. Servt.
Albert Gallatin
RC (DLC); undated; addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 30 Nov. and “Commrs. of loans” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Gallatin to John Randolph, chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, 28 Nov. 1803, submitting “facts and observations respecting the practicability and expediency of discontinuing the Office of Commissioner of Loans in the different states, and of transferring the duties” to the Treasury Department; Gallatin reviews the procedures established by the 4 Aug. 1790 “Act making provision for the debt of the United States” that calls for the appointment of a commissioner of loans in each of the 13 states to oversee the payment of the domestic debt owned by stockholders; the register of the Treasury and the commissioners keep the books and dispense quarterly payments; Gallatin notes that if the state offices were closed, arrangements would be made to ensure that stockholders continue to receive dividends at a branch of the Bank of the United States, in banks incorporated by the states, or, in the case of New Jersey and North Carolina, through a designated federal officer in the state; transfer and sale of stock, however, would necessarily take place at the Treasury Department, with the stockholder giving a person in Washington the power of attorney to execute the sale; Gallatin gives assurances that the transfer could be done by a public officer “without any expence to the parties”; except for that inconvience, Gallatin informs the committee, the “proposed arrangement is practicable”; by concentrating all the transfers, accounts, and payments relative to the public debt in the Treasury Department, there will be less “danger of fraud or delinquency” and the suppression of offices will save $20,000 per year; two annexed statements, signed by Joseph Nourse, Register’s Office, 30 Nov., indicate the amount of domestic debt on the books of the loan commissioners and at the Treasury as of 30 June and the amount of the debt owned by “foreigners, by states, by banks and other incorporations,” and by individuals residing in the United States (Report of the Committee of Ways and Means, to Whom was Referred, on the Seventeenth Ultimo, a Motion, Relative to the Expediency of Discontinuing the Office of Commissioner of Loans [Washington, D.C., 1803], 6-14; National Intelligencer, 16 Dec. 1803).
suppression of the offices: on 17 Nov., John Wayles Eppes introduced a resolution in the House “to discontinue the office of Commissioner of loans in the different states, and to transfer the duties of that officer to the Secretary of the Treasury,” with an allowance for additional clerks. The motion was immediately referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and on 19 Nov., John Randolph requested that Gallatin lay before the committee “such information, touching the practicability and expediency” of carrying the resolution into effect. On 8 Dec., the committee submitted its report with a resolution that it was “inexpedient” to discontinue the office. The committee argued that under the act of 4 Aug. 1790, the office of commissioner of loans “may be considered as a part of the contract between the public and its creditors.” On 14 Dec., the House agreed with the committee, by a 58 to 53 vote (, 4:448, 481, 486-8; , 13:562).
1. Word interlined.