Excerpt from Report of the Secretary of the Treasury: January 10, 1863 This large increase of inte'rest-beari'ng notes affords satisfactory evidence that the issue of them was a judicious measure; and for any ordinary war, the bonds and interest notes amounting together to a monthly sale of twenty and a half millicns would have sustained the Government without any resort to paper currency. But the estimates call for more than twice the amounts furnished by these resources; and we are compelled to resort to the Treasury Notes to supply the deficiency. It becomes, then, a most important enquiry whether the issue of such notes can be continued, and, if it can, then to what extent? In a former report it' was shown that the circulation of the Confed erate States before the war might be estimated at one 11 undred millions of dollars. In the existing state of things, it is probable that a larger amount of currency is required. In time of peace, money passes rapidly from hand to hand, and the same money, in a single day, will discharge many obligations. A large portion, too, of the operations of business are performed by bills of exchange and bank checks. In the present stagnation of commerce and intercourse, larger amounts of ready money are kept on hand by each individual, and the Confederate treasury notes and call certificates are used as a Substitutes for bills and drafts to a considerable extent. If this view be just, we may venture to add as much as fifty per cent. To the usual amount of currency, and this would raise the sum total at which it might stand, to one hundred and fifty millions. The difference be tween this sum and the actual circulation will show the redundancy, The actual circulation embraces not only treasury notes but bank notes and State emissions of treasury notes. In ordinary times coin would also form a part; but, at present, not only the coin but a large portion of the bank notes have been withdrawn from circulation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.