Rapidly and effectively the
secretary dealt with all these matters, besides drawing up as a
voluntary suggestion a scheme for a judicial system. But in
addition to all this multiplicity of business there were other
matters like the temporary regulation of the currency, requiring
peremptory settlement. Money had to be found for the immediate and
pressing wants of the new government before any system had been or
could be adopted, and the only resources were the empty treasury
and broken credit of the old confederacy. By one ingenious
expedient or another, sometimes by pledging his own credit,
Hamilton got together what was absolutely needful, and without a
murmur conquered those petty troubles when he was elaborating and
devising a far-reaching policy. Then the whole financial machine of
the Treasury Department, and a system of accounting, demanded
instant attention. These intricate problems were solved at once,
the machine constructed, and the system of accounts devised and put
into operation; and so well were these difficult tasks performed
that they still subsist, developing and growing with the nation,
but at bottom the original arrangements of Hamilton.
Pages:
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604