CONFEDERATE STATES. 



251 



hausted ; and the war assuming greater pro- 

 portions, on the 16th of April, 1861, a law au- 

 thorized the issue of Treasury notes, bearing 

 7/5 interest, fundable in 8 per cent. Confederate 

 bonds, and payable on demand in currency. 

 In Aug. 1861, the authority was extended to 

 the issue of notes not bearing interest, but fund- 

 able in 8 per cent. Confederate bonds. These 

 issues immediately began to affect prices and 

 cause an apparent rise in the value of gold, 

 which indeed immediately disappeared from 

 circulation, being hoarded by those who had 

 the means ; and in August, 1861, it was at 12 

 per cent, premium at Richmond. The down- 

 ward tendency in the value of the paper pro- 

 duced its usual effects. Money was apparently 

 very plenty, with an evident growing scarcity 

 of capital ; anA on the 24th of Dec. 1861, Con- 

 gress authorized the receiving of the paper 

 money on deposit, in exchange for certificates 

 bearing 6 per cent, interest. These certificates 

 were payable on demand at any time in cur- 

 rency. There were thus, at the commencement 

 of 1862, three classes of paper, the 7 T :> notes 

 fundable in 8 per cent, bonds, the currency 

 notes also fundable, and the call certificates bear- 

 ing 6 per cent. These all performed more or 

 less the functions of currency. Congress then 

 authorized an issue of $1 and $2 notes, and also 

 a limited amount of two-year notes. The pre- 

 mium on specie had now risen to 50 per cent., 

 and but a small amount of capital had been 

 really subscribed to the loans of the Govern- 

 ment. Indeed it was not to be expected, inas- 

 much as that the mass of Southern capital was 

 locked* up by the war. The great staples of 

 cotton, rice, tobacco, naval stores, lumber, corn, 

 &c., which are exported in usual years, remained 

 on hand in useless accumulation. The owners 

 would subscribe to the Government wants if 

 they could sell their produce. The subscrip- 

 tions to this loan were very ample, but when 

 the time came to realize they were found very 

 difficult to be turned into money. On April 

 21st, 1862, an act was passed by the Permanent 

 Government, which provided that the Govern- 

 ment should take the products of the field 

 and issue 8 per cent, bonds to the owners, 

 under the following form of agreement : 



In consideration of dollars, paid me in bonds 



of the Confederate States,' I , of the county and 



State aforesaid, have sold to the Confederate States of 



America, bales of cotton, marked and numbered 



as in the margin, now deposited at (naming loca- 

 tion of plantation), and I hereby agree to take good 

 care of the said cotton while on iny plantation, and to 



deliver the same, at my own expense, at (naming 



the usual shipping point), in the State of , to the 



order of the Secretary of the Treasury, or his agents, 

 or his or their assigns. 



The agreement must be endorsed by an 

 agent, who certifies to the quality, quantity, 

 weight, condition, and market value of the cot- 

 ton ; that it is under secure cover, and has been 

 marked with the name of the planter and the 

 initials of the Confederate States. 



The bonds of the Confederate States draw 



interest at 8 per cent., payable semi-annnally 

 by the Treasury agent in each State, which is 

 secured by the war tax or an export duty on 

 cotton. The purchases thus made, together with 

 the collections on the loan, at the close of the 

 year, amounted to nearly $13,000,000, and, it is 

 reported, were negotiated. The total amount 

 of subscriptions to the loan, valued in money, 

 was about twenty-five millions of dollars, of 

 which $7,631,044 were collected at an ex- 

 pense of one third of one per cent. The pur- 

 chases of cotton thus far reported by the agents 

 amount to 69,507 bales, costing $4,474,400. 

 The purchases a few months later probably 

 reached 250,000 bales. In order to dispose of 

 the cotton, two forms of certificates were de- 

 vised. By one the various parcels of cotton 

 were registered and disposed of. By the other 

 the Government obligated itself to deliver cer- 

 tain quantities at certain points at a fixed price. 

 By the advice of ministers abroad some of the 

 latter certificates, covering about 30,000 bales 

 of cotton, have been placed as an experiment 

 in the foreign market. 



Congress, on the 12th of April, 1862, author- 

 ized a loan at 8 per cent., payable in from 10 

 to 30 years, but no bonds were issued under the 

 act. The $100,000,000 loan, into which notes are 

 fundable, is also an 8 per cent, loan, and is made 

 payable in instalments, which fall due every 

 six months in eighteen years, from the 1st of 

 January, 1864. The first instalment of the prin- 

 pal of" $1,288,700 is payable 1st of January, 

 1864; the second, of $1,340,200, is payable 1st 

 of July, 1864. 



The expenditures of the Government contin- 

 ued to be met in paper money, and according to 

 the official report made to Congress on August 

 1, 1862, the revenue and expenditures up to 

 that date had been as follows since the com- 

 mencement >f the war : 



Expenditures "War department $298,376.549 41 



Xnvy department 14.605,777 86 



Civil and miscellaneous 15,766,503 43 



Total $328.748.530 70 



Outstanding requisitions 15,524,125 15 



Total expenditure, February, 1861, to 



August 1S62 $347,272,958 85 



Total receipts, Feb. 1561, to August, 1S62 302.4S2.096 60 



Deficient Treasury notes au- 

 thorized '. $16.755.165 00 



Do. to be provided 25,035,697 25 $44,790,862 25 



The receipts were derived as follows : 



Customs 



War tax 



Miscellaneous 



Loans Bonds, February, '61, 



Sper cent 



Bonds, August. '61, 8 per ct. 

 Call certificates, Dec. 1361, 



6 percent 



Treasury notes. April, 1861, 



7 3 /, per cent 



Demand notes, August, '61, 



no interest 



81 and $2 notes 



Due banks... 



$1,437.399 96 

 10,539,910 70 

 1,974.769 33 $13,952,079 99 



$15,000,000 00 

 22,613,346 61 



37,515,200 00 

 22,799,900 00 



187,130.670 00 

 846.900 00 

 2,625,000 00 283.531,016 61 



Total receipts $802,453,096 60 



The customs collected were mostly before the 



