FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



309 



Confederate Finances. When the war broke 

 out, the currency of the South was sound. 

 The mints at New Orleans, Charlotte, and 

 Dahlonega supplied a fair share of the coinage. 

 Its banks held $36,000,000 in coin, and had 

 emitted $82,000,000 of circulation. The mer- 

 chants of the section were largely indebted to 

 the North for goods sold in the usual course of 

 trade on credit, and the supplies of produce were 

 generally good. The moment that hostilities 

 commenced, discredit overtook the currency, 

 and a disposition to hoard manifested itself. 

 The currency of the suspended banks began to 



depreciate, and it was manifest that the new 

 Government would encounter great difficulty 

 in its financial movements. The debts of the 

 Southern merchants were due at the North in 

 specie, and foreseeing the depreciation in the 

 current funds, many had hoarded specie, which 

 soon disappeared almost entirely from circula- 

 tion. If all those funds were sent North in the 

 discharge of debts, estimated to reach $200,- 

 000,000, it was clear that it would greatly en- 

 hance the financial difficulty of the Confederate 

 Government at a time when, by reason of the 

 blockade, the produce of the country, that in 



