Chapter 15

PASSAGE OF THE LEGAL TENDER ACT IN 1862. My Interview with Lincoln About Ohio Appointments--Governmental Expenses Now Aggregating Nearly $2,000,000 Daily--Secretary Chase's Annual Report to Congress in December, 1861--Treasury Notes a Legal Tender in Payment of Public and Private Debts--Beneficial Results from the Passage of the Bill--The War Not a Question of Men, but of Money--Proposed Organization of National Banks--Bank Bills Not Taxed--Local Banks and Their Absorption by the Government--The 1862 Issue of $150,000,000 in "Greenbacks"--Legal Tender Act a Turning Point in Our Financial History--Compensation of Officers of the Government.