to seller became more and more difficult and hazardous, and even the quantity of it became inadequate, the Government began to engrave paper to be used in addition to coin. This paper money, at the beginning, was gold Certificates, bearing the usual clause: "This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America Ten Dollars in gold payable to the bearer on demand." With the additional clause: "This certificate is legal tender for all debts, both public and private." These statements were necessary because the odour of "continental currency" hung in the mental atmosphere so thickly that the people would not trust even the more stable Government of the United States. Congressman John Sherman of Ohio chairman of the Banking Committee, on the passage of the National Bank Note Act, wrote the agents of the Rothschilds in New York:
"The Congress has passed your proposed Act, and it will become popular, and the people will accept it readily because it will look so much like Treasury Certificates. Very few citizens will understand the National Bank Notes Act, but those who do will be under such necessity of enjoying the banks' favours that they will say nothing about it, and the masses will bear the burden never knowing what it is all about."