task again, but he named a man who, he said, could bring order
out of chaos, if any living man could. That man was Alexander Hamilton.
Washington appealed to Hamilton, offering him the position of Secretary of
the Treasury. Hamilton, aged thirty-two, gave up his law practise, which
was yielding him ten thousand a year, to accept this office which paid
three thousand five hundred. Before the British cannon, Washington did not
lose heart, but to face the angry mob of creditors waving white-paper
claims made him quake; but with Hamilton's presence his courage came back.

The first thing that Hamilton decided upon was that there should be no
repudiation--no offer of compromise would be considered--every man should
be paid in full. And further than this, the general government would
assume the entire war debt of each individual State. Washington concurred
with Hamilton on these points, but he could make neither oral nor written
argument in a way that would convince others; so this task was left to
Hamilton. Hamilton appeared before Congress and explained his
plans--explained them so lucidly and with such force and precision that he
made an indelible impression. There were grumblers and complainers, but
these did not and could not reply to Hamilton, for he saw all over and
around the subject, and they saw it only at an angle. Hamilton had studied
the history of finance, and knew the financial schemes of every country.
No question of statecraft could be asked him for which he did not have a
reply ready. He knew the science of government as no other man in America
then did, and recognizing this, Congress asked him to prepare reports on
the collection of revenue, the coasting trade, the effects of a tariff,
shipbuilding, post-office extension, and also a scheme for a judicial
system. When in doubt they asked Hamilton.

And all the time Hamilton was working at this bewildering maze of detail,
he was evolving that financial policy, broad, comprehensive and minute,
which endures even to this day, even to the various forms of accounts that
are now kept at the Treasury Department at Washington.

His insistence that to preserve the credit of a nation every debt must be
paid, is an idea that no statesman now dare question. The entire aim and
intent of his policy was high, open and frank honesty. The people should
be made to feel an absolute security in their government, and this being
so, all forms of industry would prosper, "and the