The method of independent holding of public funds as provided for by the Independent Treasury Act of 1846 was originally bottomed upon the notion that the government should accept nothing but specie and should pay out nothing but specie. It was intended to be a "hard-money" policy. This plan has proved its weakness both in time of war and in peace, the effect of it being always to draw suddenly upon the banking mechanism of the country for cash or to pour cash back as suddenly into places where such cash was not wanted. The effect was somewhat different from that of the sudden withdrawals or sudden payments under the individual bank-deposit plan, but it was even more disastrous than the former. For example, in American experience it was found that even in time of peace, when surpluses of revenue had been accumulated, the result was to make an undue reduction in the supply of money in the country, while when deficits occurred there was an undue outflow of money.