2. The geographic distribution and

2. The geographic distribution and ownership of the public securities. Fortunately the unpublished and unworked records of the Treasury Department at Washington throw great light on this fundamental problem. Shortly after the federal government was established the old debt was converted into a new consolidated, or funded, debt; and holders of public securities, state and continental, brought their papers to their local loan office (one for each state) or to the Treasury to have them recorded and transformed into the stocks of the new government .