US Presidency
1832

They are the certain gains of the present stockholders under the operation of this act, after making full allowance for the payment of the bonus. Every monopoly and all exclusive privileges are granted at the expense of the public, which ought to receive a fair equivalent. The many millions which this act proposes to bestow on the stockholders of the existing bank must come directly or indirectly out of the earnings of the American people. It is due to them, therefore, if their Government sell monopolies and exclusive privileges, that they should at least exact for them as much as they are worth in open market. The value of the monopoly in this case may be correctly ascertained. The twenty-eight millions of stock would probably be at an advance of 50 per cent, and command in market at least $ 42,000,000, subject to the payment of the present bonus. The present value of the monopoly, therefore, is $ 17,000,000, and this the act proposes to sell for three millions, payable in fifteen annual installments of $ 200,000 each.