Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-10-14
THE NATIONAL BANK QUESTION.

last nunUeT vi tiio MoHioO NoHN'tN'
THE NATIONAL BANK QUESTION.
The expediency Of a NATIONAL BANK
is a question, the whole of which must de-
pend in so great degree upon its parts,
that it can hardly be comprehended III
the abstract, except in the constitutional
view of it. Whether or not it is expe-
dent to charter National Bank, is a
question which may be very readily y and
promptly voted upon by those who be-
iieve, in the face of the law and the pro-
phets, that Congress has no power, un.,
der the Constitution, to incorporate a
Bank. But to those who harbor no such
scruples, the question is not so very easy
of solution as at first glance it appears
to be.
Whether it is expedient or not to char
ter National Bank, depends upon cir
cumstances of time, place, and manner.
1t might be deemed expedient, for in.
stance, if time were allowed to deliber-
ate upon and mature such a project, and
not expedient when Congress is on the
eve of adjournment.
1t may be expedent, when all other
experiments have failed though not ex.
pedient as an alternative to thertinanclal
schemes. [Our own opinion is, the rea.
der very well knows, that we have had
enough of experiments" )" but every
one is not of the same opinion.
1t may be expedient if the Bank be es-
tabished at Washington, and not ii else
where; if at New York, or any other
particular place: ifit be, or it be not,
connected with the existing Pennsylva-
mia Bank of the United States.
Itmay be expedient if the capital of the
Bank be forty Millions Of dollars, and
not expedient tits proposed capital be
seventy (or eighty millions; and so on
as to a variety of circumstances upon
which the eligibility and utility of a Ma
tional Bank must necessarily depend.
A proposition, then, that it is erpedi-
ent to establish National Bank (wlthout
qualifcation) is one which would find
few hearty supporters in Congress, be-
cause no member could know, with any
sort of certainty, what on earth he was
supporting by his vote.
A proposition that it is inerpedient to
charter a National Bank, though not
quite so indefinite as a general affirma-
tive, is still not free from difficulty, on the
grounds stated above; that is, it is pure
abstraction, without substance, form, or
color.
Abstract propositions ought to be es-
chewed, in general, in legislative prac-
tce, as rarely almost never) leading to
useful results. In the case before us, the
agitation at all of the question of Bank
at this session, seems to have been par,
ticularly uncalled for.
The intention Of the forcing vote up
on the negative proposition is, perhaps
to obtain recorded vote, under present
transitory circumstances, against Ma
tional Bank, to be held as sort Of bono
or security for individual votes when the
question shall come up in earnest fol
consideration at future time. 1t may
be, as was more than hinted in the depatt
in the Senate the other day, a politica
trap. If so, we fancy that the game
which the settlers of it will catch viii
hardly reward their trouble; for, we
; believe, Gin the wel-remembered phrase
of late venerable member of their 10
! dy,) that the gentlemen "will take moth
ing by their motion"
1t cannot be necessary for us to waste
words upon an argument to satisfy ou
!. sensible readers that the vote, in eithe
House of Congress, upon the question o
National Bank, under present circum
stances, commits no Senator or Repre-
sentative either for or against such
measure. What is wholly inexpedien
at the present time may be both neces
sary and proper three months hence
aye, three weeks, and who knows bu
}, three days hence; A single illustration
is sometimes worth volume Of argu
ment; aud we will bring one which tn
friends Of the Administration at leas
must admit to be both applicable and un
!. answerable. Here it IS:
i In the month Of May last, and on tn