, 1840-03-28
WHOLE NUMBER sac.

ator sovereign panacea Tor regulating tbs
currency Of the country, and restraining the
extravagance Of the state banks. l admit
that the true issue now before the country is
between an independent treasury and a ma.
tional bank. 'The pet bank" deposite sys.
tenn has been such an utter failure that ano-
Their resort TO it cannot be seriously contem-
plated by any considerable portion Of the
American people. | feel the utmost conf
dence ia the success Of the independent
treasury, should the law be ably and efficient.
ly executed; but, should it fail, the next ex-
pertinent will doubtless be another bank Of
the u. States. l7;-'' 10 j.
Waving, at present, the constitutional
question, on which | nave often expressed
my opinion before the senate, I propose TO
take up the senator's argument, and prove
that such a bank would not regulate the cur
rency If it could; and that even if il felt the
will TO do so, it would be entirely destitute
Of the power. f'.... F''L fi 5.1'1
Would such a tank, then, if it could, con.
troll and regulate the loans and issues of tho
state banks! In the affairs Of human life, If
you expect one agent to restrain another,
you must render their interest conflicting.
This proposition is emphatically true when
such agents are banking corporations, intent
upon declaring the largest possible dividends
among their stockholders. Now, q bank Of
the United States, so far from feeling any In
terest adverse to the state banks, would have
the very slme inducements with them to
make extravagant loans and issues. The du-
~ Of such a bank as a regulator Of the cur
terest as a banking institution. You cannot
r,.sa ,,an ,ha,n ti,a .>lSsl n,,n. 81 ShA.-
nature, by making them directors and stock
holders in a bank Of the United States
When their interest rs bankers conflicts with
their duty as regulators Of the currency, the
history Of mankind points you 10 the proba-
BILE result. Like the state banks, they will
always extend their loans and their issues,
whenever they think they can do 30 without
endanyering their own security. This is the
powerful instinct of self interest. 1t is alb
surd, then, TO expect that the president and
directors Of a bank ofthe United States will
ever become safe and efficient regulators Of
the currency, in the very face of their W
interest as stockholders. 1t would be easy
for me TO prove, from historical facts, that
neither the former nor the present bank of
the United States ever did exercise q regular
and efficient control over The issues OF the
st1,e institutions. On the contrary, whene-
yer their interest impelled them to extend
their own issues, they have pursued this
course; and thus, instead of checking, they
have given loose reins to the state banks
Both the bank of the United States and these
banks nave thus together rushed on, and,
with united forces, have ministered to that
spirit of overtrading and extravagant specu|
iation which has so often desolated our coun.
try. Time will not permit me TO do more
than refer to the vast expansion, Of this bank
IN 1917 aud 1918. in 1928, in 1891, and in
1884. These produced ruiuous contractions
and universal distress. think | may affirm,
with perfect safety, that at each Of these pc.
RODS, instead of restraining the state banks,
it took The lead. Has it ever preserved the
state banking Institutions in q sound condi-
ton ? Let Mr.. Gallatin answer this ques.
ton. He says hat one hundred and sixty
five of our banks broke between 1911 and
1880; and during the greater par, of this Pc
rod, we all know that the present Bank of
the United States was in active existence.
My great object, however, at this moment,
is to prove, from the present condition Of the
Bank of the United States, how hopeless it is
to expect that any similar institution can
ever be relied upon as a regulator Of the cur
rency. That bank still exists, if its present
condition may be called existence ; and this
is the first occasion on which ! have ever
the senator to be guilty Of uugratefui:,
ly abandoni1 g an old friend in the hour Of
calamity. Before | take my seat, I shall en-
to identify the gentleman and his
with this institution. ~They were
lovely in life, and in death they shall no, be
divided"
1t is said that the Bank Of the United
is now but a mere state institution
But is its character changed by changing the
source whence it derives its charter Is it
still the same institution that it ever
has been, with the same capital, the
directors, the same stockholders, and,
until very recently, has it not been governed
by the same controlling will Has il not
been exultingly proclaimed by its former
president. that it nov has a much better char
ter from Pennsylvania than that which it
had received from congressi This is strict
ly the truth; for such a charter as that under