Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1845-06-14

when mas oeialien us as nation, or any OF us as
individuals, is to be attributed to National BANK;
for during thai period no National Bank has
existed
1t has been said that the bank had sustained great
and ruinous losses previous to legal DEATH which
losses were not developed until long afterwards !;
but OF this satisfactory proof has been adduced,
and there is very strong evidence to the contrary.
special agent of the Treasury Department made
an examination of the affairs of the bank i'm 1892,
and reported that the I'd November in that year
the stock was, after all obligations were paid worth
more than twenty per cent. above par.
On the I'd of January, 1888, committee of the
bank reported its value at twenty-three per cent.
above par
On the Sd Of March, 1896, when the charter ex-
PRED, the estimated value of the stock, after every
allowance icos made for contingencies, was $780,
0l5,l30 SO, or $lll At per cent. This is surely
no bad comment on the mode III which the affairs
of the bank had been conducted, particularly when
it is remembered that the stockholders had received
since July, 1925 half-yearly dividends of three and
half per cent. II is difficult to imagine more I'M
equvocal proofs of good management than these
results exhibit.
In March, 1897, the managers of the defunct
bank concluded an arrangement with the Govern
ment by which the stock held by the United States
to be paid for at the rate of BIS SO per cent
Thus the Government received more than fifteen
per cent above its subscription, and seven per cent
interest for its money during several years of its
investment
The other stockholders had the option of receiv-
ing immediate payment for their stock, by dispos-
ing of it at the current prices, or OF transferring it TO
new bank established under the authority of the
State of Pennsylvania.
Thus the Bank of the United States fulfilled every
nd lxy ,,bI,
CATION. Those who entrusted their property to its
direction received ample interest whilst was en-
poyed, and when at the fiat of President JACKSON,
the bank ceased to exist, il paid every debt and
funded to the stockholders their respective shares
of capital with Is per cent. advance. "No widow
suffered no orphan lost by it. Nothing can be
more preposterous than such an idea, when it is
: recollected that all the stockholders might have
received if they pleased their entire orignalstoc
not only at par Ualue, but at large Advance"
The Government absolutely did SO, and the Gov
eminent had no power that every individual did
not possess and purchaser could have been found
then, and for three years afterwards, by any one
DESTROYS TO sell, at any moment, and at advanced
rates"
So much for the history of the establishment and
the winding up of the National Bank of the United
States.
When it became evident that the Bank of the
United States would not be rechartered, plan was
suggested to invest such part of the capital of the
Government bank stockholders might be willing
to transfer into new bank, to be established under
the authority of the State of Pennsylvania the CAPT.
tai TO be made up to thirty five millions by addition
al subscriptions. The arrangements, machinery,
and officers of the Government bank were 10 be
adopted and retained, and also its name from which
latter circumstance much mischievous confusion has
arisen.
1t is no part Of our present purpose TO go into the
history of this new Bank of the United States, which
was altogether and entirely State bank, without
any one characteristic of nationality about it ex-
cepting its name. We shall not enter into the
merits or defend the course of the State bank That
it has signally failed there is no doubt. That the
national institution of the same name equally sig
naly prospered, there is also no doubt. Reasons
for these different results might be easily found.
The question we are endeavoring to answer is not
whether one party in our country has been favora-
bic to National Bank, or whether another party
has been opposed to such an institution! Ii is not
whether bank established by the Government is
constitutional or not or whether it be necessary or
not! But it is, did the late Bank of the United
States faithfully and honoraby discharge Its obga-
tons and pay its creditors Did they who con-
fded I'M lose their money, or they prnctual-
~ Iepdlu! Anu TIE sudl9utOFWdTu anu ulrtCt re-
ply to these questions is: the bank did ftaLfl i'll
the spirit and to the letter, every engagement and
satisfied every obligation. No one rho trusted IL
lost dollar byt. On the contrary, it paid an ex-
ceent dividend TO its stockholders whilst il in
existence, and il divided among them bonus of
more than fifteen per cent. when its charter erm-
mated 1t may truly be said of it " that it lived in
usefulness and expired in credit
Seeing the facilities for imposition afforded by the
similarity of the names borne by International bank
and by the State institution which succeeded it, we do
not wonder that they have been made use Of by
huckstering and unprincipled politicians, by that
class Of men, unfortunately too numerous in all
countries, whose maxim is that all is fair IN poll
tics and the leading article of whose creed is, that
The end justifes the means. But we must admit
that we have been surprised, and have felt the cha
racter Of the nation outraged and insulted when
have found men in the highest stations of the Re-
public as we have found them, joining in the ca
luminous misrepresentation.
AGRICULTURAL.
ELEcTRIcITr AND AsRIcULTunE.-We not surprised