Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-09-22
Answers OF the Comptroller OF the
Currency tn Questis ns IN Ketation
TO the National Currency Act.

Most Of the questions presented TO the Comp
trOller in regard to the national curredcy act. |
have been answered in the forms an1 instructions
which have been sent from this Office. and by !
letters To the nterrogatOrs. There are few. !
however. that be more conveniently and
satisfactorily answered in this form than IN any
other.
LIST Question. Il there any reasonable doubt"
Of the ronstiiutionality Of this acti
Ansnsr. The constitutionality Of the act Of
Congress establishing. in time of peace. United
States Bank. with power 10 locate in the States.
branches thereof. having been affrmatively de
cided BY the Supreme Court of the United
States. the constituionality of the national cur
rency act is not considered to be an open ques-
ton.
In ordinary times the constitutonality OF this
act would hardly be questioned: but in the exist
ing emergency Of the Government, engaged, as
it H. in war Of gigantic proportons-with specie
no longer a circulating medium-with a large
internal revenue to be collected in the States and
Territories such currency IA is provided for in
this act is an alb olute necessity To denv 10 the
Government. through such agencies as Congress
might create. the power to provide currency
based upon its own resources. would he not only
to deny its sovereignty hut its authority to per
firm properly and safely its acknowledged func
tions.
banks TO gain by disseminating their present
organizations. and organizing under the national
law?
Apsrer. The chief gain will be in a circulation
Of notes which can not long he secured through
the agency of State institutions. Legal tender
notes have created n taste and prepared the wav
fora national bank note circulation These note,
in all sections of the country. have a better credit
and are in greater demand than the notes of the
D. be kop nj tbc,a ID
ing the largenes- Of the issue. find it difficult to
supply the call for them. and are frequent under
the necessity of ordering them. at considerable
expense, from commercial points, 10 meet the
demand that will not be satisfied with ANYTHING
else The preference for these notes il not
chiefly to be attributed TO the fact that they
illegal tender" but to the fact that they are
GOUerpmsnt moBsy. and must he good If The
Government is good ! do not saw that their
general credit is not in measure. owing to the
fact that they declared he law ful money!"
or that il was not necessary To make them So 10
place them beyond the influences that might at
the time. have been combined 70 depreciate them;
Int do say. that the people who control the
currency. they do the legislation of the coun
try. prefer legal tenders to bank notes. because
they are Government issues, are receivable for
Government dues. and must. every dollar of
them. be redeemed, if the Government is main
tanned.
The national hank note circulation is intended
gradually to take the place Of the direct issues of
the Government. II il not expected that they
will. NJ once, have the credit that has been
attained bv the illegal tenders" nor that the
notes Of the National Associations scattered
from Mime to California, will he of uniform value
throughout the Union; hut il is expected that
these notes. sustain nv the credit and secured
nv the resources of the nation, receivable for all
Ito md in,
may ment Of all claims against the Government.
and in case of the failure Of the banks, To be
redeemed At the Treasury Of the United States.
will challenge ~ n greater degree. the public
confidence and possess more uniformity Of value
than can he attained by the issues of the hest
managed Safe institutions. | will go further
than this: through the nstrumentalitv of clearing
houses. or redeeming agencies. which in due
time. NAV become necessary feature of the
tenn, the notes of the national banks. wherever
situated. will he rs nearly of uniform value
q roughout the Union the commercial inter
eats of the country will require
There will not be, in my Judgment for any
consider bile time. two systems of corporate bank
ing zone State and the other n,tiOnal) in the
United States: not that there ia a necessary
anta gonism between the two systems but because
both will not be equally acceptable to the people
ard equally profitable to the banker One or the
other will fully occupy the field: and, aside from
the manner in which the national system ia being
regarded bv the people. and the rapidty with
which National Associations are being formed II
requires M spirit If prophecy TO predict ,rhich of
the f,cO is destined to gire ray The losses which
the people have sustained by bank failures; the
inadequate protection which State legislation
with rare exceptions has given TO the bill hold
ers; the fact that the good credit of the issues Of
the strongest and best conducted State banks.
outside OF the States, or the section where thew
exist, is not the result of public confidence in
their solvencv, but of the influence of bankers
and money dealers. who can as easily depress
that credit as they can sustain H. and who do not
unfrequently depress or sustain il. suits their
own interests or convenience alone; that all the
credit that State banks have at distance from
home. is artificial aud unreliable: all these things
have given rise 10 widespread dissatisfaction
with the existing bank note circulation. and
ated popular desire for a circulation, of whose
solvency there can be no question. and whose
credit will not be at the mercy of bank note
brokers
The Government of the United States il not
10 he overthrow by the attempted secession Of
the Southern States. and the war in which it ia
engaged. On the contrary. it will he vastlv
strengthened ay the severe ordeal to which IL j.
being uhiected-strengthene bv the evidence
which is every day being exhibited. of its inherent
power. and the conviction that ia constantly
spreading and deepening in the minds of the
people. that their personal de>tinies identified
with it-strenCthened 10y the very debt il is con
tracing and the evidences of value that are 10
re based upon this debt
R,nks whose issues are secured nv the Gov
eminent, md which are 10 become. IN some
extent, the financial agents OF the Government
will. in nv opinion. ere long be the only ones
that will be tolerated by the people: and if the
banks of the older aud richer States continue as
they have done. and are now 10 large extent
doing, 20 furnish the newer and less wellihy
States with a bunk note circulation, they will
have to do it through the agency of national
| banks. In svailin. themselves o. The privileges
of the national cuueucy act. for losniug their
capital and credit 10 the people of the new States
they will have the satisfaction of knowing that
while adding 10 their cwn wealth. they are
Strengthening the Government and creating a
powerful influence against reputation. by aiding
ia furnishing TO the people circulation, secured
by the stocks. aud representing the unity of the
nation
Aside from the matter OF circulation the ma.
tiOual currency act is rs favorable to bankers A.
the banking laws of most of the States. Should
il prove 10 he too stringent, il Is sale 10 expect
that ssch amendments will be made 10 il ss will
accommodate il 20 the reasonable requirements of
capitalists. and the wants of great aud growing
nation.
Question Will State banks be furnished
with the national circulation according % the
provisions of the OBJ section of the actf
Ansrer This section is ptrt OF the law. and