26TH CONG....1ST SESS. Independent Treasury-Mr. Parrish. HO. OF REPS. whether a national bank or a State bank, or neith-jections urged against it. And first, the one which cers (to receive and pay out the public money) Table showing the amount of money received and paid out during each presidential term, and including three years of Mr. Van Buren's administration, exclusive of public debt; the amount lost by receiving and disbursing officers during each term, including three years of Mr. Van Buren's administration; the average number each year of officers employed in receiving and paying out during each term; the average number each year of defaulting officers who received and paid out during each term, and the aggregate ratio of loss per $100 to the aggregate received and paid out during each term, and including three years of Mr. Van Buren's term. I have not been able to show the number of officers employed in receiving and paying out the public money, nor the number who have been defaulters since Mr. Van Buren's administration commenced. But by this table it appears that, although one of the largest defalcations has occurred through a receiving officer since 1836 that has probably occurred since the organization of the Government, yet the amount lost in this instance, compared to the whole amount received and paid out, is less than in any other period of the same time from 1804 up to 1828. It shows that in every Administration these officers have been employed; that their numbers have increased as the amount of money received and paid out increased, and that losses have been sustained through them; and it also shows that the number of receiving and disbursing officers employed, the number of defaulters, and the amounts lost to the Government by them, was as great, and even greater, while the Bank of the United States kept the public money, than at any other period, except during the last war with England, when the amount received and paid out required a greater number of disbursing officers than before or since. The same reason has existed during the present Administration (in the Florida war) to increase the number of this class of officers; yet it is said, and I believe truly, that no officer appointed by President Van Buren has defaulted. He who failed to the largest amount (Mr. Swartwout) was appointed collector during the existence of the United States Bank, and some two or three years before the deposits were removed. It then being the fact that this Government, like all others, has been and is compelled, whether in connection with banks or not, to have officers who receive and officers who pay out the public money, is it not unfair to charge failures which have occurred through these officers to the proposed system which has not yet become a law? Is it not disingenuous thus to attempt to prejudice and defeat the present bill? All that is said upon the subject by the Opposition is wide of the question and character of depositaries, or officers who merely keep the public money from the time it is received until paid out. There has been no practice in this Government that approaches so near to this point, and that so fairly illustrates the keeping of the public money by an officer of the Government selected from among the people as a mere depositary, distinct from the character of one who receives, or one who pays out, as that of the treasurer of the Mint of the United States and its branches. This practice or experiment is favorable to the system proposed by the bill. The following table, prepared from authentic documents, exhibits the extent of the depositary with these officers: Every Opposition speaker brings in this as an objection. Now, it has no existence except in the excited brain of an alarmist; and there is less probability, or even possibility, that it should grow up from this measure than from the power heretofore vested in the President over the deposits and in receiving the paper of the banks for public dues. But what has been the course of this party heretofore, when high responsible powers, intimately connected with the sword and purse of the country, were intrusted to the President? When difficulty was expected with England, from the northeast boundary question, March 2, 1839, a law was passed, which continued in force sixty days after the meeting of the present session of Congress. By this law power was given to the President virtually to declare war with England, and placed at his command and under his exclusive control the whole Army, Navy, and militia of the United States, and authorized him, in addition to these, to accept fifty thousand volunteers if he deemed them necessary. It also gave him the Treasury of the Government to raise $10,000,000 by any means whatever, so that the interest should not exceed five per cent. and be redeemable after five years. This was uniting the power to declare war with the Treasury and the military force of the country in the same person, and approached as near to union of sword and purse as can well be conceived in this Government. Where were these objectors when that law was passed? The first, the greatest, and the most of them were in this House and the Senate, where they are at present; and by reference to the House Journal, page 688, it will be found that but six of the whole number voted against that law, the others voting in its favor. And by reference to the Senate Journal, page 330, it will be found that not even one opposed it there. In the House the vote was 197 for, and 6 against, this power; in the Senate 41 in favor, and none against it. Here these objectors, who now are so much alarmed at what does not exist, were willing to place upon the records of Congress, to go down to posterity, the evidence of their confidence that the President would abuse no power, however high, delicate, or dangerous, that was intrusted to him. This declaration upon the Journals was made at the very time this measure now under discussion was before Congress and the country, and when the same alarm had been sounded against it. Now, which should weigh most with the committee and the country, the opinion thus voted under the solemnity of an oath, or the declama Coinage of the Mint of the United States at Philadelphia, tion in speeches? The first I should take to be from 1795 to 1840. Total in forty-seven years.. ....... .$26,100,782 50 53,119,571 90 890,904 19 .$80,109,258 59 true, and the latter for effect; and both together as a fair specimen of the kind of opposition made to the bill. Another objection is that the bill establishes a national bank. This is a strange one coming from the quarter it does; for the idols of the Opposition are banks. None, I believe, however, except the gentleman from Massachusetts, have attempted to point out in what part of the bill this bank feature is to be found. He attempted to locate it in the tenth and eleventh sections relating to deposits, drafts, and receipts. The attempt was rather unfavorable for one of his abilities, and served to convince, as a careful examination of those and the other sections will, that no such thing exists. If it does, then every person who deposits his money in his own drawer or gives a receipt for what is due him is a banker. By this it appears that during the period of forty-seven years, the sum of $80,109,258 59, equal to one sixteenth part of all the money received and paid out by the Government for the same time, has been under keeping of the treasurer of the Mint; and averaging each year the sum of $1,704,452 31. This amount has passed through the hands of the treasurer without any defalcation. With this experience, will it be pre- || tended that, from among the mass of American citizens, persons cannot be found honest and capable to take charge of and safely keep the revenue of the Government from the time it is received until paid out? Or that these men are not as honest and as capable as bankers and bank officers, such as cashiers, clerks, and tellers? It seems to me a negative would amount to bold assertion. These, then, are the persons who, byclusively with Congress by the bill. But the se this act, are to have the immediate charge and keeping of the public money from the time it is received until paid out, instead of placing it in banks. The details necessary to carry out these principles I will briefly consider in answering objections to the system. Having examined the principles of the bill, I now proceed to notice some of the prominent ob Another objection is the power of transferring and paying by drafts. I have shown that the power over the kinds of funds to be received, and the place of keeping them, is taken from the President and officers of his appointing and placed xof drafts is indispensable, and has always existed and been exercised, whether one bank or many or none were used. And I was the more surprised to hear this objection made by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. CUSHING,] who is so very intelligent on all subjects. When the Bank of the United States kept the public money, (as I have shown,) you had disbursing officers, and a creditor of the Government could not go to furnishes one kind of money for them and an- Another objection to the bill is that it will make Another objection is, that by exacting the revenue to be paid in specie, the revenues will be reduced. There is nothing more in this objection than in the others, except it tends to the adjustment of the revenues before 1842. Let it be remembered that at present more than one half of the imported articles which come from other countries into this pay no duties; of these many are articles of luxury, of which the farmer and laborer do not partake so bountifully as others. into circulation what was received from the Gov- Another objection is, that the system will lock HO. OF REPS. out of the country through commercial operations. This is incorrect. But in connection with the compromise act, after 1842, it will produce precisely the reverse. The credit heretofore allowed to importers, which ends in 1842, and allowing them, when they did pay, to do it in paper, tended greatly to increase the excess of imports. The importer need not make provision for paying his duties, but ordinarily could sell and raise his pay before the credit on his bonds expired, pay his duties in such paper as he received, and balance his account with specie or other funds for a foreign market. Thus the importer could raise his means in this country from his goods, whether he was a citizen or a foreigner, and the facility of doing this depended entirely on the amount of paper circulation. After paying his duties in such paper as he received, the balance could be converted into specie to carry with him, if a foreigner, or unto something equally good; and if a citizen, to remit to the port from which he shipped. Every dollar thus sent away took away so much basis of the paper circulation; and if the banks had in circulation three dollars of paper for one dollar in specie in their vaults, every dollar taken away in specie reduced the paper circulation three This is like all other objections when exposed. dollars; because, when the specie basis was reThe whole amount which passes through the Gov- moved, the paper had nothing on which to rest, ernment is estimated this year at less than twenty- and must necessarily be called in. When this eight million dollars. This is received and dis-operation was going on it affected the country, bursed quarterly, and only one fourth of the sum is required every ninety days, which is $7,000,000; and if nothing was going out until the end of the quarter, it would be ninety days in gathering, and at the end of that time be thrown out into circulation again. But the fact is, that the money is as constantly going out as it is coming in, and cannot be kept from circulation even for ninety days, and certainly no longer; if any amount, certainly not more than $5,000,000, can at any one time accumulate. And is this to outweigh the much greater objection there should be to giving the public money to be used by individuals for their own advantage; or is it as dangerous to liberty as the principle of taxing three fourths for the benefit of one fourth? Again, how does this objection comport with the practice of the banks that now have and keep locked up from circulation more than one third of all the specie in the country? The tendency of the objection, like every other, is evident, as well as its futility. Another objection is, that the public money will not be secured by this system. This is an assertion without proof, for it has been admitted by Opposition gentlemen on this floor, upon other occasions, and is what all know, that the insecurity does not arise while the money is in the Treasury, but when it is coming in and going out-in being received and disbursed. That you cannot dispense with officers in these operations, I have shown; and have we greater insecurity from them than if the money was kept in banks? It will not be pretended that officers selected from among the American people may not, and will not, be found as honest and as capable to keep the public money in the same kind of vaults and safes, as banks and their officers, such as cashiers, clerks, and tellers. Aside from the experience which the country has had from suspensions, by reference to the table giving the number of banks, &c., it will appear that from the commencement of the Government, of the whole number of banks, there have been failures, beside suspensions, of one for every seven and a half of their number-among these, the Bank of the United States, in 1819 and 1820 and in 1839, being as miserable as any other. Now, I inquire, whether the same proportion in numbers of any other class of institutes or persons, whether merchants, mechanics, farmers, or professional men, have failed? An examination, I believe, will show that the entire failures among the banks have been greater in proportion to their numbers than of any other interest, pursuit, or class of persons, and shows that the public money, Some of those articles should pay duty for the purpose of protecting, so far as protection arises from equal taxation, similar articles the growth or manufacture of this country, among which are silks. The taxing system, since 1816, has been unequal, and has fallen heaviest on the day laborer and farmer, for whom these objectors all at once affect so much sympathy. After the 30th June, 1842, by the compromise act, the taxation will be reduced and equalized; the whole system of the revenue law will be reorganized. In this revis-especially with the experience of the suspension ion of the laws duties can be so laid as to operate equally on all and raise enough for the purposes of the Government, and no more, and thereby return to the system adopted from 1789 to 1816. Another objection is, that the bill enables of fice-holders to receive gold and silver; and this of 1837, is not more safe with banks than with other Another objection is, that it will force the specie as in the last three months of 1839, when there was drawn from this to foreign countries upward of four million dollars, which was so much specie basis, and in the condition of the paper circulation in this country, compelled the banks to contract at least $12,000,000, or inany of them fail. Under the operation of this system, after 1843, the importer will have to provide his duties in specie, before he lands his goods. If a foreigner, he will do this in the country from which he comes; if a citizen, he will do it here; but, in either event, the amount of imports will be regulated by the specie basis of the country of each resident, and not by the paper circulation of this; thus, more than any and all other causes together, preventing excessive imports or fluctuations in this country from commercial operations. The last objection which I shall notice is, that this measure is a war upon the banks, destructive to credit, and prostrates commerce, manufactures, agriculture, and labor. This has been much relied upon by the Opposition, and especially by the gentleman from Massachusetts. The objection is got up and urged by assuming before the committee and the country that the day laborer, the farmer, and the agriculturist, each depend upon manufactures and commerce; that these last are intimately connected with and rely upon banks and bank credit; that these institutions and their means to afford this credit rest in allowing them a connection and influence with the Government, through the use of its money, in depositing with them or receiving their bills. It presents the relation in which the Opposition in this House, and their leaders throughout the country, place the different classes of interests and people in the United States, and the principles of that party. When analyzed it amounts to what was asserted by the gentleman from Massachusetts, that the great paramount interests in this country are commerce and manufactures, and makes the banks the grand lever which, by the power derived from the use of the public money, moves everything else; withhold this use and all is prostrate and lifeless. The error of the objection is in the assumption on which it rests. It is not true that either commerce or manufactures are the paramount interests of this country, or that their true prosperity depends upon the modern system of bank circulation. Where are our day laborers, mechanics, and artisans? Are they not found in the great importing cities, the towns and villages, upon the public works, on every hill, and in every valley of this fertile and variegated land? And are not these in every country, but more especially in this, they whose productive labor is the nation's wealth? Where are the hardy fishermen upon your rivers and along your coasts, who draw subsistence for themselves and thousands of the human family from the watery element? Where are your woodsmen of the northern and eastern States, that furnish materials for 26TH CONG.... 1ST SESS. your Navy, and for export, from the forests? Where is the provision-growing interest in the great valley of the Mississippi, which supplies the deficiencies in all other sections of the Union, besides other portions of the world, with the staff of life? Where is the agricultural interest proper, which, in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, produce tobacco, and, in the more southern States, vast quantities of cotton which go abroad to equalize and pay the balance of your imports? Without the culture of cotton and tobacco you would have nothing, comparatively, to pay or exchange abroad, and your ships remain useless, and your sailors unemployed. Without the provision growers in all sections of the Union, the people would go unfed; and the gold and silver which come from South America and the West Indies, in return for exports of flour, beef, and pork, from western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, would cease to find their way to the importing cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, there to constitute, as they now do, the basis of bank issues and of true commercial credit. And without the laboring classes spread over the Union, the importer and manufacturer would have no consumer of their goods, and no source which to receive their from profits. time. Independent Treasury-Mr. Parrish. ume upon volume has been called for, to show the For the purpose of showing the increased taxa- and manufacturers: of the United States for ten years, commencing with the tariff of 1823, and ending 1838; also bank profits for the same Table showing the annual exports of the agricultural, provision-growing, manufacturing, lumbering, and fishing interests 5555555 &c. commerce, bankers Sheetings... Cotton. 27 12 pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. pr ct. 114 125 15 27 121 15 271 62 12} 15 27층 125112 100871 each tariff since the organization of the Government, and extended to 1842. Table showing the per cent. of duty upon the import value or manufactured cost of certain articles in general use, under ports of the Secretary of the Treasury, shows the 2277E2E KANERYR relative interests in this country, so far as exports and bank profits arising from loans and discounts are concerned. On examination I think it will be clearly shown, that although the bankers, who are made the pivot in this theory, are growing rich by the millions upon millions annually drawn from the people, yet neither they, nor commerce, nor manufactures, are, or should be, the first interest, either in point of numbers or importance in this country. But, of all others, the laboring and producing classes are, and will be, the greatest. What has been the legislation which this theory has given rise to? More than three fourths of the action of Congress has been incident to, and a large portion for, it exclusively. On the other hand, where is the legislation for the day laborer? Whilst vol $69 HO. OF REPS. years of the Government. It also shows how The duty under the act of 1816 Add carriage, &c., at 4 per cent. on cost........ 4 The average cost to the consumer being, as you have seen, 17 cents. These profits are low, and lower than a majority do business at; and yet all perceive that none of these persons lose anything by the duty but the last who buys for use. On the contrary, each has the same profit on the duty as on the origi nal value of the article. The importer has more. If he manufactures or buys the article abroad, and no duty be charged, he would have his profi of ten per cent. on the cost, (six cents,) and carriage (fourth of a cent) only; but by charging the credit, from four to twelve months, without interduty (three fourths of a cent) on which he has est, he gets his profit of ten per cent. on it, just as he does on the original cost and carriage, and this without risk or investment. It is still more advantageous to the home manufacturer, for he pays neither tax nor duty, and yet he sells at the same price, or higher than the importer. Remember, the argument in favor of the duty is to prevent our manufacturer from being undersold. What difference do these duties make in the price of articles purchased and used by the consumer? The answer is found in the following examination: Under the act of 1828, levying duties, take a yard of calico, or check, which is worth 8 cents, and it costs the wearer 231 cents, of which there goes into the Treasury, 52 cents; one yard of flannel, worth 15 cents, costs the wearer 50 cents, of which there goes into the Treasury 17 cents; one yard of cloth, worth $1 25, costs the wearer $3 214, of which there goes into the Treasury 75 cents. Now, suppose a laborer, mechanic, or farmer, from his hard earnings in one year, purchase the annexed quantity of goods, he would pay the following rates and tax: 6 yds cotton, at 174c., costs $1 033, Treasury receives 26c. "calico, at 234 been in 9 631 $13.56 7 26TH CONG....1ST SESS. By the above table and calculations we see how this splendid system of indirect taxation operates under the existing laws. By it the consumer pays a tax into the Treasury of $3 37, and to merchants and officers through whose hands the goods and money pass, the sum of $1 561; and for the same articles which, without this system, he could and should, if his interests were as much regarded as some others, buy for about $8 634, he is now compelled to pay $13 56. Now, I ask if there is a day laborer, mechanic, or farmer, throughout this whole country, who does not, either for himself or family, if he has one, in the course of one year purchase cotton, calico, flannel, cloth, and such kind of articles, to the amount of $13 56, or more? There is not, I believe; and the majority purchase twice this amount. Here, then, is the whole taxing process by which the public money in this country is raised; and this system, that falls so heavily, and almost exclusively, on the laboring and producing · classes, is increased from year to year, under the plausibie pretext of protecting manufactures and encouraging commerce, until this year the whole sum estimated to be drawn from the people is $15,000,000; and to make credit for these interests which are to be protected by this system, the money thus drawn from the people is to be given to banks, out of which to make what they can. Suppose Congress was to pass a law expressly requiring every laborer, farmer, or other person, who bought cotton, calico, flannel, or cloth, to Independent Treasury-Mr. Parrish. the amount of $8 50 in one year, to pay to the merchant or storekeeper $1 561, and an additional tax into the Treasury of the United States of $3 37 for the use of the Government, and for protecting manufactures; that the money thus paid, amounting in all to the whole revenues of the country, should be given to the banks to use for their profit, under pretense of affording credit and facility to commerce; would not the American people complain, and would they submit to such a system? It seems to me they would require its repeal. Yet the system, as it has been carried on since 1816, is as effectually so as if such a law was enacted and enforced. I therefore appeal to the candor of all whether it is not a taxation of more than three fourths of the American people, for the benefit of less than one fourth; and if it is not rank injustice, which, if persevered in, must lead to oppression or to resistance. But this system has failed to protect the manufacturing interest of the country. The American people have acquiesced in the different tariffs, and purchased their goods, on which they have paid their taxes to the General Government in the manner I have shown, with a patriotic spirit and belief that those tariffs were preventing the country from being inundated with British goods, and would enable the American manufacturer to sell at such rates as to prevent his being undersold and broken down by the importer of English fabrics. Such, however, has not been the fact, as will appear from the following table: This table is from facts reported to Congress, and tells more truths than any theory can. It is the experience of the past by which is shown that under each protective tariff there was a much larger amount of goods imported from abroad, and consumed in the country, than all its products which were exported or sent out. It also shows that the higher the tariff was raised the greater was the excess of imports over exports, and the more the country was getting in debt. The balance in twenty-one years amounts to upwards of $288,000,000; and more than one half of this accrued under the last protective tariff, and within five years. Add to this the excess of specie imported over what was exported from 1825 to 1838, and deduct from the whole excess the reasonable profit for carrying in American vessels, and the balance against the country now unpaid will be found about equal to all the debts of the States. Now, who pays this balance? It must come from the earnings of the laboring classes. The following brief considerations show why the system has so operated. First, the facility of paying for foreign goods, and effecting exchanges abroad through the State stocks in connection with the Bank of the United States, as hereafter shown. Secondly, the credit which has been given to importers for heir duties. This credit part of the system has superseded all other restraints laid upon importations, and has been equally disastrous to the Treasury. Through it From this it appears that the losses to the Government on bonds taken for duties have been three times as great as by defaulting officers, and four fifths as great as those sustained through banks. A third reason why the system has so signally failed, arises from the profit which the importer made on the duty charged, in connection with the credit allowed him and the facility of paying in paper currency, as before shown. And a fourth reason arose from the inflation of the paper circulation of the country. These considerations, I think, show.this objection, like most others, bet HO. OF REPS. ter calculated to mislead than to enlighten. And I think I have also shown which is, and must continue to be, the important interest in this country, and that the system of high tariffs which has so signally failed to protect the country against excessive importations, has tended to such heavy and unequal taxation, that it should not be renewed; and that the paper circulation, as used in this country, has not and cannot, even by giving to the banks the use of the public money, benefit the true commercial and manufacturing interests of the country. In doing so, I desire to be understood distinctly as not opposing the interests of any section of this country; but, on the contrary, as desiring the prosperity of all. But I oppose a system which leads to unequal legislation and oppressive taxation. In the bill now under consideration I see a preventative to such consequences by a system of fiscal operations provided for the Government. I see in it no war upon banks or bankers, but a simple resistance to their encroachments upon the rights of the laboring and producing classes, and a separation of those modern money-making institutions from the Government, and leaving them without any unjust advantages to the use of their capital for true commercial and manufacturing purposes. Having examined the principles of the bill under consideration, and the most prominent objections urged against it, I propose now briefly to examine the antagonist system-a bank of the United States. There now remains no doubt that the Opposition party of this House and their leaders throughout the country are in favor of, and will, if they can, defeat the present Administration, and recharter another bank similar to those heretofore tried. Each member has for himself so avowed, and has entered into an examination of the merits of such an institution in opposition to the present bill. I shall not, however, now trouble the committee with any examination as to the constitutionality of such an institution, but confine myself to its expediency only. When the names of great and venerated men, such as Washington and Madison, are introduced as authority in favor of such an institution, I desire the committee, and through them the American people, to consider the circumstances under which these great and good men acted. In 1791, under the present Constitution, this Government had a national debt of $75,463,476, which had been incurred in that arduous and protracted struggle of the Revolution, which resulted so gloriously in our independence. This debt had to be provided for. Embarrassment and distress met the infant Government at its very inception, and taxed the ingenuity and patriotism of those who had persevered in the mighty conflict, and were still determined to struggle into greater political existence. Of these, no man had felt or suffered more than General Washington, and none more fervently desired to see the new-born Constitution rise and live above the difficulties that had brought it into existence. The resources of the country were restricted, and the process of raising money for relief, by sales of the public lands, with the majority, was deemed too slow, and a national bank, in principle similar to the Bank of England, was the resort. On the 25th of February, 1791, General Washington, after great deliberation, in which, no doubt, the embarrassed condition of his beloved country passed in anxious review, signed the charter for the first Bank of the United States. Its capital was $10,000,000, one fourth of which was required (but was not done) to be paid in specie, and three fourths in the national debt. The paper issued by the bank was received for public dues, and the money of the Government was deposited with it. Thus the debt which the country owed constituted three fourths of the capital of the bank, on which the interest continued to run, but which became a basis for the issue of paper money. By this the Government had a means of borrowing paper money, which was increased through the bank, and was relieved from the immediate payment of that amount of the public debt which became bank capital. The creditor or holder of the Government debt continued to draw interest as before, and had the power to issuc paper upon it, with the additional use of the 26TH CONG....1ST SESS. public money. This was a most advantageous system to the stockholders, but afforded to the Government that temporary relief which it so much needed. The charter of this bank expired March 4, 1811. At this time the resources of the country were greatly developed, the national debt much reduced, the Government relieved from its consequent embarrassment, and Congress, by the voice of the country, refused to recharter the institution. In 1812 the second war with Great Britain was declared, while Mr. Madison, another one of those great and good men whose memories Americans venerate, was President. This second struggle for independence increased the national debt $68,574,764, and in 1816 the Government found itself again pressed down with the sum of $123,639,692. Mr. Madison found his country then in precisely the same situation that General Washington did in 1791, and from similar causes. The public lands had begun to bring in some revenue, but still insufficient to meet the wants of the Gov Independent Treasury-Mr. Parrish. Ho. OF REPS. this the largest portion was from South America and the West Indies, in exchange for provisions. This was the case during the existence of the bank, and must continue to be. This specie would naturally, if uninterrupted by paper issues, find its way, as much of it does now, to the sources where flour, bacon, and beef are raised, in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, western Virginia, and the western part of Pennsylvania. There it would constitute the circulation, pay for the public lands, and be a basis for true commercial credit, and finds its way into other sections of the Union in return for the merchandise consumed in the great valley of the Mississippi, where it would again perform the same offices. But by the Bank of the United States and the State banks inflating the paper circulation, the specie was kept out of view, by which the bank was enabled to draw from New Orleans, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pittsburg, such large amounts. It shows, also, the rapid increase, until it had amounted to more in each of the last two years than is estimated to be received from the sale of public lands this year. While this process was regularly carried on by the bank, the taxing power was also going on; and how did the paper of the State banks stand with this institution? It will be seen by the following table, prepared from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury made to Congress in 1838: the rate of premium paid by the Bank for gold and silver, from 1824 to 1831, inclusive. from 1821 to 1831, inclusive, a period of eleven years, during the existence of the Bank of the United States; and also, Table showing the rate of discount at Philadelphia on the paper of the best banks of the southern and western States This table shows how the Bank of the United States influenced the paper circulation of the States. The depreciation of the paper of the best State banks, and in the same sections of the Union from which it drew such large amounts of specie, is conclusive as to the way in which it regulated the currency. It proves that the paper of the bank was the standard by which all the paper was tried; and that when the bank had somewhat recovered from its difficulties in 1820, &c., after 1824 it kept receiving gold and silver as it increased the quantity drawn from the States. These two facts prove conclusive the demand it had for specie, and that its paper was gradually sinking below the value of gold and silver until, in 1831, it was five per cent. Add this difference between |