ment would thus obtain the benefit of individual sagacity in the general management of the Bank, and, by means of its deposites and share in the direction, possess the necessary power for the prevention of abuse.

It is not intended to assert that the Bank of the United States, as at present organized, is perfect, or that the essential objects of such an institution might not be attained by means of an entirely new one, organized upon proper principles, and with salutary limitations. It must be admitted, however, that the good management of the present bank, the accommodation it has given the Government, and the practical benefits it has rendered the community, whether it may or may not have accomplished all that was expected from it, and the advantages of its present condition, are circumstances in its favor, entitled to great weight, and give it strong claims upon the consideration of Congress in any future legislation upon the subject.

To these may be added the knowledge the present bank has acquired of the business and wants of the various portions of this extensive country, which, being the result of time and experience, is an advantage it must necessarily posess over any new institution.

It is to be observed, moreover, that the facilities of capital actually afforded by the present institution to the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing industry of all parts of the Union, could not be withdrawn, even by transferring them to another institution, without a severe shock to each of those interests, and to the relations of society generally.

To similar considerations, it may be presumed, is to be traced the uniform policy of the several States of the Union, of rechartering their local institutions with such modifications as experience may have dictated, in preference to creating new ones.

Should any objection be felt or entertained on the score of monopoly, it might be obviated by placing, through the means of a sufficient premium, the present institution upon the footing of a new one, and guarding its future operations by such judicious checks and limitations as experience may have shown to be necessary.

These considerations, and others which will be adverted to in a subsequent part of this report, the experience of the Department in the trying periods of its history, and the convictions of his own judgment, concurring with those of the eminent men who have preceded the undersigned in its administration, induce him to recommend the expediency of rechartering the present bank at the proper time, and with such modifications, as, without impairing its usefulness to the Government and the community, may be calculated to recommend it to the approbation of the Executive, and, what is vitally important, to the conference of the people.

Should Congress deem it expedient to authorize the sale of the bank shares for a sum not less than eight millions of dollars, the reimbursement of the public debt on or before the 3d of March, 1833, may be confidently anticipated; and from that period the amount of revenue applicable to that object will be no longer required.

*

If the adjustment suggested to Congress by the views hazarded in this report be in any wise entitled to their respect, it is not unreasonable to hope that the various topics of national concern at present

engaging the attention of the people may facilitate rather than embarrass the task. The interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, and the final disposition of the public lands, are the prominent, and necessary, and immediate objects of public policy. As incident, however, and indeed necessary, to the security and prosperity of these great interests, the preservation of a sound currency cannot escape attention. On the soundness and steadiness of this indispensable medium of exchange depend the value and stability of every description of property, not less than the activity of every branch of business; and it is not to be doubted that the commercial and manufacturing industry would be most severely and immediately affected by any derangement of this spring of their prosperity.

The measures of the Central Government in respect to the tariff, to objects of public improvement, to the public lands, and to the Bank of the United States, are the sources of the existing solicitude throughout the country. For the permanent adjustment of all, in a manner to promote the harmony of all parts of the Union, and elevate the moral character of the country, the wisdom and patriotism of the Government and of the people can alone be looked to.

Independently of the considerations connected with the currency, the interests both of the Government and individuals involved in the Bank of the United States make the stability of that institution an object of great importance. No reason is perceived why this great interest should not be equally considered in the scheme of deference, and concession, and compromise, which the public safety, not less than the national prosperity, so urgently recommends. While conflicting interests and opinions on other subjects are invited to meet on middle ground, and, on the altar of common good, each to offer something for the preservation of concord and union throughout this favored land, the advocates and opposers of the existing system for regulating the currency may also be expected to join in the same patriotic sacrifice.

It is not perceived that any other satisfactory basis for a scheme of general adjustment can be devised, than that which shall pay a just regard to the interests of all, and observe a proper deference to the public will. On this ground mainly, one portion of the agricultural interest has been invited, to accommodate opinions conscientiously formed and ardently advocated to opposite opinions more successfully maintained by other and more powerful interests. The invitation could not be more appropriately recommended, than by affording an example in other cases founded upon the same principle. Acquiescence in the public will is not less the duty of Government than of the people themselves. The utmost respect is felt for an independent exercise of conscientious opinions; but, in a country like ours, though a sense of duty authorizes all fair attempts to convince the public mind, it equally dictates a ready acquiescence by all in the public will finally expressed.

Report of House Committee of Ways and Means, on Renewal of Charter of Bank of United States

[House Report 283, Twenty-second Congress, 1st Session, Pages 1-4, 49-60] RENEW CHARTER BANK UNITED STATES.

FEBRUARY 9, 1832.

VIEWS OF THE MAJORITY.

Mr. McDUFFIE, from the Committee of Ways and Means, to which the subject had been referred, made the following

REPORT:

The Committee of Ways and Means, in obedience to the orders of the House, have had under consideration the memorial of the President, Directors, and Company of the Bank of the United States, and also sundry memorials from other sources, relative to the renewal of the charter of the said bank, and herewith report a bill for the renewal of the said charter, with certain modifications.

The committee will not now go into the consideration of the constitutional power of Congress to incorporate the Bank of the United States, nor of the expediency of maintaining such an institution, with a view to preserve a sound and uniform currency, and to facilitate and equalize the fiscal operations of the Government. For the exposition of their views on these interesting and important questions, and of the great public benefits which have resulted from the operations of the bank, in regulating and reducing the rates of the commercial exchanges of the country, they ask leave to refer to the report made by the Committee of Ways and Means, on the 13th day of April, 1830, which they adopt as a part of this report.

The several memorials, presented by sundry citizens of the United States, praying Congress to grant them and their associates a charter for a new bank, with privileges similar to those now enjoyed by the Bank of the United States, have been duly considered by the committee. They can perceive no adequate motive, however, for creating a new bank, instead of continuing the present; but, on the contrary, very strong objections against adopting such a course. The only inducements which can justify Congress in establishing any bank, are exclusively of a public nature. The interest of the stockholders, though necessarily involved as an incident, is quite a subordinate

consideration. The maintenance of a uniform currency, and the facilities afforded for collecting, transferring, and disbursing the public revenue, are the great and paramount objects to be accomplished by such an institution; and to sacrifice these to the imaginary claims of persons who may desire to speculate in the stock of a new institution, would be perverting high public trust to mere individual purposes.

With the intimate knowledge of the pecuniary wants and resources of the several portions of the Union, which it must have acquired by the experience of sixteen years, the present institution is doubtless better qualified than any new corporation could be, to fulfil the great public ends of such an establishment. In the unquestionable ability with which its affairs have been administered for the last ten years, and in the fidelity with which it has discharged all its duties to the Government and to the country, we have an assurance of future usefulness, which the applicants for a new bank certainly could not furnish. On the contrary, some of the new schemes brought forward in the memorials referred to the committee, are so utterly extravagant as to furnish just cause of alarm to all reflecting men. The present bank, though it has dealt largely in public securities, and, for several years past, held large amounts of Government stock, has, notwithstanding, found it difficult to find employment for a capital of thirty-five millions, in the safe and legitimate business of banking; yet we have applications to incorporate a banking company with a capital of fifty millions. The present bank has not realized more than five per cent. on its comparatively small capital; yet some of the projectors of new banking schemes propose to give a bonus of one million of dollars a year to the General and State Governments, for the privilege of banking on a capital of fifty millions; and expositions have been presented to the public, holding out the idea that such a bank might keep in circulation one hundred millions of its paper, and grant loans to the enormous extent of two hundred millions! In the opinion of the committee, such projects as these can only proceed from a spirit of bold and hazardous speculation, and from those who are entirely unacquainted with the practical operations of banking; and nothing in the shape of a pecuniary bonus could justify Congress in making the dangerous experiment of committing to such hands the great duties of maintaining a sound currency, and of keeping in safety, and transferring without delay or expense, the revenues of this extensive confederacy.

An opinion has been sometimes expressed, as plausible perhaps as it is delusive, that all the people of the United States are entitled to the option of subscribing for the stock of a Bank of the United States, and that, consequently, it would be an unjust preference to renew the charter of the present company. If a new bank were created, it is almost certain that the stock would go into fewer and less meritorious hands than that of the present bank, and the rest of the people of the United States would have still greater cause to complain of their exclusion, if, when the institution acquired the public confidence, its stock should be considerably above par. Men of accumulated capital, not engaged in business, and stock jobbers, are invariably the first subscribers for the stock of a new bank; and it is impossible to conceive any substantial reason why the present stockholders, who have done so much for the country, should be superseded, at the hazard of great

public detriment, merely to gratify the speculating views of a still smaller number of persons, principally large moneyed capitalists and dealers in public stocks. It should be recollected, too, that a considerable portion of those who hold stock in the present bank are widows and orphans, who probably paid very nearly the present market price for the stock; and it is certain that, in the scramble for new subscriptions, most of those would be excluded by the classes of persons to which the committee have just alluded. For a more full explanation of their views on this point, they will refer the House to the report, already noticed, of a former Committee of Ways and Means.

It remains for the committee to give a brief explanation of the modifications they have proposed of the existing charter. The reservation of the power of revoking it, at any time after ten years, upon giving three years' notice of such intention, will create a responsibility in the bank, which may be extremely salutary, without creating too great a dependence upon Congress. The change proposed in the form of the bonus, is in some degree connected with this change in the tenure of the charter, and is recommended by other considerations. An annual sum, paid in the shape of interest on the Government deposites, will have the recommendation of making the amount of the bonus depend upon the extent of the benefit which the bank may derive from the public revenues, at the same time that it renders the Government an important service by the safe custody of these revenues. The authority given to the President of the United States to appoint one of the directors of each of the branches, rests upon the same principle with the existing authority to appoint a portion of the directors of the mother bank. It may be a matter of great convenience and utility for the Government to have a sentinel to give notice of any irregularities or abuses that may creep into the direction of the several branches. The prohibition against issuing draughts or checks for twenty dollars, or any smaller sum, will exclude from common circulation a description of paper, of which considerable complaint has been made in some quarters of the Union. This, however, has rendered it indispensably necessary to authorize other officers, as well as the President and Cashier, to sign and countersign bills for circulation. If this provision be not made, the whole time of the President and Cashier would be taken up in signing bills, to the entire exclusion of the more important functions of administration and superintendence; and yet these officers would not have the physical ability to execute the necessary signatures. The expediency of prohibiting the issue of any notes at branches where they are not payable, is too obvious to require comment. It is essential to protect the State banks against ruinous draughts for specie on the part of the Bank of the United States.

These provisions, in addition to those which are contained in the original charter, afford all the safeguards which can be reasonably required for the public security. The monthly statements which are made of the debts due by the bank, of the moneys deposited therein, of the notes in circulation, and the specie in hand; the right of the Secretary of the Treasury to inspect the books of the bank, and to withdraw the public deposites, subject to the approbation of Congress; the right of "a committee of either house of Congress to inspect the books and examine the proceedings of the bank;" its obligation to pay specie for its notes on demand, under a heavy penalty; and the provision that "the total amount of the debts which the said corporation shall at any