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Show 472 INAUGURAL AND FAREWELL ADDRESSES. Your banks now furnish yom· only cir·ctdnting m cli 11m, and money is plenty or scn rcc, according to tho qnnutity of notes issued by them. While 1hcy have capitals not greatly di _ proportioned to cnch other, they nrc comprtitorH in bnsiness, and no one of them can exercise dominion over tho rc. t; and althotwlr, in the prcHcn t state of the curTcncy, these banks may and do operate injuriously upon the habits of business, the pecuniary concerns, and the moral tone of society, yet, from tlreir number ttlld disporsc<l sitnation, they cannot combine for t.Ire purposes of political influence· unci 1 I whatever may be the dispositions of some of them, their power of mischief must ncceHsnrily be con fin ed to a IHtrrow space, and folt only in their immediate neighborh oods. But when the charter for tho Bau k of the United Stntes was obtained from Congress, it perfected the schemes of tho paper Rystem, and gave to its advocates the position they have struggled to obtain, from tho commencement of tho federal government to tho present honr. Tho immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it enabled it to exercise despotic swn.y over the other banks, in every part of tho country. .From its superior strength, it co uld seriously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them which might incur its rcHcntru cnt; and it openly claimed for itself tiw power of regulating tho currcney throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly posses ·eel) the power to mako money plenty or scarce, at its pleasure, at any time, nnd in any quarter of tho Union, by con trolling the issues of other banks, and permitting an expansion, or compeiiing a general contraction, of tho circulating medium, according to its own will. The other banking institutions were sensible of its strength, and they soon gencrully became its obedient instruments, ready at all times to execute its mandates; and with the banks necessarily went, also, that numerous elass of persons in our COIII!n ercial cil ies \vlro d~pcud aJt~- JNAUO URAT~ AND JI'AHrcw· r~~ LL ADDRES.'IGS. 473 gather on bank C:L'Oclit.s for lhcit· Rolvrn('y nr1<l mrnnH of business ; fill(l who nrc lhcrC'forc obligrd, for llr eir own Flllf<'ty, to propitiate the favor of the nron y power by distinguish<·ll zeal and devotion in ils serv ice. 'J1hc r oHulL of tho illn< 1vis d legislation wh ich CHtahlishe1l thiH great monopoly was, to concentrate the whole mon<'Y<'<l power of the Union, wil h its hounulcs m ean ~ of co r·t·up Lion and itH numcrotu:l dcpcnclonts, under the direction and comnrand of one acknowledged head : thus o rgnn i~r,ing this particular intcre~t as ouo body; and securing to it un ity ancl concert of nction throughout the United tntcs, an<l enahling it 1o bri11g forward, upon any occasion, its entire nnd nnc1ivid e<l streng-th, to support or defeat nny mcaHurc of the Govcrnlllcnt. In the hand.· of this fonnid n.l> lc power, th us perfectly organized, was aL o placed unlimi ted <.lorn in ion over the nrn ou nt of tho circulating medium, g iving it tho power to regulate the value of property and the frui t~ of lnbor in every quarter of tho Union ; and to bestow prosperity or bring ruin upon · nny city or section of the country, ns might best comport with its own interest or policy. W c nrc not lcfL to conjecture how the money 'd power, thns organized, and with such n. weapon iu its hands, would l>o likely to usc it. ~r ho distress and alarm which pcrvaclc<l nud agitated the whole conntry when the Bunk of tho United States waged war upon tho people, in on1cr to compel them to submit to its demand.·, cannot yet be forgotten. 'l'he ru thless uud un paring temper with which whole cities and communities were oppressed, individuals impoverished and ruined, and n. scene of cheerful prosperity suddculy changed in to ono of gloom and despondency, ought to uc indelibly impressed on the memory of tho people of the United States. If such was hs power in a time of pQace, what wonl(1 it not lmvc uccn in a ·seu~o n of wur, wilh an enemy nt your doon:;? No natioll lHrt tho freeUlell of' !It Urtited thaleR t'o trld ltave cou1e out viL- |
