NATIONAL BANKS. 477 



Ought we to give further growth to an institution so 

 powerful, so hostile ? That it is hostile we know, 



First. From a knowledge of the principles of the 

 persons who compose the body of their directors and stock- 

 holders. 



Second. From their opposition to the measures and 

 principles of the government and those friendly to them. 



Third. From the sentiments of the newspapers they 

 support. 



Should we not make a beginning toward an independ- 

 ent use of our own money, towards holding our own bank, 

 and letting the treasurer give his draft or note for pay- 

 ment at any particular place, which in a well conducted 

 government ought to have as much credit as any private 

 draft or bank note or bill, and would give us the same 

 facilities which we derive from banks. 



Treasury bills or notes, bottomed on taxes, and thrown 

 into circulation, will take the place of so much gold or 

 silver, hit bank paper must be suppressed, and the circula- 

 tion restored to whom it belongs. ' ' 



Jackson, in his farewell address, speaking of the United 

 States bank, said: " u The immense capital, the peculiar 

 privileges bestowed upon it, enabled it to exercise despotic 

 sway over the other banks in the entire country. From its 

 superior strength it could seriously injure, if not destroy, 

 the business of any one of them which might incur its 

 resentment, and it openly claimed for itself the power of 

 regulating the currency throughout the United States. In 

 other words, it asserted (and undoubtedly possessed) the 

 power to make money plenty or scarce, at its pleasure, at 

 any time, and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling 

 the issues of other banks, and permitting an expansion, or 

 compelling a general contraction of the circulating me- 

 dium, according to its own will. The. other banking 



