NATIONAL BANKS. 483 



defiance of sound policy, and solely with reference to the 

 convenience and at the behest of the banks. 



Let me give yon a specimen or two. I find on the list 

 I hold in my hand the Hamilton National bank, of Fort 

 Wayne, Ind., which has nearly $100,000 of the public 

 money. Whose bank is that? That is the bank in which 

 an ex-secretary of the treasury (Mr. McCulloch) is largely 

 interested. His salary as secretary of the treasury ceased 

 long ago, but his profits from the use of this $100,000 of 

 government money continues, and amounts to nearly or 

 quite as much per annum as his salary used to be. He is 

 using the people's money that has been wrung from them 

 at the expense of their homes, at the expense of thousands 

 of hungry children all over this country, who are half-clad, 

 half- fed, and less than half educated. [Applause.] Who 

 else have their clutches on this government money ? The 

 Chase National bank, of New York, has $1,100,000 of it. 

 Who presides over the Chase National bank? Mr. Cannon, 

 late comptroller of the currency. He still has his hand in 

 the treasury, and is using without interest $1,100,000 of 

 government funds, the profit upon which far exceeds the 

 salary which he received when he was comptroller of the 

 currency. Then comes the First National bank of New 

 York. That is the bank that was caught with $43,000,000 

 of the public money in it when Mr. Sherman was secretary 

 of the treasury, and when its own capital stock amounted 

 to less than a quarter of a million dollars. What kind of 

 official honesty is this, and what an example to the country! 



That bank to-day has $1,100,000 of government 

 money which it has the use of without interest. While 

 the farmers of my district and my State are ground down 

 by their mortgages and crushed into the earth by their 

 debts, this gentleman and his bank are the favored ones 

 and have the free use of $i, 100,000 of the people's money. 



Then we have the National Bank of the Republic in 

 New York, with $930,000 of the government money. 

 Who presides over that bank? John Jay Knox, an ex- 

 comptroller of the currency. He, too, has his arm into 

 the treasury up to the elbow, and the profit which he 

 derives from the use of this $930,000 of the government 



