ys that
all monopolies are granted at the expense of the public; that the many
millions which this bill bestows on the stockholders come out of the
earnings of the people; that, if government sells monopolies, it ought
to sell them in open market; that it is an erroneous idea, that the
present stockholders have a prescriptive right either to the favor or
the bounty of government; that the stock is in the hands of a few, and
that the whole American people are excluded from competition in the
purchase of the monopoly. To all this I say, again, that much of it is
assumption without proof; much of it is an argument against that which
nobody has maintained or asserted; and the rest of it would be equally
strong against any charter, at any time. These objections existed in
their full strength, whatever that was, against the first bank. They
existed, in like manner, against the present bank at its creation, and
will always exist against all banks. Indeed, all the fault found with
the bill now before us is, that it proposes to continue the bank
substantially as it now exists. "All the objectionable principles of the
existing corporation," says the message, "and most of its odious
features, are retained without alleviation"; so that the message is
aimed against the bank, as it has existed from the first, and against
any and all others resembling it in its general features.

Allow me, now, Sir, to take notice of an argument founded on the
practical operation of the bank. That argument is this. Little of the
stock of the bank is held in the West, the capital being chiefly owned
by citizens of the Southern and Eastern States, and by foreigners. But
the Western and Southwestern States owe the bank a heavy debt, so heavy
that the interest amounts to a million six hundred thousand a year. This
interest is carried to the Eastern States, or to Europe, annually, and
its payment is a burden on the people of the West, and a drain of their
currency, which no country can bear without inconvenience and distress.
The true character and the whole value of this argument are manifest by
the mere statement of it. The people of the West are, from their
situation, necessarily large borrowers. They need money, capital, and
they borrow it, because they can derive a benefit from its use, much
beyond the interest which they pay. They borrow at six per cent of the
bank, although the value of money with them is at least as high as
eight. Nevertheless, alt