ulation, and their influence, whatever
it may be, can be exerted only as to its quality. It is precisely on
this last influence that the friends of the bank mainly rely for the
public favour.

Let us inquire a little further into the extent of the bank's influence.
The principal functions of this institution, except the services it
renders the government, consist in discounting promissory notes, selling
or buying bills of exchange, and receiving deposits of coin, or of its
own notes, for safe keeping. It has no exclusive privilege of doing
either of these acts, as every state bank may do, and actually does the
same. But by means of its superior capital, and consequently its
superior credit and resources, it can, in some of its operations, either
undersell the other banks, or command a preference in the market;--aye,
there's the rub. The banks in some of the large cities have persuaded
themselves that if this "formidable" rival was out of the way, they
would be able to buy and sell more bills, and upon better terms than at
present. But if this consideration should make them an object of dread
and dislike to the state banks, it should also recommend them to the
favour of the public. Their notes, too, are generally preferred by
travellers, and for distant remittances. But neither does this fact
furnish any ground of dread to the community, whatever it may to their
rivals.

It thus appears that they have the same advantage over other banks,
which one tradesman or mechanic occasionally has over others of the same
calling. He who does his work best, and sells it cheapest, will always
get the most and best custom; and it would be just as reasonable for his
rivals in business to complain of his making better wares, of being more
accommodating, and of underselling them, as for the other banks to
complain of the Bank of the United States. It is clear, that if the
rival banks are losers, the public is a gainer, unless they can succeed
in persuading the people, that competition, which is so salutary and
beneficial to the public in every other business, should be mischievous
only in this. The argument thus used against the Bank of the United
States, is precisely that which might have been used, and, we presume,
was used, by the owners of the Albany sloops against steam-boats; and
which might be used against canals and rail-roads, by those who would
find employment for their wagons in the former more expensive modes of
conveyance.