e ready means of making a great profit by the
substitution; and this it may do in two ways. It may either become a
banker itself, and issue notes of circulation, having currency as money,
in return for the notes of individuals bearing interest, or it may
transfer the right of doing this to such a set of men as it deems worthy
of the trust, and make them pay a fair price for the valuable privilege
thus conferred.

Of these two modes of profiting by the substitution of paper for specie,
the last is by far the best, for the same reason that it is best for the
government to sell its public lands, rather than to cultivate them. It
is incapable of commanding agents who will practise the same economy,
industry, and skill, in the management of the public concerns, as their
own. It must always pay higher than individuals for the same work, and
the various peculations to which it is exposed, besides the costly
apparatus of superintendents, would make banking, carried on by itself,
a bad measure of economy, to say nothing of the objections arising from
its disturbing the distribution of political power, by affording the
means of influence, patronage, and corruption.

But the scheme which the president has been persuaded to recommend,
proposes, that the government should give up the advantages of both
plans: that it should forego both the profit of issuing paper itself,
and that of disposing of it to a corporate body, in which the community
had entire confidence, and which has proved, by its previous unexampled
success, its fitness for the duty--and in lieu of these plans, to let
the valuable privilege evaporate into a sort of electioneering material,
for whomsoever may hold the office of president, or may rule his
cabinet. And what is it which the people of the United States are thus
asked to surrender? Let us estimate it.

According to the bank charter, the government takes stock to the amount
of seven millions of dollars, on which it pays to the bank an interest
of 5 per cent., and it now receives on this stock an interest of 7 per
cent, making a clear profit of 140,000 dollars a year, equal to a gross
capital of 2,800,000 dollars, all of which must be lost on the proposed
plan. But this is not all. The bank keeps the money of the
government--keeps its accounts--keeps its officers out of
temptation--and transfers the money from one part of the Union to
another with promptitude and certainty, without the loss of a single
dolla