" On the few occasions where it has become neces sary to insist on the performance of their obliga tions, from which either a want of judgment, or the pressure of urgent necessity had induced them to depart, the bank has endeavoured to perform its own duty with all the forbearance consistent with the thorough execution of it, and those institutions themselves, have generally found in the increased credit arising from fidelity to their engagements, a full compensation for all the temporary inconve nience which that fidelity required. It is indeed confidently believed that the solvent state institu tions, recognize in the bank its true character, as a common friend, not a jealous competitor; and that the good feelings uniformly entertained for them by the bank, are reciprocated. They know that the duties of its position make it only a more prominent agent in preserving the soundness of the currency, on which their own stability and pros perity equally depend; and that if its competition sometimes appears to prevent more abundant profits, they find an indemnity in the general secu rity of property which its operations are designed to protect. Undoubtedly these operations have been so far beneficial to them, that if its own notes are equivalent to specie, it has contributed to make those of the state institutions equally valuable with in their respective spheres, and that many of these institutions earn larger profits than the hank itself.
" 2d. The reduction in the exchanges effected by the bank from the extravagant charges on internal trade to the present moderate limits need not now be particularized. A single fact will be sufficient to illustrate it. Before'the bank was organized the differences of exchange in favour or against Phila delphia, in its relations with the other commercial cities, was as follows.
" With Boston, 17 per cent; with New York, 91 per cent; with Baltimore, 41 per cent; with Washington, 7 per cent; with Charleston, per cent.
" At present these exchanges are generally, either at par, or at the utmost, one half of one per cent.
"This has naturally followed the rectification of the currency. As long as the general circulation of the United States consists of specie or its equiv alents, the rates of exchange between any two places in it can never much, nor permanently vary from the expense of their transportation from one place to another; and a reduction to nearlythat rate was the inevitable consequence of the resumption of specie payments. The bank has, however, been able to do more than this. The large mass of its operations in exchanges, by giving to it funds in various parts of the union which the course of its own business, as well as that of the government, requires to be transferred, furnishes it with the means of transferring at the same time the pro perty of individuals at a very reduced expense. Accordingly funds are transferred to the remotest points of the union, sometimes at no expense what ever, and always with charges so moderate, as to afford facilities of interior communication, proba bly not equalled by those of any other country.
"The following table exhibits the amount of do mestic and foreign exchange purchased at the bank, and the several branches, the amount of the drafts furnished by them on each other respectively, and the amount of transfers made on account of the government, during the year ending on the 1st of July last.
" From this it will appear, that the purchases of bills of exchange amount to more than forty-four millions, the drafts issued by the bank and the branches on each other exceed forty-two millions; and the transfers on account of the government were upwards of twelve millions. If to these be added the amount of bills not purchased in the first instance by the bank, but collected through its agency, the aggregate will represent an actual movement in the business of the union, much ex ceeding one hundred millions of dollars. This has been conducted at a very moderate expense, and with a facility which has caused so large a dis placement of funds, to be almost imperceptible in any of the interests of the community. More ex perience and a greater mass of operations may en able the bank to reduce still further, even these slight charges; but should it be able only to retain them at their present rates, it will have accom plished all that is necessary or perhaps desirable. . " 3d. The influence of these measures on the coun try has been in every stage of them eminently salu tary. The substitution of a sound currency for a depreciated and irresponsible circulation, which was hastening to involve in confusion, all public and private interests, is of itself an advantage, which can scarcely be over-estimated, conferring, as it does, stability on property, and security on all the rewards of industry; while the interior com merce of the whole union is relieved from the op pressions of a multifarious and fluctuating .paper money, requiring at each step some new sacrifice which, however disguised, fell ultimately as a charge on the productive industry of the country.
The means, moreover, by which these objects have been attained, the restraint on the over issues of other institutions—the extensive operations in do mestic and foreign exchange—the bringing of the institution into immediate contact and sympathy with the real business of all parts of the country, are in themselves direct and positive benefits to the community. They form too the natural occupa tion of a Bank of the United Stales, which, divest ed of all local influences and interests, finds its appropriate sphere in facilitating the commerce of the states with each other and with foreign nations. Accordingly, it may be assumed with safety, that there has never been in the history of this country, any period when its moneyed concerns were more steady and equal—its interior trade transacted with more economy and convenience, and the ne cessary fluctuations incident to its foreign com merce less sensibly felt, than during the last eight years. This term is sufficiently long and various to test the efficacy of the system. It embraced a period, when, in addition to its habitual causes of fluctuation the moneyed system was disturbed by the reimbursement of many millions of the public debt, a great portion of which was to be remitted to Europe, and more especially it included the year 1825, one of the most critical in our own history, and probably the most disastrous to the banking system of England.
" 4th. Having explained the effects of this system on the currency, the exchanges, the state banks, and the community, it remains to show that these purposes have been accomplished without any sa crifice to the interests of the stockholders, but that