Under the requirement that a report of the condition of the bank should be furnished to the Secretary whenever required by him, but not oftener than once a week, the Treasury records do not show that any formal reports were ever made to the 'department. The only balanced statements to be found showing the condition of the bank are two, which are con tained in letters of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, communicated to Congress on 2 March 1809 and 24 Jan. 1811, respectively. The reports are as follows: The average dividends of the bank from its organization to March 1809 were at the rate of 8Y2 per cent per annum. The 5,000 shares of $400 each owned by the United States were disposed of in the years 1796 to 1802 at a con siderable profit, 2,220 shares having been sold in the last-mentioned year at a premium of 45 per cent. According to the treasury records the government subscription, with the addition of the interest which was paid by the United States on stock issued for it, amounted to $3,200,000, while there was received by the treasury in dividends and from the sale of the bank stock at various times $3,773,580, the. profit realized by the government being $573, 580, or nearly 28.7 per cent upon the original investment.
In addition to the Act of December 1791, chartering the bank, four supplementary acts were passed by Congress in reference -? to it: one on 2 March—Ugh—Which varied the manner in which. the capital stock was to be ' subscribed for and paid in; two passed in 1798 and 1807, respectively, having reference to counterfeiting its notes and papers or otherwise defrauding it; and one in 1804 permitting the establishment of offices of deposit and discount in the Territories and dependencies.
Application for a renewal of the charter of the bank was made in 1808. Secretary Gallatin, in his annual report for 1809, favored the re newal, with certain modifications, but after a protracted debate in both Houses of Congress the application of the bank was rejected.
The banking house and most of the assets of the Bank of the United States, including over $5,000,000 in specie, were purchased by Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, who at once started the Girard Bank, which, converted to a National bank in 1865, continues to this day. The purchase and transfer came about in this way. In 1810 Girard had large balances with the Barings, amounting to #116,701. In 1811 the indebtedness of that firm to him was nearly i200,000. The difficulties in trade with the Con tinent were great and the Barings were in danger. Mr. Girard sent two agents to London to do what they could to withdraw the amount due and transmit it to America. Part of the
funds were invested in goods and part in Amer ican 6 per cent stocks and United States Bank shares, then at about $430% (i98 10s.) per share. The Barings, it will be remembered, had purchased a large amount of the bank stock from the United States government in 1804. The stock Girard had purchased gave him a large interest in the bank; and, in the spring of 1812, he found by consultation with George Simpson, the cashier of the old institution, that the bank building and cashier's house could be purchased for $120,000, less than one-third of its cost. The purchase was made, the property was transferred to Girard, and his new bank commenced operations on 12 May 1812, with $1,200,000 capital, which was afterward in creased to $1,300,000.
Much of the business of the Bank of the United States was transferred to Girard's Bank, together with $5,000,000 in specie. The officers and employees of the old bank were retained at the same salaries. Girard bought the stock expecting the charter of the Bank of the United States to be renewed. If this had occurred he would have made a fortune by the rise in stock. But, as it was, he saved himself by the purchase of the old bank. He did not use the old circu lating notes, but paid out notes of State banks till his own were printed, which bore the de vice of a ship under full sail and an American eagle.
The stockholders of the Bank of the United States received, on the final winding up of the institution, $434 per share, which, with divi dends averaging about 8 per cent per annum, made it no bad investment. Many, however, had bought and sold at much higher rates some years previous to the expiration of its charter. The United States government sold to the Bar for a premium of 45 per cent in 1802, or per share. In view of the success of the bank, it is in teresting to quote some of the expressions in regard to it, appearing in the debates in Con gress. Mr. Boyd considered the bank "a great swindle ; Mr. Desha referred to the recharter proposed as one to "foster a viper in the bosom of our country"; Mr. Wright said the charter was "a cancer upon the body politic.* In the press it was referred to as "an hydra,* "a cer berus,* a "gorgon,D a "vulture* and a "viper.* These expressions typify the prejudice then existing, and which still exists, in this country against concentrated banking power, and all the denunciations above quoted can be matched from debates and newspaper articles on banking at the present day.