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That the banks would thus be rendered more sound
and the community more safe can not admit of a doubt.
The foregoing views, it seems to me, do but fairly carry out the
provisions of the Federal Constitution in relation to the currency, as
far as relates to the public revenue. At the time that instrument was
framed there were but three or four banks in the United States, and had
the extension of the banking system and the evils growing out of it
been foreseen they would probably have been specially guarded against.
The same policy which led to the prohibition of bills of credit by the
States would doubtless in that event have also interdicted their issue
as a currency in any other form. The Constitution, however, contains no
such prohibition; and since the States have exercised for nearly half
a century the power to regulate the business of banking, it is not to
be expected that it will be abandoned. The whole matter is now under
discussion before the proper tribunal--the people of the States.


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