deed. He must get a commission merchant to
accept for him at a charge of two and a half per
cent for the use of his name. Every farmer
who became involved in a bank, must do it at
this heavy cost. Whatever amount of odium
might attach to him by his position on this sub-
ject he was prepared to encounter, for he be-
lieved that the actual business community would
be benefitted by it.
He concurred with the gentleman from Cal-
vert, [Mr. Sollers,] that if the State of Mary-
land was nnder this influence-that if it was in
the power of bankers to raise these kinds of
panics, the sooner it was put down the better.
He differed with the gentleman from Anne
Arundel. He did not know whether he [Mr.
B] should be an advocate for the new Constitu-
tion, but he was of the opinion that the adoption
of such a proposition as this, would give the
constitution strength, and if its other provisions
were in keeping with this one, it would be car-
ried through. He did not, however, like that
part of the proposition which in sweeping terms
made all the stockholders personally liable for
the responsibilities of the corporations, and he
therefore would call for a division of the ques-
tion. He did not like it, because it would result
to the injury of the widows and children who
owned stock in the corporation.
Mr. SPENCER made some remarks which will
be given hereafter.
Mr. CONSTABLE moved to amend the amend-
ment of Mr. SOLLERS, by striking out, in the 8th
line, the works "or have any accommodation at
or otherwise deal with," also by striking out the
words "except as to salaries," and by striking
out, also the words "or dealt with," and insert
"from."
Mr. C. said that he had no objection to the rest
of the proposition, in its utmost consequences,
even if it produced the panic spoken of by the
gentleman from Queen Anne's, (Mr. Spencer.)
He remembered fourteen or fifteen years ago,
being in a county where money was worth two
and a half per cent, and not a dollar to loan, and
no sooner had the panic subsided, than one hun-
dred thousand dollars were in the county, and
money could be obtained on four per cent certifi-
cates. His only objection to the proposition was
that the directors were to have no accommoda-
tion or otherwise deal with the bank. When
bank directors desired accommodations, they
could go to some other bank. The restrictions
should be only that they should borrow no money
from the bank. He desired to strike out that
part of the proposition which prohibited them
from dealing with the bank.
Mr. SOLLERS said that he was perfectly willing
to modify his proposition so as to obviate the
difficulty, and he therefore accepted the amend-
ment of the gentleman from Cecil.
Mr. CONSTABLE said that now, in nearly every
State, the stockholeers were made individually
liable for the amount of their stock. This was
the law in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachu-
setts, and in all of the northern States, and the
sooner they adopted this law in Maryland, the |
better. He knew a house in Baltimore city which
discounted as much paper as any bank there.
Nineteen-twentieths of the whole discounting was
done by private banking houses. He saw no ob-
jection to any other part of the proposition, and
was glad that the gentleman had modified it to
meet his views.
Mr. DONALDSON moved to amend the amend-
ment of Mr. SOLLERS, by striking out the words
"banking purposes, or renew any banking corpo-
ration now in existence," and inserting in lieu
thereof the following:
"The purposes of banking, trading, mining,
manufacturing or navigation, nor shall any such
charter now in existence be renewed."
Mr. DONALDSON thought that, if there was any
propriety in passing the original proposition, his
amendment ought surely to be adopted. The
Legislature created a great many corporations,
which were, in fact, mere covers for private
operations. It often happened that four or five
men desired to enter jointly into some extensive
business, either of trade or manufacturing, or
other enterprise, but wished to secure to them-
selves the profits which might be realized without
suffering from the losses which might occur; and
for this purpose, instead of forming a common
co-partnership, they would procure from the Le-
gislature—as was but too easily done—an act of
incorporation. Thus they were enabled to divide
the profits of their business, so long as profits
were made. and when a disastrous time overtook
them, the corporation, as such, perhaps failed,
and all to whom it had become indebted, were
obliged to suffer the ill effects of the explosion,
without having the power to make the individual
corporators liable, whatever profits had been pre-
viously divided. Often a large number of day-
laborers were thus defrauded of the wages for
which they had toiled a long time, and which
were absolutely necessary for the support of their
families. Some times the same set of men ob-
tained successive acts of incorporation for com-
panies with different names, though for the same
kind of business, so that when a failure took
place under one of them, they might resort to
the cover of another, and continue the same dis-
honest system. The creditors of the corporations
were sometimes obliged to fail, on account of the
bad debts due by those corporations, yet the cor-
porators themselves might flourish, because they
were protected from personal liability for those
debts.
Here then was a much greater evil than could
arise from the present system of banking. In-
deed, it must be admitted that in every case the
bank charters were procured with the bona fide
intention of establishing great public corpora-
tions, in which a very large number of persons
were interested as stockholders, who would not,
and could not, enter into a private partnership
for the same purposes. In the management of
these institutions, not only the large body of stock-
holders, but the whole public, were deeply interested,
and therefore their proceedings were watch-
ed with the keenest scrutiny, which was a check
upon any tendency to injurious action. It was true |
