Carter, Cunningham, Cushing, Galloway,
Hatch, Hopkins, Hopper, Keefer, King, Mar-
key, McComas, Mullikin, Murray, Nyman,
Parker, Sands, Schley, Stirling, Stockbridge,
Swope, Sykes, Wickard, Wooden—29.
Nays—Messrs. Belt, Chambers, Crawford,
Dail, Daniel, Davis, of Charles, Davis, of
Washington, Dent, Earle, Ecker, Harwood,
Henkle, Hoffman, Hollyday, Johnson, Jones,
of Somerset, Lee, Mitchell, Miller, Morgan,
Pugh, Ridgely, Russell, Smith, of Dorchester,
Sneary, Thomas—26.
The amendment was accordingly adopted.
Mr. RIDGELY. I move further to amend
this section by inserting after the word
"shall" in the first line, the words "after the
expiration of all the existing bank charters,"
so that the section will read—
"The general assembly shall, after the ex.
piration of all the existing bank charters,
grant no charter for banking purposes, or re-
new any banking corporation now in exist-
ence," &c
Mr. STIRLING. That would have the effect
of giving the legislature the right to charter
fifty thousand new banks, as long as there
was any old bank in existence.
Mr. RIDGELY. The object of the amend-
ment is to meet the view which, in my judg-
ment, has been very forcibly presented by the
gentleman from Cecil (Mr. Pugh,) that if the
section be permitted to remain with the
amendment just adopted by the convention,
it discriminates between the values of different
bank stocks immediately and at once; that
the stock of banks whose charters are to ex-
pire within a few years will be made compara-
tively worthless, while the stock of banks
whose charters do not expire for ten, fifteen,
or twenty years, will be at once very much
enhanced. I propose by this amendment to
put them all upon an equality; to put them
all upon a platform by which at a given pe-
riod of time they shall all start equal in the
race. I propose that this section shall take
effect when the charters of all existing banks
shall have expired, and not before; if they
do not all expire until twenty years hence,
then it shall go into operation at the expira-
tion of twenty years; if ten years hence,
then at the expiration of ten years. That
will mete out equal justice to stockholders in
all the banks, and avoid the discrimination
which will result from the section as it now
stands.
Mr. STIRLING. Cannot all these banking
institutions come under Mr. Chase's banking
bill?
Mr. RIDGELY. That is a matter of voli-
tion.
Mr. STIRLING. I want to push the voli-
tion.
Mr. PUGH. Does the gentleman believe the
stock of a national bank will be worth as
much as that of a good country bank, upon
a sound basis, with a capital of $100,000, and |
an issue of $300,000, upon which issue
makes its six percent.?
Mr. STIRLING. I believe if they come under
the United States banking law, their stock
will be worth just as much. You cannot buy
the stock of the First National Bank of Balti-
more as cheaply as yon can the stock of any
State bank in Baltimore.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. Banks heretofore have
had a double purpose; they have been insti-
tutions which have manufactured a sort
of currency which has circulated in place
of the metallic currency of the country;
and they have also been institutions of loan
and deposit. The only effect of the amend-
ment which we have just incorporated in this
section is to make them after a certain time,
institutions of deposit and loan only, without
continuing to be institutions for the manufac-
ture of a currency. Now, it is unquestiona-
bly true that there was a certain amount of
profit derived from the manufacture of a cur-
rency. But I do not apprehend that the
evils which the gentleman from Cecil (Mr.
Pugh) seems to anticipate, can grow out of
restricting banks to the other branches of
their business. They will continue to the
extent of this period, institutions of deposit
and institutions of loan, and they will an-
swer all the purposes of the community pre-
cisely as well as they do now, so long as the
national currency is in existence, and is a
circulating medium in place of the bills of
the banks. And if, as the gentleman from
Kent (Mr. Chambers) has stated, it be that
now in many instances they pay out money,
not in their own bills, but pay out the bills
of the United States currency, then they have
already come to that pass. I do not under-
stand, therefore, how the evils apprehended
by the gentleman from Cecil (Mr. Pugh) can
flow from the adoption of this provision.
Mr. PUGH. My position is this; I am op-
posed to the injustice of the measure. I am
perfectly willing to go as far as the gentle-
man to curb the manufacture of circulating
medium by these banking institutions. But
what I demand is that we shall do jus-
tice to all. If the gentleman will favor
adopting a provision which will require all
the banks of the State to go immediately
into liquidation, I will favor such a proposi-
tion, and then require them to assume the
new system of banking. But do nut let us
discriminate in favor of one with a long
charter, and against another which has a
short charter.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. That is precisely what
I say, that this injustice does not exist.—
There is no obligation on the part of the Le-
gislature, or any power representing the
State, no implied or expressed obligation,
where a charter has been granted, to continue
it ad infinitum. It is granted for a certain
length of time, and for the length of time
which it continues the bank has all the privi- |
