order at the present time. The question now
is upon the amendment of the gentleman
from Baltimore county (Mr. Ridgely.)
Mr. MILLER Before the vote is taken upon
the amendment of the gentleman from Balti-
more county (Mr. Ridgely,) I desire to state
that I would vote for it if this section is to
stand as it has been amended. But if the sec-
tion is to be restored to its original condition,
I would vote against the pending amendment,
and I cannot vote understandingly until that
question is determined.
The PRESIDENT. It is not within the prov-
ince of the chair to determine what action
the Convention will take upon any question.
Mr. MILLER. If the section is to stand as
it was amended yesterday on motion of the
gentleman from Frederick (Mr.Schley,) then it
is but a matter of justice that provision should
be made to have this restriction upon bank-
ing go into effect equally upon all the banking
institutions in the State. If it is the under-
standing of the Convention that this amend-
ment shall be voted down for the purpose of
restoring the section as it originally stood,
then I will vote against this amendment.
The question being then taken upon the
amendment submitted by Mr. RIDGELY, it was
rejected.
Mr. SANDS moved to reconsider the vote by
which the Convention, on yesterday, adopted
the following amendment submitted by Mr
SCHLEY :
Insert in section forty-two after the words
" liabilities upon bill, note or otherwise," the
words—
"and on the further condition that said
charter, or renewal of such existing corpora-
tion, shall not authorize the issue of paper
money as a circulating medium, so long as the
United States shall provide by law a national
paper currency."
The question was upon agreeing to the mo-
tion to reconsider.
Mr. ABBOTT. I hope that amendment will
not be reconsidered. It appears lo me that
this section is now in just the condition in
which we ought to leave it. It does not af-
fect existing banks now, and will not affect
any of them at any time until their charters
expire. And as they expire at different pe-
riods, running through a period of eighteen
or nineteen years, one or two banks going out
of existence next year, or the year after,
cannot affect the currency of our State, espe-
cially since the Government of the United
States has made provision for a currency
throughout the United States.
The section as it now stands simply makes
provision for our banks to .go into operation
under the United States banking law, when-
ever their charters shall expire, or before if
they see proper. Now, if we leave it discre-
tionary with the Legislature to go on char-
tering as many banking institutions in this
State as they please, then we will all the |
time have a currency conflicting with that of
the United States.
I recollect very well the time when we had
a United States Bank, and you could go with
its notes to any part of the world as well as
you could go with gold and silver. Now I
want to see the time again when we shall
have. a uniform national currency, and not
the currency of these little State institutions,
which are good for the amount on their face
only within fifty or one hundred miles of
where the banks are located.
I do not desire to interfere with any of the
banks as they now exist. But if some bank
charters expire within one, three, or five
years, and others are to continue for ten or
twenty years, I do not think it a matter with
which this Convention has anything more to
do than it has with the difference in age of
the people who are to live under this Consti-
tution. These institutions have been char-
tered for a given period of time, and have
thereby acquired vested rights which cannot
be taken away from them. But it is within
the power of this Convention to say to the
Legislature that they shall net re-charter
them when their present charters have expired.
That is all this section provides for as it now
stands; and I look upon it as one of the
best sections which have been passed by this
Convention.
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll. I hope the motion
to reconsider will prevail. The gentleman
from Baltimore city (Mr. Abbott) who, I sup-
pose is interested in city banks, has said that
the circulation of country banks is not avail-
able fifty or a hundred miles beyond their lo-
cation
Mr. ABBOTT. I did not say country banks;
I said State banks.
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll. Now, I state that
the banks in the county from which I come
are quite as good and quite as reliable as the
banks of the city of Baltimore, and their
circulation passes quite as current in the State
and outside of it, as the circulation of the Bal-
timore city banks. I look upon the action of
the Convention on yesterday as an attempt
upon the part of the city of Baltimore, to
put out of existence all the country banks,
and consolidate all the moneyed interests of
the State in the city of Baltimore. That I
think is entirely wrong.
In our county almost every man is inter-
ested in the bank there. As was stated in
debite here yesterday, men who had no
money, but had characters for ability, integ-
rity, and honesty, have been aided and
assisted by these county banks, and enabled
to make fortunes. Then, what is the use of
our trying to strike down these banks? Let
them operate according to their own judg-
ment; let the officers of those banks use their
discretion in this matter; and let them, when
their charters expire, or before, determine |
