anized. A short time
before the charter of the United-States Bank expired, a State
charter was obtained from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, under
which the bank continued business until 1841, when its affairs were
wound up with heavy loss to the stockholders.

THE UNITED-STATES BANKS,--1791-1816.

These brief outlines of the charters of the United-States banks of
1791 and 1816 show how entirely dissimilar they were in many
essentials from the system of national banks established under the
Acts of 1863 and 1864. In the first the government was a large
stockholder and the officers of the Treasury practically directed
all the operations and all the details of the bank. In the system
now prevailing the government cannot be a stockholder, and takes
no part in the management of banks except to see that the laws are
complied with and that the safeguards for the public are rigidly
maintained. An especially odious feature in the United-States Bank
was the favoritism shown in its loans, by which it constantly tended
to debauch the public service. Political friends of the institution
were too often accommodated on easy terms, and legitimate banking
was thus rendered impossible. No such abuse is practicable under
the present system. Indeed there is such an entire absence of it
that the opponents of the National banks have not even brought the
accusation.

There was special care taken to place the Currency Bureau entirely
beyond partisan influence. The misfortunes which had come upon
the United-States Bank from its connection with party interests
were fully appreciated by the wise legislators who drafted the
National Bank Act. They determined to guard against the recurrence
of the calamities which destroyed the former system. The original
Act of 1863, organizing the National system, provided that the
Comptroller of the Currency should be appointed by the President
upon the nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury, and, unlike
any other Federal officer at that time, his term was fixed at five
years. This period of service was established in order that it
should not come to an end with the Presidential term. It was also
specifically provided, long in advance of the tenure-of-office Act,
that the President could not remove the Comptroller unless with
the advice and consent of the Senate. The Comptroller was thus
excepted by statute from that long list of officers who were for