, in the year 1863,
at the suggestion of Secretary Chase, of the Treasury Department, is the
initiatory step toward a highly desirable reform in the paper currency
of the country. Already over seventy national banks have been organized,
under the act of Congress, with a combined capital of ten millions of
dollars, whose circulation will have not only a uniform appearance, but
a uniform value throughout the whole country. Numerous others are in
process of organization. To the community at large the new system is
desirable, because it secures to the people a currency of uniform value
and perfect reliability. The notes of these institutions will be at par
in every State in the Union, and holders may rely upon the certainty of
redemption upon demand: whether the institution be solvent or not--in
existence or not--the Government holds adequate security for instant
redemption of all notes issued under the law.

This feature of the paper currency of the country is one that has long
been needed. For the want of it the States have been for many years
crowded with a currency of unequal market value, and of doubtful
security. Added to this is a marked feature of the new system which did
not pertain to the Bank of the United States in its best days. Its
workings are free from individual favoritism. No loans are granted to
political or personal friends, at the risk of the Government, and all
temptation to needless and hurtful expansion is thus destroyed. There is
no mammoth institution, under the control of one or a few individuals,
liable at times to be prostituted to political and personal ends of an
objectionable character. While the banks under the new system are spread
over a large space, they perform what is needed of the best managed
institutions; and although perfectly independent of each other in their
liabilities, expenses, losses, and in their action generally, yet
together they form a practical unit, and will be serviceable in
counteracting that tendency to inflation and speculation which has
marked many years in the commercial history of this country.

We consider the Bank Act of 1863 as one of the most important features
of the Thirty-seventh Congress, and of this Administration. It will
create a link long wanted between the States and Territories, and do
much to strengthen the Union and maintain commercial prosperity. The
country will hereafter honor Secretary Chase for the conception and
success of this scheme, even