and deprives the bill holder of the
best security which the banks are able to give by requiring them
to deposit bonds having the least value of any bonds issued by the
Government.

The average rate of taxation of capital employed in banking is more
than double the rate of taxation upon capital employed in other
legitimate business. Under these circumstances, to amend the banking
law so as to deprive the banks of the privilege of securing their
notes by the most valuable bonds issued by the Government will, it is
believed, in a large part of the country, be a practical prohibition
of the organization of new banks and prevent the existing banks from
enlarging their capital. The national banking system, if continued at
all, will be a monopoly in the hands of those already engaged in it,
who may purchase the Government bonds bearing a more favorable rate of
interest than the 3 per cent bonds prior to next July.

To prevent the further organization of banks is to put in jeopardy the
whole system, by taking from it that feature which makes it, as it
now is, a banking system free upon the same terms to all who wish
to engage in it. Even the existing banks will be in danger of being
driven from business by the additional disadvantages to which they
will be subjected by this bill. In short, I can not but regard
the fifth section of the bill as a step in the direction of the
destruction of the national banking system.

Our country, after a long period of business depression, has just
entered upon a career of unexampled prosperity.

The withdrawal of the currency from circulation of the national
banks, and the enforced winding up of the banks in consequence, would
inevitably bring serious embarrassment and disaster to the business
of the country. Banks of issue are essential instruments of modern
commerce. If the present efficient and admirable system of banking is
broken down, it will inevitably be followed by a recurrence to other
and inferior methods of banking. Any measure looking to such a result
will be a disturbing element in our financial system. It will destroy
confidence and surely check the growing prosperity of the country.

Believing that a measure for refunding the national debt is not
necessarily connected with the national banking law, and that any
refunding act would defeat its own object if it imperiled the national
banking system or seriously impaired its usefulness, and convinced
that section 5 of the bi