We are warranted, then, in affirming that this parody on the
principle of 'a public debt being a public blessing,' and its mutation
into the blessing of private instead of public debts, is as ridiculous
as the original principle itself. In both cases, the truth is, that
capital may be produced by industry, and accumulated by economy: but
jugglers only will propose to create it by legerdemain tricks with
paper. I have called the actual circulation of bank paper in the United
States, two hundred millions of dollars. I do not recollect where I have
seen this estimate; but I retain the impression that I thought it just
at the time. It may be tested, however, by a list of the banks now in
the United States, and the amount of their capital. I have no means of
recurring to such a list for the present day: but I turn to two lists in
my possession for the years of 1803 and 1804.
In 1803, there were thirty-four banks, whose capital was $28,902,000
In 1804, there were sixty-six, consequently thirty-two additional ones.
Their capital is not stated, but at the average of the others (excluding
the highest, that of the United States, which was of ten millions)
they would be of six hundred thousand dollars each, and
add.........19,200,000
Making a total of........ $48,102,000
or say, of fifty millions in round numbers. Now every one knows the
immense multiplication of these institutions since 1804.
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