Page:A History of Banking in the United States.djvu/322

 perfectly satisfied and voted to resume at New Year. All that he had told them was that he was printing bits of paper with which to buy the great staple of Louisiana; that these bits of paper would presently appear in their banks and that they might keep them and use them "in the place of specie" as long as they chose.

In regard to the operations and influence of the United States Bank in Mississippi the Bank Commissioners of that State, in their report of 1838 on the Brandon Bank, said: "The [Brandon] bank purchased with New Orleans funds of the agent of Mr. Biddle $75,000 of the notes of the defunct Bank of the United States. By this transaction $7,500 was realized by the Brandon Bank. Mr. Biddle's agent, in consideration of receiving New Orleans funds for notes that no one was compelled to redeem, exchanged an equal amount of Mississippi River bank notes." If this traffic is allowed, why may not Biddle in another season send notes enough to buy the whole cotton crop with notes which no one is bound to redeem? "It is common to hear persons speak of the liberality of Mr. Biddle's bank and that the southern banks must rely upon him to enable them to resume specie payment. So far from his having given support, the banks of this State have, with one exception, suffered by their connection with him; for he has repeatedly dishonored checks with funds in his possession, and it is believed that he has bought up at a discount the notes of those banks that have confided in him, and placed them against the proceeds of sterling bills on which they had expected to check. We are strengthened in this opinion from the fact that the name of one of the persons who attached funds of the Brandon Bank in the possession of Mr. Biddle is the same as that of one of his agents in Philadelphia." Biddle said that he dishonored the checks of the Brandon Bank, although he held its funds far beyond the amount of the attachment, for fear that, if it was known that he held funds of the bank, further attachments would be made. The Commissioners do not accept this justification and imply that he wanted to lay hands on the balance. "As he was preparing to resume about that time, perhaps he yielded to the law of necessity."

Wherever the investigator comes on any of the questionable banking or State financiering of the period, there he is very sure to find the United States Bank or some members of the Bank clique in the midst of it.

John Ingersoll issued a circular in Mississipi, October 22d, asking for consignments to Humphreys & Biddle, on which he would make a fair advance, for the purpose of holding the cotton over until the next summer, if desirable, in order to realize the highest possible price. Beyart & Humphreys published a denial that Ingersoll had any authority from Humphreys & Biddle, but they stated that all persons who would ship cotton to that house might draw upon them at sixty days for two-thirds of the price, selling the bills with the bills of lading in the open market at the current rate of the day.