710. BANKS, Government Deposits and.—
The application of the Bank of Baltimore
is of great importance. The consideration
is very weighty that it is held by citizens,
while the stock of the United States bank is
held in so great a proportion by foreigners.
Were the Bank of the United States to swallow
up the others and monopolize the whole
banking business of the United States, which
the demands we furnish them with tend
shortly to favor, we might, on a misunderstanding
with a foreign power, be immensely
embarrassed by any disaffection in that bank.
It is certainly for the public good to keep all
the banks competitors for our favors by a judicious
distribution of them, and thus to engage
the individuals who belong to them in
the support of the reformed order of things,
or at least in an acquiescence under it. I
suppose that, on the condition of participating
in the deposits, the banks would be willing to
make such communications of their operations
and the state of their affairs as might
satisfy the Secretary of the Treasury of their
stability. It is recommended to Mr. Gallatin
to leave such an opening in his answer to this
letter, as to leave us free to do hereafter what
shall be advisable on a broad view of all the
banks in the different parts of the Union.—
To Albert Gallatin.
Ford ed., viii, 172.
(Oct. 1802)
