To the General Government was confided by the framers of the Constitution the power to ‘coin money, and regulate the value thereof;’ and the States were forbidden to ‘emit bills of credit;’ from which we may infer that it was intended to place the control of the currency in the hands of the General Government.  It will be generally conceded that it would be wiser to have one central point of issue than several hundred as at present.  There should be but one form for, and one source of, the currency.  It should emanate from a source where the power cannot be abused, and where the interests of the people at large, and not of individuals, will be consulted.

The people have thus an interest at stake.  It is for their benefit that a national circulation, of a perfectly reliable character, should be established.  The remark made by Sir Robert Peel, in parliament, in May, 1844, at the time of the recharter of the bank, applies with equal force to the national currency of this or any other country.

’There is no contract, public or private, national or individual, which is unaffected by it.  The enterprises of trade—­the arrangements made in all the domestic relations of society—­the wages of labor—­pecuniary transactions of the highest amount and the lowest—­the payment of the national debt—­the provision for the national expenditure—­the command which the coin of the lowest denomination has over the necessaries of life—­are all affected by the decision to which we may come.’

Sir Robert Peel wisely comprehended the powers and attributes of a national currency, and we may wisely adopt his idea that such a national currency, controlled by the national legislature, for the use and benefit of the people, is the only one that can be safely adopted.

* * * * *

The national banking system established by Congress, 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.