One of an edition of three hundredand ten books, of which this is number

The paper on which this bookis printed is hand-made, and ofpure linen. Experts have placedits age at over one hundred years,altho, without a watermark, thiscannot be definitely determined.

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ANDREW JACKSONand the

BANK OF THE UNITED STATES

cAn interesting bit ofhistory concerning"Old hickory"

By the lateStan V. Henkels

Trivatdy Printed in 1928for

Stan V. Henkels, Junior

COPYRIGHT, 1928, Scan V. Hcnlccb, Jr.

FOREWORD

Having so often heard my father, affec-tionately Jmoum as "the only unreconstruct-ed rebel north of the Mason -Dtscon line,"spin this yarn, and finding it among hismemoirs, I decided to publish it as the firstof a series.

This bit deals unth the second UnitedStates Bank. Mr. Nicholas Biddle wasPresident of the institution and led thelong and bitter struggle between the nation'schief executive and the Directors of thebanh.

Stan V. Henkels, Jr.

PhiladelphiaNovember 1st, 1928.

N•o

"•• . - • : • • - ' • '- ' . - • • > • . . '

About the year 1883 a client of minespent several hours in my office examininga box of old papers which he had recentlybought at auction. Selecting the few thathe wanted, he told me to throw the restaway. Having nothing in particular to do, Ilooked them over. Noticing a roll of close-ly written foolscap, I became curious andexamined its pages more closely. You mayimagine my delight to discover that it wasno less than the original minutes of thecommittee sent to President Jackson, pray-ing that he would not take the charterfrom the Bank of the United States, andwould restore its governmental deposits.The document bore the signatures ofCaleb Cope, Seth Comly, William Struth-ers, and many other noted men of financialstanding in Philadelphia.

This document described the arrival ofthese gentlemen in Washington, and theirreception at the White House. They wereushered into a large room to wait. Present-lyatall, stately man, clothed in black, open-ed the door at the other end of the roomand advanced toward them. He shookhands and said,"Gentlemen, what can I dofor you?" He seated himself at a table andlistened to them closely for nearly an hour.When they had finished, he made no corr-ment and they thought they had won himto their cause.

Then he spoke,"Have you anything moreto say, gentlemen?" They admitted theyhad not. Then he arose from his seat andgave them this answer, "Gentlemen! I toohave been a close observer of the doingsof the Bank of the United States. I havehad men watching you for a long time., andam convinced that you have used the fundsof the bank to speculate in the breadstuffsof the country. When you won, you divid-ed the profits amongst you, and when youlost, you charged it to the bank. You tell

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me that if I take the deposits from thebank and annul its charter I shall ruin tenthousand families. That may be true, gen-tlemen, but that is your sin! Should I letyou go on, you will ruin fifty thousandfamilies, and that would be my sin! Youare a den of vipers and thieves. I have de-termined to rout you out, and by theEternal, (bringing his fist down on thetable) I will rout you out!"

The minutes then recorded that thecommittee were frightened out of theirboots at the vehemence of the Presidentand were glad to get away with their lives.

Well, history tells us that "Old Hickory"carried out his threat. Ruination did notvisit ten thousand families, but the incomesof many of Philadelphia's financiers wereconsiderably reduced. "Old Hickory" wassurely on the right track, for the sameclient once showed me several promissorynotes, some for as much as ten thousanddollars, signed by Daniel Webster, which

had been discounted by the Bank of theUnited States, but never honored by thatgentleman. It is interesting to recall thatthe bank had employed Mr. Webster tomake speeches throughout the countryagainst Andrew Jackson, and in favor ofthe bank. No doubt this accommodationwas given Mr. Webster for his services.

I kept this document in my possessionfor several years. The Historical Society ofPennsylvania refused to be interested andno other buyer could be found. One after-noon, however, on my way home from theoffice I met a reporter on The EveningTelegraph. He asked me if I had anythingnew and interesting, and I saw my chance.I told him about the minutes and intimat-ed that another paper had asked to writethem up. (God forgive me, I told a whitelie!} He begged and pleaded with me to lethim have the story. It appeared the nextafternoon in two columns headed "A Relicof St. Andrew." The article attracted a

good bit of attention and was read by thevenerable Mr. Caleb Cope, at that timePresident of the Seventh Street SavingFund. As the paper stated that I was goingto sell the document in a few days at pub-lic sale, he decided to call upon me. I wasthen connected with Thomas Birch's Sonsat 1110 Chestnut Street and my catalogu-ing room was on the third floor, but thisdid not deter the old gentleman fromclimbing two flights of steep stairs for theprivilege of looking at that paper. I can seehim now, as plainly as if it were yesterday.I handed him the paper. After perusing itfor fifteen or twenty minutes he said,"Stanislaus, I thought those minutes hadbeen destroyed many, many years ago. Yes,that is my signature - and that is Comly's -and Struthers', and all the rest. My, butthose were exciting times. Many othersbeside myself looked upon Andrew Jacksonas a tyrant, but Stanislaus, I lived to seethe day when I could bend my knee and

H ,. : if. •

say, 'God bless Andrew Jackson/ It is tohis great foresight and wisdom that we owethe admirable banking system that we havetoday.'" So spoke one of that "den ofvipers and thieves."

The paper was sold at auction a fewweeks after this incident. It was purchasedby a son of the William Struthers whosigned the minutes, and as far as I know,is in the possession of his family to thisday.

Designed, hand-set and printed by A. B. Weaver, Jr., at theGollifox Press, in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.