We are told by the Comptroller of the Currency that $45,000,000 is a large allowance of currency at this moment for the South and West; indeed, I believe he puts the limit at $40,000,000. Now suppose only $40,000,000 are taken up during the coming year,--that is, till the completion of the census; that would leave $5,000,000 still outstanding, which might be employed for the benefit of the South and West. That circumstance indicates to a certain extent the financial condition of those parts of the country. Do they need larger facilities, and, if so, to what extent? Can you determine in advance? I doubt it. But, Sir, in the face of this uncertainty, this bill steps in and declares positively that “a new apportionment shall be made as soon as practicable, based upon the census of 1870.” What will be the effect of such a new apportionment? Even according to the census of 1860, such new apportionment would transfer some sixty million dollars from banks that enjoy it to other parts of the country; it would take away from those banks what they want, and transfer it where it is not wanted. The language is imperative. But, Sir, it is not to be under the census of 1860, but under the census of 1870; and unless figures deceive, by that census the empire of the great West will be more than ever manifest. And if the transfer is made accordingly, it will take some ninety or one hundred million dollars from where it now is, and is needed, and carry it to other places where certainly it will not be needed in the same degree. What will be the effect of such a transfer? Mark, Sir, the statute is mandatory and unconditional. There is no chance for discretion; it is to be done; the transfer is to be made. And now what must be the consequence? A derangement of business which it is difficult to imagine, a contraction of currency instantaneous and spasmodic to the amount of these large sums that I have indicated. I do not shrink from contraction. I am ready to say to the people of Massachusetts, “If the Senate will adopt any policy of contraction that is healthy, well-considered, and with proper conditions, I would recommend its acceptance.” But a contraction like that proposed by this bill, which arbitrarily takes from North and East this vast amount, and transfers it to another part of the country, where it may not be needed, such a contraction I oppose as mischievous. I see no good in it. I see a disturbance of all the channels of business; and I see a contraction which must be itself infinitely detrimental to the financial interests of the Republic.