Mr. SHERMAN. I hope the amendment of the Senfrom Vermont will not be inserted because it will surely defeat the purpose of this provision. This is intended to make it the interest of old banks to get in their notes. If the provision is not put in, if they are only taxed upon their old circulation what they would be upon their new, they will naturally keep out the old circulation on which there is a greater proportion of profit, and it is very easily done through the agency of abroker. We have gone through the process in the State of Ohio. When the national banking system was started we had some 6 or 8 millions of banking capital in the State Bank and branches. They protested loudly that they could not get in their circulation, that the tax was unjust upon them; but the result of the gentle iressure which we put upon them in the form o taxation has been to compel them substantially to retire their whole circulation. T he bank presidents said it would take ten years to retire their circulation, but they have found means to get it in within 2 or 3 years. If new you relieve them from the effect of this tax they will by some indirect means manage to keep out their circulation and inflate the currency. One of our objects is to compel a uniform national standard of currency, to retire all the State currency, and to make it the interest of the old banks to retire their currency. For that reason we put a very heavy penal tax upon them, a tax of 10%. on the amount of their circulation, and the result of that tax has been very useful throughout the U.S., so that the State bank circulation has now fallen from 170 or 180 million dollars, which was its amount at the beginning of this system, to a very low sum, and probably by the 1st. of July, or within a mouth or 2 afterward, it will all be retired. This amendment of the committee modifies the tax by reducing it from ten to 3%., which is not a very severe burden upon them. Besides, upon all this circulation now outstanding they are getting an interest of not less than 6 perccut and we simply repose that the Government shall share with themthe profit thus derived from their circulation, we taking 3% and leaving them 3%. As the Government has now stepped in and assumed the business of furnishing a currency to the people, I think it is but reasonable that the Government should share the profit derived by the old banks from their currency not yet retired. I see the difficulty suggested by the Senfrom Vermont; butI think, if you still leave it the interest of these banks to get their old currency in, in order to get their new currency out, they will find some means of getting the old in.