_To the honorable the President of the Senate_:
The Secretary of the Treasury, in obedience to the resolution
of the Senate, of the 2d instant, respectfully reports--
That the statement annexed to the report made to the Senate on
the 2d day of March, 1809, contained all the dividends made by
the Bank of the United States, from its establishment to the
date of the report, as stated to the Treasury by the bank.
That the annexed table, (A,) being a transcript of the
above-mentioned statement, with the addition of the dividends
made on the 1st day of July, 1809, and on the first day of
January last, embraces not only the semi-annual dividends of 4
per cent., but also all the extra dividends which are within
the knowledge of this Department, and which, it is believed,
have ever been made by the bank; making, in the whole, an
average of 8 13-36 per cent. a year.
That there remained to the credit of the bank, after payment of
the dividend made on the first day of January last, a surplus
of $409,410, consisting of two items, viz: $125,000, designated
by the name of "General Bank Estate," intended as an offset
against decay and presumed loss, in case of sale of the real
estate of the bank--that estate having been paid for from
the capital stock, and not from the profits of the bank; and
$284,410, designated by the name of "Contingent Fund," intended
in the first place to cover losses arising from bad debts, not
yet actually lost; and the residue of which, if any, will be
applicable to another extra dividend.
That the nominal profit resulting to the bank, from each of
its offices of discount and deposit, could not be ascertained
without an investigation of all the weekly returns made to this
Department; and that there are no returns from which the actual
loss sustained by each office can be known.
But, that the statement (B) shows the permanent capital given
to each office of discount and deposit; the balance due in
account current by the offices of the bank, (exclusive and in
addition to the said permanent capital,) on the 27th day of
March last; the amount of the notes actually discounted and
due to the bank by the last returns, specifying the amount
discounted at Philadelphia, and at each office respectively;
and an estimate of the gross amount of the annual expenses and
losses of the bank, including its several offices, by which it
appears that the annual expenses, being about $125,000 a year,
the ascertained losses must in the whole have amounted to about
$35,000 a year.
All which is respectfully submitted.