They seek for their capital some means of safe and permanent investment. The money which has been taken for goods is government paper, and the indisposition to reinvest it in goods makes it apparently very abundant, and it is attracted only into railroad and other stocks. It is obvious that this process must have an end, which will give signs of its approach in a positive dearth of goods, brought about by non-importation and nonproduction. The depreciation of the paper will then go on in the double process of increased supply and dearth of commodities. The ability of the great agricultural classes to consume goods is very small, since the rise in their produce bears no proportion to the advance in the supplies they purchase. We may turn to the Cincinnati market Thus in 1861 the farmer, for 1 bbl. pork, 1 bush. corn, and 1 bush. wheat, could get in Cincinnati 100 lbs. of sugar and coffee and 70 yards of shirting. To obtain the same articles now, he must give 2 bbls. pork, 20 bush. corn, and 14 bush. wheat, or, in other words, a bbl. of pork, in 1861, was worth 240 lbs. of coffee; it is now worth 40 lbs. A bbl. of pork was then worth, in Cincinnati, 154 yards of shirting; it is now worth 33 yards. These figures indicate how severely the rise in goods presses upon the consuming classes, and therefore how great must be the reaction upon the demand in first hands. It is to be borne in mind that this state of things takes place after a year of the most extraordinary exports of grain, when prices ought to have been higher. The quantity has been so great, however, in consequence of the closing of the rivers, as to counteract the effect of the currency upon produce. The usual influence of such a state of affairs has been to produce that extraordinary abundance of money which has so long prevailed, at the same time that the import trade begins to flag. The amount of imports for the month has been as follows : January. March.. April...... IMPORTS, PORT OF NEW YORK. -Entered for Specie. Free goods. Consumption. Warehouse. Total. $101,906 $2,413,649 $8,741,227 $4,482,794 $15,789,676 213,971 783,561 7,372,539 3,657,775 12,087,846 123,616 107,081 1,328,806 11,461,572 3,454,530 16,370,524 1,828,216 9,493,830 6,456,208 17,385,315 Total 4 months 66 1862.... $600,551 $5,854,232 $37,069,168 $15,293,396 $61,523,261 341,144 6,758,381 34,716,535 12,690,406 57,974,120 The quantity of goods sent into warehouse was large in April. The value imported was indeed large under the influence of the activity of February; but that had passed away on the arrival of the goods, and they went into warehouse, to some extent, perhaps, for re-shipment. The duties for the month were $3,957,198 on $13,626,463 worth of goods, being an average of about 30 per cent, against $4,140,952 of duties, or an average of 35 per cent, last year. The exports from the port have been as follows: April...... 1,972,834 74,949 375,224 11,581,933 14,004,940 Total 4 months $17,148,514 $405,634 $2,411,774 $59,829,606 $79,795,521 66 1862.... 12,944,001 197,497 1,424,845 56,249,767 53,685,791 The exports of the month have suffered some diminution by reason of the declining prices abroad and the decline in exchange, accompanied by a rise in freights. From the sum of the domestic exports for April must be deducted one third for depreciation of currency, and there remains about $10,000,000, as the cash value realized to meet an import value of $17,000,000, showing an apparent adverse balance of some $5,000,000 after the shipments in coin. This has to some extent been met by the realization of exchange held on speculation. There has been also some diminution of the amount of money required to be remitted abroad for the use of Americans there residing, since the high rate which they are compelled to pay for exchange diminishes their revenues one third and compels many to return. There has also been some reinvestments of foreign capital here, for the reason that, after getting interest the last year in paper, they would now lose one third the principal by withdrawing it; hence it is re-loaned for a term of years in the hope of resumption of specie payments, although the interest may during some years be paid in depreciated paper. The specie movement during the month has been as follows: The receipts from California continued small, and the exports also declined. The disposition to realise bills caused a decline from the specie basis of bills in some cases. The rate in coin had been 110 premium, and for paper the price was the premium of gold added. Some houses were disposed to sell at less than 110 for coin, for a short time, since the supply of bills drawn against gold shipped direct from California was greater, and those bills could be sold less than if drawn against shipments of gold from New York. The shipments of specie hence, however, continued to exceed the receipts. The rates of exchange were as follows: The disbursements of the Federal Government, added to the general realisation of goods, and the indisposition to sell on credit, caused a continued increase in the abundance of money, and this fact inanifested itself in increased stock speculations. The Treasury Department did not make any decided movement towards a more regular financial policy, but it effected the negotiation of some of the $500,000,000 of 5-20 bonds authorized. It will be remembered that the law authorizing these bonds restricted the sale to market value, and allowed of their conversion at par for greenbacks. The Secretary in his annual report stated that these provisions were obstacles to the negotiation, because they allowed no profit to large jobbers, and asked for their repeal. This request was complied with, and the Secretary was allowed to make such private bargains as he deemed good. Soon after his visit to New York, the conversions were represented as large, but at what rates he had made private bargains was not known. Between April 1st and May 28th, $47,000,000 of 1-year certificates fell due, and were paid. This large amount of money found employment in deposit certificates, and to some extent in conversions, Many new 1-year certificates were issued, but the interest, as well as that on the deposits, is no longer paid in gold. The prices of government stocks were as follows: The public debt at different periods has been as follows: Stocks.. Stocks. Stocks, 5-20 Bonds..... UNITED STATES NATIONAL DEBT. .5 per cent .6 per cent 6 per cent ..7 3-10 per cent Treasury notes... .....6 per cent Total........ Dec., 1861. May, 1862. July, 1862. Jan., 1863. May 8, 1863. 880,595,092 $30,395,092 $30,595,092 $30,595,092 $30,595,092 89,929,856 100,000 000 90,500,406 90.620,555 87,765,191 87,780,000 2,699,400 18,974,950 25,050,850 81,452,812 120,523,450 122,836,550 139,996,950 189,996,950 3,882,162 2,830,641 3,267,511 2,700,000 47.199.000 49,881.980 110,321,241 150,231,126 50,778,567 57,746,106 80,235,636 100,000,000 24,550,320 145,880,000 149,660,000 244,366,251 399,900,956 $267,540,035 $491,448,984 $514,211,871 $721,668,727 $992,381,886 The general stock market continued to show the most active excitement up to the second week in May, when the high prices created uneasiness. Brokers required large margins from clients, and many refused to lend at all on fancy stocks. The market then gradually gave way, while money became in active demand to carry stocks. The deposits for conversion continued, under the interest created by the private takers of the stock from the government. The table of debt shows that since May last year the debt has increased $501,000,000, of which $400,000,000 has been paper money and temporary debt. There have been organized a number of banks under the new banking law, from the multiplication of which a demand for government stocks is hoped for. The limit of the law is $300,000,000 in bank notes, and should all of them be issued, it is inferred that they will supplant the old bank notes entirely. SAVINGS BANKS-THEIR HISTORY. UNCLAIMED DEPOSITS AND SURPLUS MONEYS. THERE are no State institutions more deserving of encouragement, in our opinion, than Savings Banks, for the benefits conferred by them are incaleulable. Not only are they useful to the depositor, as places of security for money that might otherwise be lost, stolen, or squandered, but they bring into active employment these various small sums which would have remained unproductive in the hands of private individuals, thus granting facilities to trade and commerce. Probably the wonderful progress our country has made the last fifty years is owing as much to the combination or co-operation of individual capital, brought about by just such means, as to any other single cause. We find much useful and interesting information respecting Savings Institutions in a report prepared by WM. D. MURPHY, Esq., of New York, from which we have drawn largely for what follows. HISTORY OF SAVINGS BANKS IN EUROPE. The first savings bank is claimed to have been founded at Hamburg, in Germany, as early as 1778, though it had generally been supposed that the first institution of the kind was formed at Berne, in Switzerland, in 1789. The credit of introducing them in Great Britain is claimed on behalf of several different persons; but there doubtless may be earlier unrecorded instances of arrangements having been made to receive small savings from the poor and to return them on demand with interest. In 1798, a "Friendly Society for the Benefit of Women and Children,” was established at Tottenham High Cross, under the superintendence of Mrs. PRISCILLA WAKEFIELD; and before 1801 there had been combined with its main design other objects, viz., a fund for loans and a bank for savings. In 1804, this bank for savings was more regularly organized, and trustees were appointed. A prior claim, however, is raised in behalf of the Rev. JOSEPH SMITH, of Wendover, who, in 1799, circulated in his parish proposals to receive any sums on deposit during the summer, and “to return the amount at Christmas, with the addition of one-third to the whole as a bounty upon the depositors' economy." The society next formed, of which we have any account, was opened in 1808, at Bath, for receiving deposits from female servants, and was instituted chiefly through the instrumentality of ladies. Previous to this, however, the Provident Institution of London was established, in 1806. In 1810, the first savings bank, in Scotland, was formed, by the Rev. HENRY DUNCAN, minister of Ruthwell, Dumfrieshire. Various interesting papers were published by him on the subject of establishing banks for savings in the different parishes of the country, and the regular and simple organization of his "Parish Bank" served as a model for other institutions. He communicated the rules by which it was governed to the Edinburgh Society for the suppression of Mendicity, and the result was the establishment, in 1814, of the Edinburgh Savings Bank. Similar institutions were about the same time commenced at Kelso and Howick, and in November, 1815, the Provident Institution of Southampton was established. |