$7,188,393 $128,030 $8,467,682 $5,646,088 508 86,782,802 7,992,678 $45,260,504 1,513 393,157,206 71,063,659 171,321,903 $1,446,608 122,166,537 93,238,658 27,622,300 10,229,757 111,831,104 628,858,027 877,197,923 23,629,850 19,868,469 113,132,663 640,015,999 944,220,116 28,005,250 21,240,945 122,846,946 28,087,150 8,050,330 125,268,734 683,815,255 954,394,792 679,361,881 984,691,4:4 47,840,150 21,360.767 113,420,847 666,237,499 931,304,714 44,991,700 22,658,820 99,330,684 630,377,388 891,920,594 94,722,450 668,352,174 833,988,451 71,146,750 736,884,369 878,503,097 887,883,067,040,977,268 1,086,942,370 1,173,796,083 90,054,461 1,408,833,600 1,684,180,624 99,697,093 1,525,592,874 1,817,257,703 86,759,731 1,597,070,082 1,986,058,320 113,335,608 1,610,039,150 2,005,463,206 118,262,945 1,783,184,728 2,171,041,088 1,468,321,602 1,843,634,168 165,644,028 1,744,736,512 2,007,122,191 1,716,865,788 2,059,408,402 1,614,728,109 1,893,268,839 1,871,274,362 2,066,776,114 30,688,607 97,118,600 Bank checks and bank notes.-Bank checks and drafts and bank notes constitute by far the most important part of our currency. On January 1, 1898, the total volume of our circulation was as follows: The volume of bank currency, therefore, was more than double that of the non-bank currency. Moreover, it did a vastly larger proportion of the actual work of commerce. Careful investigations have been made from time to time by the Comptroller of the Currency to determine the actual usefulness as currency of our various forms of money. The last investigation was made on July 1, 1896. It showed that of every $100 of business transacted through the banks the different forms of money were used in the following proportions: Gold, 60 cents; silver, 50 cents; greenbacks, silver certificates, Treasury notes, and national-bank notes, $6.30; bank checks, drafts, etc., $92,50. And the clearing-house returns of the country show that the bank checks and drafts constitute a currency which performs transactions in the exchange of property amounting to over $50,000,000,000 a year. And a great many checks, estimated at $20,000,000,000 are used as currency each year, which do not go through the clearing houses. It is very important to note in this connection that a bank check and a bank note are practically the same thing. Both are obligations of the bank payable on demand, and both, without being legal tender, perform admirably the work of money as a medium of exchange. But, notwithstanding this identity, there is a great difference in the amount of service rendered, that of the check and draft being scores of times that of the note. This is partly due to the superior safety of payment by check or draft by reason of their being collectible only by the person named as payee and upon his indorsement, which indorsement becomes a receipt. Bank clearances since 1892.-A very wholesome indication of * In national, State, and private banks; but this does not include deposits in savings banks, or any other deposits not subject to check. reviving confidence among business men is afforded by the condition of the bank clearances in the country outside of New York since the passage of the Dingley bill, compared with the period covering the operation of the Wilson act for several years. These clearances reached the two-billion mark in September, 1897, under McKinley, for the first time in nineteen months, except the month of December, 1896. Down to May, 1893, they ran steadily at that mark, but from May, 1893, to October, 1894, remained stationary at less than two billions. That month they again touched the limit, going down, however, to their old figure during November and December, recovering in January, 1895, lapsing back to the one-billion figure in February, March, and April. They touched two billions only eleven times during the entire four years of the Cleveland Administration from March, 1893, to March 1897. That was in April and May, 1893; October, 1894; January, May, July, October, November, December, 1895, and January and December, 1896. They rose to the two-billion mark one month after the passage of the Dingley act, and from August, 1897, to February, 1898-six months-have continuously remained at that figure. For New York City the bank clearances reached the three-billion mark but once during the Cleveland Administration. They were stationary at that figure January, February, and March, 1893, fell to two in April, went back to three in May, and thereafter fluctuated between one and two for upward of four years, until September, 1897. Since then they have never fallen below three billions, going to $3,690,282,724 in January, 1898, the highest since 1892. Bank clearances, 1898.—The bank clearances of the leading cities are justly regarded as a reliable barometer of the business condition of the country. The following table, compiled by Bradstreet, shows the bank clearings at eighty-nine cities for the week ended June 9, with the percentage of increase and decrease, as compared with the corresponding week last year: Savings banks and deposits.-There were 5,201,132 depositors in savings banks in the United States in 1896-97, having on deposit in these institutions the aggregate sum of $1,939,376,035, exclusive of deposits subject to check, which in 1897 alone amounted to $44,037,529, and there was due to each depositor $663. These five million depositors with nearly two billion dollars to their credit in bank, according to the doctrines preached by the Bryan Democrats, belong to the hated "money power," which is seeking to oppress labor and to rob the blistered hand of toil that wields the plow handle. This money is not cornered in any one section. The army of savings-bank depositors is scattered over the entire country. It can hardly be maintained that individually those who put their savings in a savings bank are rich men, who employ their wealth to do evil to their fellow-men; yet collectively their accumulated savings form a large capital, nearly equal to the total deposits of the national banks, which were $2,195,700,000 October 5, 1897. Bank's Part in Farming.-How does a bank help the farmer? How does a bank help the farmer? With the approach of the time for plowing and planting, seeds and fertilizer will be necessary. How can the farmer buy them if the last season was a poor one? He has spent all of his earnings in running the household during the long winter. He goes to the dealer in fertilizer in the nearest village and asks: "What is the price of fertilizer a ton?" "Fifty dollars," the dealer replies. "Well, I will need two tons, and that will amount to $100." "Yes. Take it along now." "I haven't the ready cash just now, but "Oh, that's all right. I know you're good for it. Take it along, and give me your note payable in four months. By that time your crops will be yielding a profit." The farmer gives his note, the dealer indorses it and gives it in payment to the wholesaler from whom he gets the fertilizer; the wholesaler sends it to the manufacturer of the fertilizer, who in turn takes it to his bank and borrows the money on it less the interest. The farmer gets his seed in the same way, and at the time of the expiration of the notes is able to meet his obligations. Thus, instead of the farmer being compelled to wait until he can get the cash to pay before he can buy the fertilizer and seed, he obtains them when he needs them. The dealer, instead of having to wait until the farmer gets the money before he can sell his goods, sells them in the proper season and receives what is to him practically cash. The wholesaler receives from |