years, during the struggle of the late National Bank to prevent a general resumption of specie payments, the clamor for more bank capital "to relieve the wants of the community" at the west, caused a multiplication of institutions in that section, while the Atlantic banks curtailed rapidly. Thus the New York banks reduced, between 1837 and 1841, their loans from $79,000,000 to $52,000,000, while the Mississippi banks in precisely the same period, increased their loans from $19,000,000 to $50,000,000. The banks of the Union, as a whole, began to expand in 1831, culminated in 1837, reached their lowest point of depression in 1843, and have since gone on to expand. These four periods are as follows: The specie in the banks is withdrawn from circulation and supplanted by bank paper. In 1830 the excess of the paper supplied by the banks over the specie withdrawn by them from speculation, was $39,000,000; in 1837, $111,000,000; in 1843, $25,000,000, and in 1850, $106,000,000; hence the credit circulation is now not so large as in 1837, by $5,000,000; but it has increased $81,000,000 since 1843, or at the rate of $11,000,000 per annum. The bank capital has not followed the same law as the credits. It has raised as follows: In the six years ending with 1846, $161,548,383 of bank capital went into liqui dation, being for the most part a total loss. In the ten years ending with 1840, it appears that $213,250,42 was invested in banks and lost. It was loaned to those who had eaten and drank it up without having produced any equivalent, and the accounts were mostly wiped out by the bankrupt act of 1841. In the ten years which have closed with 1850, an entirely different state of affairs presented itself. Comparatively no capital was invested in banks, but very large sums in the means of communication. The length and cost of railways and vessels were as follows for the United States: In addition to this, there has been, in round numbers, $60,000,000 expended in canals and plank-roads, and the aggregate makes $260,686,500, to which add the $30,174,765 of increased bank capital, and $60,000,000, the cost of the Mexican war, and the tables will compare with similar expenditures, in the previous decade as follows: All the bank capital, and the expense the Florida war incurred, in the previous decade, were a total loss, amounting to not less than $250,000,000 of what had been the accumulated capital of the country. There remained $100,000,000 spent on canals and railroads, much of which was lost, as was the six or seven millions spent on the Erie Railroad for work, very little of which was available when the work was resumed. Probably with the shipping, $100,000,000, or 25 per cent of the expenditure of that decade, for the objects named, remained good at its close. On the other hand, all the expenditure of the last decade are yielding continually increasing profits. As for instance, the Massachusetts railroads : An amount equal to $34,000,000 spent in Massachusetts alone gives an average income of 6 per cent, against 5, in 1842. The only apparently wasteful expenditure in the last ten years, has been the Mexican war; and yet that investment is paying better than all the others. California has supplied the amount in gold already. All the railroads, plank-roads, and canals, in addition to the large dividends they yield, impart, by their collateral influence, a sum equal to their cost, to the property with which they connect. Under these circumstances, we take our departure, in this sixth decade of the century, under entirely different prospects from those which ushered in the fifth. JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. CONDITION OF THE STATE BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1850. In the Merchants' Magazine for December, 1850, (vol. xxiii., pages 670-674,) we published several tables compiled from returns made to the Department of the Treasury at Washington, from 1834 to 1850, inclusive. These returns, which were made under a resolution of Congress, were printed by order of that body annually from 1884 to 1841, and between that time and 1845, although made were not printed, as they were not ordered by Congress. By strenuous exertions, as we learn by an intelligent correspondent of the Evening Post, the annual report from the Treasury Department on the condition of the Banks was completed on the 24th of February, 1851, and sent forthwith to the House, on the last day of the session. Then some member from the State of New York rose and opposed the printing, on the ground, as is said, that as the Government was no longer connected with the banks, it was unnecessary to be at the expense of printing this document. There was no time for discussing this question, and as a consequence, this report, the most complete yet prepared, so far as regards the number of banks from which returns have been received, is lost to all those who take any interest in this important branch of statistics. The correspondent of the Post, however, has obtained copies of the general table, and these corrected by adding to them the accounts of one important bank, the returns from which were obtained after the report was sent to the House, we here subjoin. A GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES, ACCORDING TO RETURNS DATED NEAREST TO JANUARY 1ST, 1851. STATES. New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island New York New Jersey North Carolina.. Georgia..... Michigan... Total...... Appendix. Stocks. Other Due by Notes of Date. 1850-Oct.... No. of No. of banks. br'nch's. Loans and Real 32 Capital. $3,248,000 discounts. Estate. Investments. $5,830,230 $111,905 other banks. other b'nks. $778,955 $187,435 Dec.... 22 ... 2,375,900 3,821,120 43,670 447,453 91,444 Aug.. 27 2,197,240 4,428,719 $40,500 94,497 Sept... 1,001,789 127,637 126 36,925,050 63,330,024 988,235 5,335,003 4,048,521 Sept.. 63 11,645,492 15,492,547 151,277 283,844 $13,461 441,164 537,761 April.. 41 2 9,907,503 15,607,315 389,983 396,035 1,687,411 245,349 Sept... 197 1 48,618,762 107,132,389 13,177,944 3,321,589 736,120 10,406,509 1851-Jan. 1.. 3,031,957 26 8,754,900 7,158,977 270,546 183,468 1,578,663 1850-Nov.... 46 5 17,701,206 38,423,274 1,417,073 1,114,738 1,230,064 4,244,174 1851-Jan. 1.. 2,570,139 6 3 1,293,185 2,264,313 52,986 117,981 2,000 306,545 74,600 Jan. 1.. 23 2 8,128,881 14,900,816 760,417 405,245 768 1,173,200 965,796 1850-Oct.. 81 9,824,545 19,646,777 269,914 764,282 240,498 1,925,652 552,153 Nov. 13 3,789,250 6,056,726 150,000 127,806 18,785 1,074,794 483,947 1851-Jan. 1.. 12 2 13,213,031 23,312,330 963,611 1850-Dec.... 338,429 266,205 5,020,998 810,835 11 10 13,482,198 11,421,626 1,574,349 7,195,068 2,377,715 3,117,466 1851-Jan. 1.. 535,593 2 ... 1,800.580 4,670,458 70,361 125,697 81,000 960,334 1850-Dec. 28. 63,865 5 20 12,370,390 19,309,108 2,255,169 2,042,149 2,225,896 1851-Jan. 1.. 4 19 6,881,568 10,992,139 482,902 662,520 1,559,418 729,186 Jan. 1. 5 21 7,536,927 12,506,305 694,962 419,070 440,127 2,451,155 550,879 Jan. 1... 1 5 1,209,131 3,533,463 123,928 273,317 66,028 37,510 1 18 2,082,950 4,395,099 364,233 108,485 845,062 224,842 Nov.... 57 ... 1851-Jan. 1.. 5 8,718,366 764,022 17,059,593 2,220,891 1,319,305 420,521 451,596 460,692 221,626 65,083 404,691 8,373,272 1,195,€55 1850-Nov.... 109.096 723 148 $227,469,074 $412,607,653 $22,447,708 $20,191,157 $8,935,972 $50,425,632 $17,174,260 ། 724 148 $227,555,594 $412,732,004 $22,450,421 $20,195,761 $8,935,972 $50,425,632 $17,187,826 13,566 86,520 124,351 11,713 4,604 GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES-CONTINUED. 1,897,111 566,634 Aug 2,376 127,325 2,856,027 546,703 32,984 Sept... 2,993,178 17,005,826 11,176,827 6,549,929 442,084 Sept 297,661 2,553,865 1,488,596 650,560 138,773 $15,268,907 $48,671,138 $155,012,911 $127,557,645 $46,362,955 $6,379,464 6,820 ...... 45,670 13,146 $15,275,727 $48,671,138 $155,058,581 $127,570,791 $46,362,955 $6,379,464 5,059,229 8,464,389 1,384,232 61,638 10,000 2,323,657 1,256,589 1,098,981 76,280 1,197,880 3.422,445 630,325 112,175 2,750,587 11,059,700 5,310,555 1,385,839 343,856 125,722 897,364 416,147 42,589 138,930 In the States of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Florida and California, and in according to some newspaper accounts, (for the authority of banks. In Texas there is one bank, which is acting under powers granted to it when the Territories of Minesota, Utah, Oregon and New Mexico, there are no incorporated tutional, and will, it is said, soon be put an end to. In Mississippi there is, or was, a that country was connected with Mexico. Its operations are believed to be unconstibank at Holly Springs, but it can hardly be said to have been, of late years, in full and which I cannot vouch,) is said to have recently suspended specie payments. and operation; regular In the District of Columbia, there are four banks carrying on business by means of an official recognition of their existence, or to incorporate their accounts with those of trustees; but the Treasury Department, since their charter expired, refused to make the regular banking institutions of the country. The accounts given in this tabular view of the condition of the banks in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Louisiana Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, have been derived from official publications made by the direction of the authorities of these States. The statement of the condition of the banks in New Jersey, was supplied by one of the United States officers at Trenton. The statements of the condition of the banks in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, have been formed from returns made direct to the Treasury Department by the banks in those States. In almost all instances, letters from the Treasury Department to the authorities of the different States, and to the officers of the banks, soliciting statements of their condition, have been replied to with great courtesy; and this year the officers of the different banks were very prompt in making their returns, thus enabling the Department to complete its tabular view at a much earlier day than usual. The banks of Pennsylvania make returns to the Auditor General; but, for some reason which ought to be explained, the returns which the banks of that State made of their condition in November last, have not yet been made public. The statement contained in this table, is the first general statement of the condition of the banks of Pennsylvania, for 1850, that has been presented to the banker or the merchant. Any person who has paid any attention to statistics, will at once see the importance of a document of this kind, in which the accounts of nearly nine hundred banks, scattered through twenty-three States, are reduced to one form, and regularly tabulated. First, are given the paid in capitals of the banks, then the investments yielding, or supposed to yield incomes, namely the "loans and discounts, stocks, real estates and other investments." Then the investments supposed not to yield income, being the means which the banks have to meet immediate "demands on their coffers, namely, the sums "due by other banks, notes of other banks, specie funds and specie." Then, in direct contrast with "the immediate means," follow "the immediate liabilities," namely, "the circulation, deposits, and sums due to other banks." Then follow the "other liabilities" of the banks, being amounts they owe, but not due on demand. The expense account, contingent fund account, &c., &c., are omitted, partly because the sheet on which the documents are printed will not admit of their being conveniently introduced, and partly because these are, as Mr. Gallatin has said, merely “balancing accounts." By presenting only the "real assets" and "real liabilities” of the banks, a clear view can be given of their condition, even to those who are unacquainted with the technicalities of book-keeping. If we had a set of tables of this kind, embracing each year from the commencement of the banking system in 1781, it would throw great light on the commercial history of the country. We have such a set, extending back as far as the year 1834. But this for 1851 is, according to present appearances, the best of the series. A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE CONDITION OF THE BANKS NEAR TO THE 1ST OF JANUARY, 1851, COMPARED WITH 1850. |