370 



FINOTTI, JOSEPH M. 



FISH, ASA I. 



the negotiation of $540,000,000 of United 

 States four per cent bonds, mostly at home ; 

 an excess of exports over imports of $270,000,- 

 000 in the fiscal year ending June 30th ; a net 

 import of gold amounting to $78,000,000 in 

 five months from August 1st; and crops esti- 

 mated at 448,755,000 bushels of wheat, 1,544,- 

 899,000 bushels of corn, and 5,500,000 bales of 

 cotton gave rise to extraordinary movements 

 in commercial and financial affairs. The prices 

 of merchandise and all classes of securities 



rapidly advanced. A state of buoyancy, ac- 

 tivity, and speculation at the chief centers of 

 trade ensued, which has never been equaled 

 when the country was on a specie basis. The 

 following summary, from the "Financial and 

 Commercial Chronicle," shows the condition 

 of the New York Clearing-House banks, the 

 premium on gold, rate of foreign exchange, 

 and prices of leading securities and articles or 

 merchandise, on or about the 1st of January 

 in each year, from 1878 to 1880, inclusive : 



STATISTICAL SUMMARY ON OK ABOUT JANUARY 1, 1S7S-18SO. 



FINOTTI, JOSEPH M., was born in Italy in 

 1817, and died at Central, Colorado, January 

 10, 1879. He was of a distinguished family, 

 and his early and ardent desire for knowledge 

 raised him to a high position as a scholar. His 

 studies were pursued in the best universities 

 in Rome. He became a member of the Society 

 of Jesus, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 

 1842. He discharged the duties of his office, 

 and was sent to the missions of America with 

 other fathers. But his health failing, he re- 

 ceived dispensation of his vows, and for sixteen 

 years occupied, as a secular priest, a very im- 

 portant parish in the diocese of Boston. He 

 was for a short period the principal editor of 

 the " Boston Pilot," and before and since that 

 time wrote several works and contributed 

 largely to different reviews and monthly and 

 weekly Catholic papers. He was at one time 

 a professor in Mount Saint Mary's Seminary of 

 the West, near Cincinnati, and just prior to 

 going to Colorado was appointed to the presi- 

 dency of the new college at Omaha. But the 



climate of Nebraska being unfavorable to his 

 health, he offered his services to Bishop Mache- 

 bo3uf of Colorado, who cheerfully accepted 

 them. He remained three or four months as 

 assistant at the cathedral of Denver, and was 

 then sent as pastor to the church at Central, 

 where, by his zsal and piety, he gained the es- 

 teem and affection of all. 



FISH, ASA. I., a distinguished lawyer, born in 

 Philadelphia in February, 1820, died in that 

 city May 5, 1879. He graduated at Harvard 

 College in 1842, studied law at the Harvard 

 Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 

 Philadelphia in 1846, and opened an office for 

 practice. From the year 1853 to 1862, he was 

 one of the editors of the " American Law Re- 

 gister." Among his many contributions to 

 legal and general literature are " Trowbat and 

 Haly's Practice," "Tidd's Practice," " Sel- 

 wyn's Nisi Prius," and " Williams on Execu- 

 tors and Administrators." As a student of 

 Shakespeare's works he was eminent. For 

 twenty-six years he held the position of Dean 



