126 



COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERICAN, IN 1881. 



would yield a profit per yard of T23, or 3 -52 

 cents on the pound of cotton. Counting the 

 cost of material for print-cloths at 11 -25 cents 

 a pound, the waste 2-30 cents, and the cost of 

 making and marketing 12 cents, the cost of 

 the goods would be 25'55 cents a pound, or 

 3 - 65 cents a yard on delivery; at 4 cents a 

 yard selling price there would remain a profit of 

 35 cents a yard, or 2*45 cents a pound. 



An increase in the exports of cotton goods 

 in 1880-'81, when the home demand was suffi- 



cient to exhaust the stocks and keep all the 

 mills busy, is a gratifying indication that im- 

 provements in manufacturing facilities and the 

 acuteness of domestic competition are approach- 

 ing the point where American manufacturers 

 will be disposed to contest the neutral markets 

 with Great Britain. The lower prices of cot- 

 ton are favorable to the export movement. 

 The values and quantities of cotton manufact- 

 ures exported in the last four fiscal years were 

 as follows : 



There were 2,133 national banks doing busi- 

 ness on November 1, 1881, a larger number 

 than in any prevous year since the passage of 

 the banking act in 1863. The number of banks 

 organized during the year was 86, a larger 

 number than in any previous year. The num- 

 ber of banks which went out of business dur- 

 ing the year was 26, having an aggregate capi- 

 tal of $2,020,000 and a circulation of $1,245,- 

 530. The capital of the 86 newly started 

 banks aggregates $9,651,050 ; the notes issued 

 to them, $5,233,580. The total number of banks 

 which have been organized since the introduc- 

 tion of the system is 2,581. The number which 

 have voluntarily gone into liquidation is 340 ; 

 the number which have been placed in the 

 hands of receivers, 86. The insolvent banks 

 have paid $18,561,698 in dividends to creditors 

 out of $25,966,602 of proved claims. The 

 annual loss is therefore about $346,000 on 

 $450,000,000 of average capital, and $800,000,- 

 000 of deposits. The capital of the 2,115 na- 

 tional banks in operation on June 30, 1881, 

 was $460,227,835, not including the surplus, 

 which amounted to about $126.000,000. The 

 total capital of all the State banks, savings- 

 banks, and private bankers, aggregated $210,- 

 738,203, or but little more than a third of tho 

 combined capital and surplus of the national 

 banks. The number of private bankers doing 

 business in sixteen of the principal cities of the 

 Union is 717; their aggregate capital, $58,534,- 

 300; deposits, $89,996,545; reserve invested 

 in United States bonds, $12,370,012. Private 

 bankers outside of these cities with over $10,- 

 000 capital, to the number of 2,255 in 31 States 

 and Territories, have an aggregate capital of 

 $34,169,435, and deposits to the amount of 

 $148,178,652. Private bankers in the remain- 

 ing States and Territories, to the number of 

 66, have $620,120 aggregate capital, and $3,- 

 670,357 deposits. Massachusetts and Mary- 

 land (outside of the cities of Boston and Balti- 

 more), Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, 

 New Jersey, Delaware, and Vermont, have but 

 27 private banking houses together. In New 



York city there are 508, in Philadelphia 52, in 

 Boston 47, in Chicago 24, in Baltimore 19. 



The following table exhibits the amount of 

 loans, capital, surplus, net deposits, specie and 

 paper money in the national banks in New 

 York city, in the other reserve cities, in the 

 States and Territories, on October 1, 1881 : 



The loans of the banks on October 1st were 

 $1,169,022,304, which is an increase of $132,- 

 000,000 over the corresponding date in last 

 year. The total individual and bank deposits, 

 not deducting the amount due from banks and 

 the clearing-house exchanges, have increased 

 $225,725,496, amounting to the unprecedented 

 sum of $1,381,852,887. The rate of the total 

 loans to capital, surplus, and net deposits was 

 then 68-9 per cent; in 1880 it was 67'3 per 

 cent, and in 1879 75'3 per cent. The propor- 

 tion of cash to net deposits was 15'5 per cent 

 on October 1, 1881, and for the corresponding 

 dates in 1880 and 1879 it was 17'9 and 18 per 

 cent. 



The bonds held by the banks to guarantee 

 their circulation are now principally 3 and 4 

 per cents, there being about $241,000,000 of 

 the former, and $92,000,000 of the latter. 



The national banks, with the exception of 

 those of New York city, have been steadily ac- 

 cumulating a gold reserve since the date of re- 

 sumption. The specie reserve held by the New 

 York banks on the 1st of January, 1879, was 

 $18,161,092 ; by the other banks of the country, 

 $23,338,665; together, $41,499,757. By the end 

 of the year the New York banks had increased 

 their reserve to about $50,000,000, and the 

 other banks to about $30,000,000. At the 



