-FINANCIAL REVIEW OF 1885. 



351 



the Assistant Treasurer in this city, who on 

 that day sent to the Clearing-House, in part 

 payment of the debit balance, $100,000 in sil- 

 ver certificates, which were accepted. This 

 enabled the Secretary to make a satisfactory 

 reply to the resolution of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives. "With this exception the payments 

 by the department to the Clearing-House 

 throughout the entire year were made in gold 

 or United States notes. About the middle of 

 July the Treasurer conferred with the Clearing- 

 House committee respecting measures to relieve 

 the department of some portion of its unavail- 

 able assets in the form of fractional silver coin, 

 of which there were about $31,000,000 in the 

 various depositories. The Treasury needed 

 gold, at least for temporary use, in order to 

 meet interest and other payments then about 

 falling due, and desired to avoid encroaching 

 upon the $100,000,000 reserve set apart for the 

 redemption of legal tenders. The department 

 had no authority to borrow, and whatever re- 

 lief was obtained would have to be voluntarily 

 offered. Under these circumstances the banks 

 agreed to advance to the Treasury $5,915.000 

 gold, taking in exchange the Assistant Treas- 

 urer's certificate of deposit for a like amount 

 of fractional silver coin then in the vaults ot 

 the New York office. The Clearing-House is- 

 sued certificates to the banks contributing their 

 quota, thus securing these institutions. The 

 relief to the Treasury was effective, and by 

 November the gold balance of the department 

 had been so largely augmented by conservative 

 management that the amount advanced by the 

 banks was returned on the 6th of that month, 

 and the certificate for the fractional silver 

 given by the Assistant Treasurer was canceled. 

 It was understood at the time the exchange of 

 gold was made that either $10,000,000 or $20,- 

 000,000 could be had if desired, and the amount 

 which the banks undertook to deliver was 

 $6,000,000, but one institution declined to be- 

 come a party to the agreement, and the deduc- 

 tion of this quota will account for the odd 

 amount actually delivered. The transaction 

 had an assuring effect upon capital at the time 

 it was made, by at once relieving apprehensions 

 as to the ability of the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury to maintain gold payments at least until 

 Congress could act upon a bill repealing the sil- 

 ver coinage act of 1878, and at the same time 

 it gave evidence of the willingness of the banks 

 * to aid, by every means in their power, in main- 

 taining the declared policy of the Treasury. 

 The accumulations of gold by the associated 

 banks of this city during 1885 were unprece- 

 dented in amount, and the total and surplus re- 

 i serves were larger on July 18 than ever pre- 

 viously recorded. At the beginning of the 

 j year the banks held $87,867,800 gold. By the 

 i above-named date there had been added $28,- 

 ^8,400, making the total amount held $116,- 

 346,200. This was reduced by withdrawals 

 j to the interior, and absorption by the Treas- 

 [ ur J, by the sum of $24,765.100 on Dec. 5, 



leaving $91,581,100 in the banks on that 

 date. The legal tenders on hand Jan. 3 were 

 $37,365,900. Between the 17th of that month 

 and the 4th of April, this amount fluctuated 

 between $41,094,700 and $30,812,500, but 

 after the last-named date the gain was gradual, 

 and by July 18 the banks held $45,198,100 of 

 these notes. Then the movement in response 

 to the demand for currency, caused by the 

 scarcity of small bills, brought about by the 

 withholding of ones and twos, and later a 

 drain for crop purposes, caused a reduction of 

 $18.480,600, so that Oct. 24 the banks held 

 $26,717,500, or the minimum for the year. 

 Thereafter the gain was gradual to the end of 

 December. The bank loans Jan. 3 amounted 

 to $297,887,700. There was a fall to $293,- 

 746,700 by the end of the month, then a re- 

 covery to $303,821,800 by March 14, followed 

 by a fall to the minimum of the year, $293,- 

 146,200, May 29. This marked the turning- 

 point, and thereafter to the 31st of October, 

 when they stood at $344,360,800, the banks 

 freely loaned on share and bond collateral, thus 

 indirectly aiding the upward movement in the 

 stock market. Then came liquidations of some 

 of these loans, due to realizations, which car- 

 ried the amount down to $336,938,300 by 

 Dec. 26. The deposits of the banks were, at 

 the lowest point of the year, $340,816,300, 

 Jan. 3. Thereafter they gradually increased 

 to $391,804,900 Aug. 22, and then fell to 

 $373,953,000 Dec. 26. Bank clearings, reflect- 

 ing mainly the speculation at this center in 

 stocks and staples, exhibited a daily average of 

 $104,101,695 for the week ended Jan 3. From 

 this point they fell to $66,922,415 by April 11, 

 and then increased to $155,083,323, the maxi- 

 mum of the year, Nov. 7. On the third and 

 fourth weeks of that month, when the busi- 

 ness at the Stock Exchange was unprecedented 

 in magnitude, the daily average was $144,823,- 

 152 and $150,085,159 for each week respect- 

 ively. 



The Comptroller of the Currency reports the 

 failures of only four national banks during the 

 year ended Nov. 1, none of which was located 

 in this city. A dividend of 15 per cent., mak- 

 ing 40 in all, has been paid to the depositors of 

 the Marine National Bank, which failed last year. 

 The affairs of the Metropolitan National Bank, 

 which succumbed in May, 1884, are still in liq- 

 uidation, and there were outstanding, Oct. 13, 

 $2,550,000 Clearing-House loan certificates is- 

 sued to this bank, secured by a deposit in trust 

 of certain securities and bills receivable, which 

 the Loan Committee had not at that time been 

 able to market. A year ago the amount out- 

 standing of these certificates was $5,290,000, 

 out of a total issue, between May 15 and June 

 6, 1884, of $24,915,000, showing the cancel- 

 lation during the twelve months of only $2,- 

 740.000. 



The conditition of the New York Clearing- 

 House banks, the rates for money and ex- 

 change, and prices for United States bonds, on 



