34 BULLETIN OF THE 



The number of pieces of paper discounted, as will be seen, was 

 808,269, and the average of each discount, $1,082,59.. If the aver- 

 rage time of these bills was sixty days, and the banks held continu- 

 ally the same amount, the number of discounts made during the 

 year would be nearly five millions (4,849,614), the total discounts 

 more than five thousand millions (5,250,000,000), which would be 

 equal to a discount of $700 annually for each voter, or $500 for 

 each family in the country. The number of notes and bills of $100 

 each or less at the date named was 251,345, or nearly one-third of 

 the whole ; the number of bills of less than $500 each was 547,385, 

 or considerably more than two-thirds of the whole ; while the num- 

 ber of bills of less than $1,000 each was 642,765, which is more 

 than three-fourths of the whole number. 



Among the States having the smallest average loans were the 

 following : New York, exclusive of the cities of New York and 

 Albany, $499 ; Pennsylvania, exclusive of Philadelphia and Pitts- 

 burgh, $566 ; Maryland, exclusive of Baltimore, $505 ; Kansas, in 

 which the average was $353 ; Iowa, with an average of $375 ; West 

 Virginia, of $350 ; Delaware, $556 ; New Jersey, $566 ; Minnesota, 

 $621 ; Vermont, $645 ; North Carolina, $667 ; Tennessee, $651 ; 

 Maine, $740 ; Indiana, $711 ; New Hampshire, $815 ; South Caro- 

 lina, $846 ; Georgia, $882. 



The Imperial Bank of Germany has a capital of $30,000,000, 

 and is located in the city of Berlin. 



The total number of bills of all kinds discounted during the year 

 1879 was 2,374,394, amounting to $852,175,650; the average 

 amount of each bill being $358.90. The bills are classified as fol- 

 lows : There were 533,564 town bills, amounting to $263,663,280 — 

 average $494.15 each ; the number of bills on places in Germany 

 was 1,834,351, amounting to $578,693,335, and averaging $315.47 

 each ; and the number of foreign bills was 6,479, in amount 

 $9,819,035, and averaging $1,515.52 each. The average amount 

 of loans and discounts for the year was $82,073,500. 



Mr. E. B. Elliott inquired whether it is desiiable that bills of 

 such small amounts as those discounted by the Bank of France 

 should be discounted in this country; if so, what plan could be 



suggested ? 



Mr. Knox replied that the savings banks, which receive deposits 

 from all classes and in small amounts, might make small loans. 



