The republic., 1851-04-12
Increase or Banks in the Unitsd States.
From the Londoa Times, March 2I.


In all the recent accounts from America, men,
ton is made Of large increase which is taking
place in the number of banking establishments.
This Ia q natural consequence OF the comparatively
high rate of discount which has continued TO pre-
vail although for the last few years there has
been period whom any doubt was felt as 70 tho
general soundness of the mercantile paper which
has been ahoat. In New York. at the present time,
the rate for the beat bills. such a. ia point of sslcty
are equal TO those discounted here at per cent,
ranges from to per cent. and in cases where
any temporary demand for money arises, the quo
tation not unfrequently goes from ~ 3 per cent.
There is lesson conveyed in this state Of afairs.
For years past there have been fewer failures
in the principal cities of the United States than in
London. and, at the same time, there has been an
equal. If not greater, degree Of confidence In tho
business prosperity Of the country Yet their Iner
chants are compelled to pay for such discounts as
they may require exactly 100 per cent above what
is paid here. Why II not such an enormous diller.
ence sufficient to tempt English capitals On the
continent, and all the world, money seeks its
level, and wherever there is the slightest possibili
ty Of making larger interest ut the same risk, no
mere prejudice will prevent Its finding its way. II
Is vain, therefore for the New York merchants 10
shut their eyes TO the fact that there must be
distinct and justifiable cause for the unfavorable
discrepancy in their case. II is their duty 10 re-
cognise it, and for the sake of their country to en-
deavor to put the matter right. New York. for all
business purposes, is now sufficiently close TO Lon
don to render aphical considerations very
important as regards the respective money markets,
and in point Of ofmutualintiInacy in all the great
latons of trade II II much to than Paris.
But unhapply, in the face OF these circumstances,
there 10 the fact that in majority of instances
where Brtish capitalists, entertaining strong faith
In American institutions, have advanced money TO
the leading establishments Of the country, deplor
able results have followed, which, instead of being
of temporary nature, have been calculated to lead
to permanent impression. The failure of the
United States Bank and the suspension of paymen
by the various States were all the nero conse-
quences of a crisis such will happen in every
hoor
riot BY this time they would have been forgotten.
or remembered only as the consequences ofa mania
in which lender and borrower were almost equally
to blame. 1t is the way in which the things that
ought only to have been peculiar to that epoch
have been perpetrated during the subsequent sea-
son Of prosperity that has led to the dstrust that
still prevails. Such cases those Of the New York
Dry Dock Bank and Of the North American Trust
and Banking Company, withits receiver, Mr.. David
Leavitt, to which have often referred, were cal
culatsd TO produce an effect upon our capitalists
that nothing can efiace In the former INSTANCE, i
1t protested against the state Of the law under
which Mr.. Morrison, to the expression of their
own writer's, had been "swindled," but in the lat
every stage that. however honest the judicial au-
thoritics may be, the facilities afforded for chcanery
of all sorts such to render it unadvisable for
capitalists at distance % rely in any way upon
the prospect Of legal protection. At the same time
tho chucklng reputation still practiscd by Mis-
sissippi, Florida, and Michigan, with abundant
revenues, and the similar dclinquencies, in minor
degree, of Indiana and Illinois, although no re-
proach to the people Of New York, where the cul-
prits denounced ns severely in England, must
render the mercantile world more sensitive than they
would otherwise be in their appreciation Of any
thing, either favorable or unfavorable, that may
transpre Involving the general financial reputation
of he American name. The loss from this condition
Of affairs is enormous, and. like every evil it has
universal action. America is, of course, the direct
sufferer, since in the heavy total of her transac
tions with foreigners, her merchants pay at least
one-thrd more interest than is necessary, while
her development, which has no other limit than
the supply Of capital, 10 proportionably checked.
But Europe loses at the Same time healthy chan
mel for the employment of her surplus means. and
also the advantages of increased trade, which Eng
land especially must desire to obtain with people
of her own race. The grievance 10 one, therefore,
that must be contemplated with like regret by all
friends of commercial intercourse; but the remedy
can only be brought about by q thorough recogni-
ton of its causes, and an energetic exposure Of
them on the part of those who represent the indus
try and intelligence of the United States, and who
chiefly pay the penalty which 1t imposes.
The MONEY MARKEr.--The manifest Of the EN-