The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1867-10-31

uVh-ihlerest bearing legal tender
notes were carried by the banks du
the past year, which sun is lust
Offset 10 that amount Of circula.
ting notes received from ths Govern
meut by the banks. This deducted
from the s2l0.0O0.0 600 leaves only
the 5000, 900 Of the $500, ,O00, 900 ia
circulation. available to the banks. a,
the result of a balance sheet between
themselves and the Government on
this question Of circulation. SiI per
ccnt interest on Sl26,0OO, 900. is
$1,000, 600. This latter amount, then,
is the sum tstsl Of the profit which
the banks can derive from their cir.
eulation as long as tho Government
has legal tenders which It wishes to
have carried withou; interest.
Some may object to my thus
coupling tho reserve required to be
held fer deposits, with the reserve for
circulation, This objection might
have some weight if the Government
wcrc not itself profiting by the issue
OF non interest bearing notes, large
proportion of which are carried by
the National Banks with the very
means supplied TO them by the gra
tuitous issue of their own notes. Thus
this amount Of Sll4,OO0, 600, is fair
deduction from the circulation whicl.
the banks are allowed to issue.
But there still remains An apparent
profit of s7,560, 900 derived by the
banks from their circulation. What
have the banks to Offset to this seem
ing subsidy.
|. They pay to the National
treasury one per cent. per annum
Zone half Of one per cent. semi an
nually) on the whole amount Of their
circulation--say s3,000,000.
2. They pay to the National
Treasury one-half Of one per cent
per annum on the average amount
of their deposits, which US deposits
last year averaged S57I,000,000, a
mounts to S2,855,000.
3. They pay q national tax on
their capital stock, over aud above
that invested in Government bonds,
which tax last year amounted to
100000.
(The above three items are re-
quired by Section Al of the amended
National Currency Act.)
4. They pay tax Of one-half
of one per cent, per annum on the
net amount of dividends and amount
carried to surplus fund, which tax
for the past year amounted to So
100000.
B. They pay license tax Of two
dollars on every one thousand dol
lars of capital. The aggregate of
National Bank capital, as last re-
ported is $424, 100000. and the Ii
cense tax on this is SS4S,000.
(Thc FIVE sums above named, a.
mounting to $40, 100000, are paid
by the banks directly into the ma
tional treasury; and they alone e1-
coed the amount char ged against
the banks as profits on their circu-
lation, by two millions eight humid
red and forty-three dollars-S2,-
s43,0OO)
6. In addition to the above
items Of national taxation, the banks
paid during the fiscal year, State
and local taxation, as shown by re-
turns to the Comptroller's depart
ment, amounting to about eight
millions of dollars-S8,000,000.
Thus | have shown that in the
items of State and national taxation
these National Banks are annually
paying back to the people nearly
eleven million dollars more than
they annually receive in the way Of
interest on their CIRCULATION.
The public will notice that none
of these facts have been even
referred to by those who have ofl
late undertaken to discredit the |
national banking system.
Ii is true that the National Bank |
notes are all printed at the expense |
Of the Government, for the double |
purpose Of securing uniformity and
of preventing over issues; but 10 |
for this | have purpose |
" left out Of the above list many of |
the items which might have added |
materially to the aggregate paid by |
the banks to the Government for
the privilege Of their existence.-I
One of the most important of those
items which / have ommitted is the
service of the banks in |
receiving, transmitting, and disburs
ing the Government revenues. The !
depository banks have, during the
the past fiscal year, transferred to |
the Treasury, from all parts of the +,
country, the vast sum Of S592 .620.-
6S4 S2-at least ninety per cent.
of it without any cost to the Gov
ernment. Had this work not been
performed by the depository banks,
ar immense expenditure would have
been entailed upon the revenue de-
partment for additional clerk hire,
vaults, safes, express charges, &c.
Besides the above, there is the item
of revenue stamps, consumed by
the banks. L consider these two
items alone fully equal to the cost
of engraving and printing the Ma
tional Bank currency,
For the purpose of showing at a
glance the result of the above state
ments the following recapitulation
is made. In making up the account
between the banks and the Govern
ment the banks stand credited with
the following;
I, Six per cent. interest on STA l.00O,OOo
In Legal tenders, held by the banks
reserve for de a. $40. 900