Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-22
RESERVES or THE NATIONAL
HANKS.

law against that item being SEQ, 600, 600.
The amount of their actually available
reserve, however, was 500, 100000, or
$3l, 800, 900 in excess Of the legal require
ment; in Other. words, the country"
banks held 229 per cent reserve, or 10
per cent above the amount required by
law. This is an unusually strong exhibit,
and shows an Increase Of $40, 100, goo,
OF zoo per cent over the amount of
available reserve held on the 18th of
April, 1869. The items of reserve of
this class of banks, were as follows, COM
pared with the statement at the CORES
ponding period of last year o"
March "a. 1870. April II, 1861
| Specie. -. .sS,34i,3 e5 sL.tz5,l00
Legal Tenders. .S5,O5o,s2 SO .Os4s
| Three per cent Certif-
r. Gates s. s.s66OOO 4c'oa'o
in Redemption Cities.5O lIs.5a 3s 9SO,sss
Total available res. ..s93. s7s ,3u sS2267577
twill be observed, says the. Bulletin,
that the reserve comprises less amount
of legal tenders than a year ago, while
the amount of specie has been doubled;
in the item of per cent. certificates also
there has been decrease of nearly one
and a-half millions. The percentage of
reserve stands lowest in the States of
Vermont, Rhode Island. Virginia and In
diana, and highest in the central States.
| While these returns show an easy con-
dition of the country banks, and are so
far satisfactory, yet they indicate an IN
active condition of general business. The
fact that these banks haze 81, 200, 900
more of their funds deposited with their
agents in the redemption cities than
year ago, shows that there has not been
a healthy demand for money throughout
the country. The present plethora of
money and the low rates of interest gre
the natural result of this condition of
things. Had we an efIicacious provision
for sending home bank currency for re-
| demption, this plethora would be
| quickly remedied; for the notes of the
country banks now lying useless in the
redemption cities would be presented for
payment, and the redundancy would be
thereby remedied. 1t is simply broad
financial farce that, at the present time,
the banks of the city of New York should
be groaning under a burden of bank
notes which they cannot possibly employ,
while there are millions of reserve held
there on account of the country banks,
and legally available for the redemption
of the very currency with which they are
thus burdened.
The banks of the redemption cities also
exhibit very strong reserve. In the tif-
teen redemption cities exclusive of New
York, there are 164 banks, with 1926, 600,
600 of liabilities, requiring to be protected
by % per cent reserve. While they re-
quire $50, 400, 900 of reserve, their actual
reserve amounts to $40, 900, 900. Their
reserve, therefore, exceeds the require
ments of the law by S14, 500, 900, or Ga
per cent Compared with the cores
ponding period of 1869, the reserve stands
"a per cent higher. The items of reserve
in these fifteen cities compare thus with
the return of April II, 1869:
March "a 1870. April II. 1863
Specie ..................ss .95,052 Sl.3O6, All
TanIerg af1 GG A32
Clearing House Certif-
Gates 2,lO6.O0O ..........
I9 tiSca PeF Gset oertin 5ooo 1885 ooo
Due from Red Agents in
New York City. ., 292,7H Is 5i5,227
Total available res. .sSo,ssI,723 sjl,7e9 220
1t will be seen that while the total re-
serve stands S9,1OO, 900 higher than
year ago, there is decrease of over 49,
600, 600 in the amount of legal tenders
on hand, and of 81, 400, 600 in the
amount of three per cent Certificates; the
increase having occurred in the specie
line and on that portion of the reserve
deposited with the redeCming agents of
this city. In these redemption cities
therefore, we find the same tendency as
with the country banks-to large sur
plus of money, which in the absence of
better employment the banks deposit with
their New York redemption agents, in
most cases at q low rate of interest. One
unfavorable feature is apparent in the case
both of the country banks and those of
the redemption cities, viz, the falling off
in the legal tender portion of the reserve;
which indicates tendency for greenbacks
to become more fully absorbed in the
general circulation and less easily availa-
bic for banking reserves. And yet, in the
face of this very important drift of the
currency, the Chairman of the Banking
and Currency Committee PERSISTS in re-
porting bill for sweeping contraction
of legal tenders.
The items of reserve in the New York
city banks compare thus with the like
period Of last year:
March %. 1870 April Il. 1879
Specie...................S 24, 52D9 1892 5I5
Legal Tenders. - .B57 .CSj Il 22g or
Clearing Home Certih-
Gates per cents. l7,7T5Ooo l5,350OO0
Three per cent Ccrtia-
CatcS..-............-.. 9,5l5 'tJ Is, 500 900
Total available So, 258 U75 s.3.SoI 622
While there is an increase, during the
year, Of SIS, 400, 900 in the total available
reserve, Only small portion of the gain
has occurred on legal tenders and their
representatives. The legal tenders and
certificates combined amount to S47, 700,-
600, against SIS, 400, 600 in April, 1869;
so that the gain in reserve has occurred
entirely upon specie.
The COmproller's return enables us TO
ascertain certain facts of interest respect !
ing the distribution of the different classes
of reserve. The amounts of specie, legal
tenders and legal tender certificates held
on March q, 1870, by the country banks,
the banks of New York city, and banks
in redemption cities other than New York
were respectively as follows:
Specie. Leg. Ten Certificates !
Country Banks ,S4 ,395 5 * $50 3b2 S32d5O
n y CITY Banks "a 59O,3S9 2O,357,6S6 n $4,000 !
Banks of other Re 90 |
Total in all Bk'' $50 o5e, SIG sS0s79s7s s4j67oooO
One fact must strike the careful obser-
yer of these statistics-the very narrow