The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-01-19
COMMERCIAL MATTERS. Etc.

daily attendance, 4, 100000 Total sum raised
during the past year by taxation, $50, O0G coo,
an excess Of IS OOG,0 900 over expenditures.
1t is stated that very good counrerfeits OF
the ftty-cert fractional currency OF TIE issue
before the last in circulation. Persons
not good judges Of engraving are advised to
remember from whom they receive tifty-cent
stamps of that issue which bear the head OF
Samuel DfX,er, Secretary of the III -abury
under President Adams in 1901.
Some of the large tobacco buyers have re-
solved not to pay the 40 cents winch the
growers are asking, and the latter are dis
posed to run the risk of holding on. As the
aggregate value of the crop in Hartford coun-
ty alone is about 100000, il is quite mat
ter whether the farmers get 40 or ~ cents. :
hep HaUen Comm Courier.
The manu- a. ture OF useful and ornane, til
articles from paper has rapidly become one
of the most successful iEdu tries in our midst
Now almost everything is made from it, such
as milk pans, fruit dishes, flower pots, water,
chamber and comlnode pals, tubs, buckets,
spittoons, table mats, paper collars, scripture
notices, and we don't know how many other
things.
Ii reply to Supervisor Folke, Of Boston,
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue says
that the practice OF selling at retail tobacco
and cigars from glass jars, cases, ETC.. while
it may be very covenient practice to small
dealers, is palpable violation Of the law, and
that the person who thus sells, renders him
self liable to the penalties of sections 1868
and 3403 OF the revised statutes, viz fine
not less than $500 nor more than 5000, and
imprisonment not less than six months nor
moro than two years. He says however,
that the trade can obviates the difficulty. par
TALLY, at least, by putting up small packages
OF twenty-five cigars, or two or three pounds
OF fine cut or plug tobacco, which could be
put in a showcase. There is too much law
on tobacco anyhow Mr.. Buckner, we see,
has introduced a bill to reduce the tax to Ii
cents pound. til now "a cents. It Is not
thought, however, that any change VIII be
made.
Alexander T. Mitchell, Of Milwaukee, is
said to be the weaithiest man in the North
west, worth about Sl0,0OO,0OO He is the in
dividual owner of the Western Union Rail-
road, which runs from Racine. on Lake
Michigan, to Rock Island on the Mississippi,
1877 miles, and the controlling spirit in the
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. Hs is
Scotchman, who married sister of Harrison
Reed, Ex-Governor of Florida. He came to
Milwaukee when it was muddy village On
the bluffs of Lake Michigan, as the agent of a
Chicago banner, and took large contracts in
the railways which reached the Territory Of
Wisconsin about 1859 SO.
He established a bank of issue on the basis
almost monopolized the currency OF Wis
consin and The Northwest, until the forma-
ton of the national banks. Living in hand
some villa on the high grounds of Milwaukee,
half mile back from the river which divides
the city, he spends his leisure in society and
reading, having sturdy Scotch convictions,
and he has repeatedly enjoyed the confidence
of his party by representing Milwaukee in
Congress, and he would have been the Sena-
%o~ hat Vat hol oI
as successor to Senator Carpenter.
A Western View Of Eastern Failures.
The continuance of failures, and especially
of bank failures, in all parts of the country
can not fail to attract attention. To-day it is
Dickerson & Co., in New York, Though this
firm would perhaps be more properly cassed
as stock brokers' and nothing else,) and Tenn
pie & Workman, Of Los Angeles, Cal Day
before yesterday it was the West Boston Saw
ings Bank, with deposits of over So, OOO, 600,
and on the day previous corporate bank IL
Lancaster, Pa. There seems to be two gen.
eral causes for these frequent bank failures
One is the shrinkage in value of real estate
and the other the decline in the value of fancy
stocks and securities with which large pro-
portion Of the small corporate banks operating
under State charters and the speculative prl-
vate bankers have got loaded up in the
last two years. In the case Of the West
Boston Savings Bank, which is by far the
most important bank failure that has occurred
in the last two months. We find that of its
SO, 400, 277 Of assets, So 0O4, 1856 are in loans
on real estate, and nearly 100000 in stocks
and bonds Of various kinds. The Boston
Advertiser says of this case, that eff times
improve, it IS thought the bank would, if
allowed to go on, be able to pay principal and
interest, but the shrinkage in real estate,
which, in some cases, has amounted to SO
- IA
The bank has no surplus, and the commits
sioner, knowing that the few who were draw.
ing their deposits, were taking advantage OF
those who did not know Of the condition OF
the bank, applied for an Injunction in order
that all might have share in the division Of
the assets"
This is perhaps the most hopeful view that
could possibly be taken of the case, but it is
scarcely possible that the bank will ever 60
on or even pay its deposits. With an &C.
knowledged shrinkage OF 80 per cent in some
cases of the real estate mortgaged to the
bank, there can scarcely foil to be consid
cradle loss to the depositors. We happen to
know from some inquiries made on that par
ticular point some months ago that most OF
the Boston real estate mor.gaged to the
savings banks will not sell tor the amount Of
the mortgages, and at the time our inquiries
were made had several instances given us in
proof Of this. In this view Of the case it is
scarcely probable that general feeling o.
uneasiness and distrust in regard to the whole
savings bank interest of New England will be
avoided. 1t is true that, as the Boston Ad
rertiser says, ''if times improve" every
thing in connection with the saving:
bank interest will improve and confidence IL
them will be streng heaed, but how are times
to improve for Nes England SO as to recove,
the 80 per cent of shrInkage in the value o.
real estate? We note some other failures in
the past week or two in the East that are sig
nifcant of the times, and do not argue much
for the Improvement of business affairs there
One was the failure of the Providence Too
Company, of Providence, r. l., and another
that Of John Stephenson Co., the we'll
known street-car builders Of New York Both
Of these concerns had done large and pros
porous business for years. and their trade wa