The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-09-06
THE BANKERS CONVENTION.

uC DoLhC couNOhpiOAs "hASh w.
Gently held at Niagara Falls, was unusually
interesting and was the medium through
which much valuable information was placed
before the people. One of the most interest
ing papers read before the convention was
that Of Mr.. Lloyd Tevis, Of San Francisco.
This gentleman in an able address showed
that the shrinkage of nominal values which
followed the elimination of speculation and
the decline in the production of the Com
stock, was the pricking of the bubble that
brought the realization of poverty to thou
sands who had intulged in a fancied posses
sion of wealth and caused a widespread de-
preston in the States and Territories of the
Pacific coast.
From the following tables it will appear
that the highest prices Of stock were reached
the Comstock did not attain its maximum
until 1877. In view of the great value once
attached to stocks of that far-famed lode the
shrinkage is most remarkable.
We present the value and shrinkage as
given by Mr.. Tevis before the convention :,
Aggregate value OF mining STOCKS on
1875. .s2s2 so5, 4o4
San Francisco Board, July, 1881. II 800, 200
1924 ,4o2,7O4
January ..:..:..:. s75,eoo, 900
july, ISL 945, 900
s~h1inkag $74, e55, 900
1875, ss4. 24o, 900
value California, july. 1Ssi........... 351 900
rink sss 1889 900
Highest value Sierra Nevada, Sep
vs .1mo Sierra Nevada July, 1851 ~ ' IS ZOO
~Shrinkage ........ S2o,l'o'os9
Comment upon the above showing is hard
ly necessary. The figures themselves fully
prove the extent to which stock gambling
upon the Pacific Coast has been carried on,
but the figures which represent the shrinkage
in the value of the stock but poorly convey
to the mind the misery and wretchedness
which hat depreciation carried into thous-
ands of households on the Pacific Slope.
MI. WINDOWS paper referred wholly to the
operations of the government. In it he
gave in a brief space the exact amount of the
saving made to the government by his re-
funding scheme. The Secretary says:
"The saving to the government through
flying. On the 6 per cents continued the an
nual saving hereafter in interest will be
S4,451,37S.75 ; on the s per cents, assuming
$500 100000 to be continued, the annual
saving will be about 100000, making a
total annual saving hereafter in the interest
of the public debt Of $40, 451, 1878. rs"
The Hon. John J. Knox, Comptroller of
the Currency, addressed the convention in
which he spoke of the distribution Of Money.
He said that ON May l there was $685., 2S1,5S3
of paper money $4,000 9, 900 of gold coin,
and S172, 100000 of silver in circulation.
The banks hold more than half the coin and
the people hold seven-ninths of the paper
currency, which they prefer for convenience.
AS an instance OF the immense transactions
in which the government engages, he said
that the Assistant Treasurer at New York on
July End paid to the Clearing House eight
tons of gold coin, and he pays to the banks
daily an average of a ton and half per day,
a method of payment which he contends is a
relic of barbarism which should be done
away with by legislation authorizing the use
of customs certificates. The convention was
one Of the most interesting and profitable
ever held by the bankers.