The Washington times., 1905-12-24
INETEEN~FlVE IN EUCATON DIPLOMACY
- - FINANCE 90 RELIGION.

changes. that is to say. the e.
changes of the checks and drafts Il
the banks, among themselves, wen
approximately s92,000.0c0. .00o. and
only required $4,000. .e00,0 900 to pay
the balances. These figures show
how small part relatively actual
cash is playing in the perfectins of
exchanges and trade. The extension
of bank credit. the almost universal
adoption of the facilities OF banks SO
that the greater part of the cash OF
the country is placed upon deposit
in the banks subject to check or
draft, is one Of the most interesting
and important of the features OF
American financial development. By
the utilization OF these instruments
OF credit it was possible to perfect in
the New York clearing house in one
year exchanges aggregating the CO.
lossal sum of s92 1000. .0O0. 900. these
exchanges being perfected by the
payment of only $4,000. eos, Doc in the
way OF balances.
observe that throughout the
United States the record of the vari-
ous clearing house associations conf
pares favorably with that made by
the New York clearing house I do
not now recall any clearing house
association in the United States
whose record this year was less than
that of any other year. whereas
many of them report relatively as
handsome an increase as that re-
ported by the New York Clearing
House Association. On the whole,
there is no better way of estimating
the BUSINESS condition of this coun-
try than by the record made by the
Clearing House Association. If it is
not the barometer OF trade. il never
theless tells the story of trade and
commerce. illustrating production
and consumption and the transae-
tions in the various markets.
The New York Clearing House AS
sOciation makes a record that is ap-
proximately some 6S per cent of the
entire clearing house transactions
throughout the United States. | have
no doubt that when comparisons are
made between the records of all the
clearing houses other than that OF
New York with the record made by
the New York Clearing House thsy
will show that from 6S TO 20 per
cent of the entire clearings of ths
country for 1905 are those reported
by the New York Clearing House As
sociation. That, of course, does no.
mean that so great a percentage o.
the trade and commerce of the coun.
try as that is controlled by New
York city. But New York is tn,
great financial metropolis of tbs
United States, and is rapidly ap
preaching a position OF equality a.
a financial center with London NAM
of the transactions done elsewhere
in the United States are paid foI
through drafts or exchange bought
upon New York. Moreover, very
much of the borrowing for capital
is either made in New York or ar
ranged in New York, and the indi-
rect influences Of that are felt in the
New York Clearing House That IS
shown by the transactions OF the
United States Assistant Treasurer at
New York The Assistant Treasurer
at New York had exchanges of the
New York Clearing House of $685.
100000, in round numbers, and the
excess of its debt balances over its
credit balances was s1S6, ,OO0, 900, in
round numbers. These represent not
merely custom house transactions,
but also the movement of funds from
New York city TO the West at a
time when the great marketing of
the crops Is under way.
From the record made by the
clearing house this year | think I
am safe in assuming that the strik-
ing feature in the industrial, COM
mercial, and, therefore, the financial
/. history Of the year 1905 is that our
activity, our productive capacity, and
also our consuming capacity are in
creasing rapidly, and if there be no
setback are bound to increase so
that the record of next year and Of
the next five years may be as greatly
in excess of the record of this year
as the ninety-six billions of transac-
tions in our clearing house this year
are in excess of the record made In
what till then had been the year OF
our greatest prosperity, in the year
1907.