SECTION III: POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS (cont.)

Part 26. Banking and Currency

Mention has already been made (see above p. 775, S 272) of the issue of legal tender paper money, by the national Government, in 1862, and (p. 776, § 280) of the establishment of the national banking system of 1863. specie payments were resumed on January 1,1879. The following statement (Table XXX.), prepared at the office of the United States treasurer, exhibits the classification of the circulating medium of the United States on June 30, 1887, stating separately the amount of each class which is in the United States treasury, in the national banks, and in circulation:-

TABLE

It needs to be stated that, in order to obtain the net circulating medium, the amounts given in the foregoing table should be reduced by the total amount of gold, silver, or currency certificates, inasmuch as the funds which these certificates represent are included in the aggregate. These deductions would leave the net amount of $1,640,770,933. To obtain the amount actually in the hands of the people, it would also be necessary to deduct the quantities of the other elements held by the treasury and by the national banks. The following table (XXXI.) exhibits the coinage of the United States by successive periods from 1793 to 1887: -

TABLE

The following table (XXXII.) exhibits the resources and liabilities of the national banks, expressed inmillions of dollars, on dates near the 1st of October of the years 1878, 1882, and 1886: -

TABLE

In this connection is subjoined a statement of the resources and liabilities of the savings banks of the United States, 638 in number, expressed in millions of dollars, according to their annual reports for 1886 (Table XXXIII.)

TABLE





Read the rest of this article:
United States - Table of Contents