JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. JOHNSON'S TREATISE ON BANKING. We received sometime since a copy of “ A Treatise on Banking," in which “ the duties of a banker, and his personal requisites therefor," are discussed with ability and clearness. The writer of this treatise is A. B. JOHNSON, Esq., President of the Bank of Utica, New York. Mr. Johnson has employed the last twenty years of his life in the business of banking, a circumstance well calculated to impart a thorough practical knowledge of the business in all its details. In a letter addressed to the Hon. CHARLES STEBBINS, late Bank Commissioner of the State of New York, Mr. Johnson states that the incessant responsibilities and urgent cares of banking are “little suited to the anxiousness of his disposition," and that he has long borne himself onward with a determination, indefinite as to the period of its execution, to transfer his position (as President of the Utica Bank) to "some person better organized" for its duties. With this design, he commenced, as we are informed, a summary "treatise on banking," thus yielding to his eventual successor the aid of his valuable experience. The London Bankers' Magazine for January, 1850, contains an article on the "Duties and Responsibilities of a Banker," and "American Banking," made up, almost entirely of extracts from Mr. Johnson's treatise. The extracts in the English magazine, referred to above, are introduced with the following remarks: The literature of American banking is but little known in this country. The pamphlet of Mr. Gullaten,* published above twenty years ago, is the only work that has attrated much notice. Nor need our American brethren complain of this; for until about the same period English banking had no literature of her own. Since that time, however, many excellent works on banking, and a still greater number of articles on banking in magazines and other periodical publications, have appeared in America. We have before us one of no common merit. It is entitled "A Treatise on Banking— the Duties of a Banker, and his Personal Requisites therefor." By A. B. Johnson, President of the Ontario Branch Bank, at Utica, in the State of New York. This work is divided into three parts:-"The Bank "—" The Banker"-"The Man." The first part-"The Bank "-contains a clear exposition of some important principles of banking and currency, and a comparison between the safety fund system and the free bank system established in New York. The second part―"The Banker ”—is of a highly practical character; and it shows that however widely the banks of England and of America may differ in their principles, the fields of their operations, their constitution, and their privileges, yet the practical operations, the qualifications of their bankers, the dangers to which they are exposed, and the means necessary to success, are much the same in both countries. The reviewer, after quoting from Mr. Johnson's treatise passages "on the securities taken by bankers for advances," "acceptances in advance of consignments," "kiting," "enforcement of payments," "speculations," etc., etc., proceeds to remark as follows: "Our readers will doubtless observe that many of the lessons inculcated in the above quotations are similar to those that have often appeared in our pages, either in original contributions or in extracts from works that we have reviewed. This coincidence in the views of English and American bankers is a confirmation of their soundness. We like the sentiment-While a banker adheres with regularity to known forms of business and settled principles, Providence is guarantee for his success.' We believe that in almost every case the failure of a bank has arisen from a disregard of sound principles. Whether or not a bank follows, in its practical administration, the lessons of experience, is of much more importance to success than whether it consists of six or * The writer in the Bankers' Magazine alludes to Albert Gallatin.-ED. seven hundred partners. The management of a bank is of more importance than its constitution. To use the language of the Report of the Lords' Committee on Commercial Distress, "the best banking system may be defeated by imperfect management; and, on the other hand, the evils of an imperfect banking system may be greatly mitigated, if not overcome, by prudence, caution, and resolution." Closing with a few suggestions from Mr. Johnson's comprehensive treatise, personal to the man who is to perform the duties of a banker, the reviewer apologizes for the length of his quotations "by alluding to the importance, and to the circumstance that the work is not published in England." The treatise of Mr. Johnson is concise, and would not occupy more than thirty pages of the Merchants' Magazine. It has been published in the newspapers of the day, and in Homan's Bankers' Magazine; but not, that we are aware, in the book or pamphlet form. We shall endeavor to find room in our journal for such occasional extracts, as appear to us to embody the most valuable and practical suggestions for the benefit of our banking and financial readers. Without endorsing all the opinions of Mr. Johnson, we are unwilling to close this reference to the treatise before us, without expressing the hope that one who has written a little on an important topic so well, will find time to produce a more elaborate and complete work, a task which he is in every respect well-fitted to undertake and accomplish, in a manner that will redound to his own credit, and to the great benefit of the commercial world. COINAGE AND DEPOSITS OF UNITED STATES MINT IN 1849. From the annual report of the Director of the Mint, laid before Congress, we learn that the deposits of gold and silver at the Mint and its branches during the year 1849, were as follows: The amount of deposits at the Mint and its branches of gold for coinage from mines in the United States in 1849 was Virginia. North Carolina, Georgia. California. New Mexico. Other sources. Total. $129,382 $102,688 $10,525 $5,481,439 $32,889 $10,169 $5,767,092 Another statement adds more than half a million dollars to the produce of our own mines, by giving the amount of California gold deposited at the Mint and the branches as follow: Philadelphia. New Orleans. $666,080 Total. $6,147,519 UNITED STATES TREASURY NOTES OUTSTANDING, FEBRUARY 1, 1850. TREASURY DEpartment, RegISTER'S OFFICE, February 1, 1850. Amount outstanding of the several issues prior to 22d July, 1846, as per records of this office.... Amount outstanding of the issue of 22d July, 1846, as per records of this office..... Amount outstanding of the issue of 28th January, 1847, as per records of this office Total Deduct cancelled notes in the hands of the accounting officers, of which $150 is under acts prior to 22d July, 1846, and $8,700 under act of 28th January, 1847.. Balance...... $142,589 31 52,800 00 2,171,950 00 $2,367,339 31 8,850 00 $2.358,489 31 CONDITION OF THE BANKS OF BALTIMORE IN 1850. CONDENSED VIEW OF THE BANKS OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE ON THE SEVENTH OF JAN., 1850. BULLION IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND. The London Bankers' Magazine* furnishes the following table, compiled from the official returns of the bank, as quoted in various Parliamentary returns, McCullough's Dictionary of Commerce, and the London Gazette. It will be seen by this table, that the amount of bullion now in the Bank of England, (December 22, 1849,) is larger than at any previous period since the bank was established. An intelligent gentleman connected with the Bank of England, in a private letter to the editor of the Merchants' Magazine, says: "We look here with great interest to the California gold. The effect it may have on the bank charter and the Bank of England must be very serious, and may probably demand legislative interference. We seem here, to me, to be in the transition state-that state which has usually, in England, preceded periods of monetary excitement. Money, plentiful-discounts, low-gold, abundant. * * form future public speculation may assume is most difficult to guess." The table, it will also be seen, gives two quotations for the year 1797, when the bank suspended specie payments, showing the highest amounts in February and August of that year respectively: * What TABLE OF THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF BULLION HELD BY THE BANK OF ENGLAND AT THE UNDERMENTIONED Dates from 1796 To 1849, AND of the total AMOUNT OF GOVERNMENT AND OTHER SECURITIES AT THE DATES SPECIFIED. Bullion. Securities. Date. £2,122,950 £17,025,470 | 1823, August 30 Securities. Bullion. 12,658,240 17,462,370 1,086,170 16,837,650 1824, Feb'ry 28 13,810,060 18,872,000 Date. 1796, August 31 1797, Feb'ry 28 4,089,620 6,546,100 7,563,900 6,144,250 18,261,170 1825, Feb'ry 28 8,779,100 24,951,330 6,754,230 25,083,630 10,463,770 23,199,320 * This Magazine, commenced in April, 1844, is published monthly in London at 1s. 6d. sterling, equal to 37 cents, federal money, per number, where it is regarded as an authority in banking and monetary affairs. It is quoted monthly by the leading English newspapers, including the London Times. Its circulation, limited chiefly to bankers, does not exceed 1,250 copies. It is about half the size of the Merchants' Magazine. It numbers on its list of contributors several eminent practical bankers. James William Gilbart, Esq., General Manager of the London and Westminster Bank, and the author of a number of valuable works on banking, etc., occasionally contributes to its pages. 9,729,000 22,159,000 12,855,000 21,067,000 16,015,000 22,150,000 16,639,315 24,816,318 16,366,068 24,804,192 PRICES OF STOCKS IN NEW YORK IN 1849. The following table shows the prices at which the stocks, in which the principal business is transacted in the New York market, were sold at or about the close of each month in 1849: Treasury notes. Jan. Feb. Mar. April. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. United States 6's, 1867.. 108 109 112 109 1124 115 991 994 98 994 101 102 1144 111 102 1001 Ohio 6's, 1860... 106 107 1074 104 ❝ 7's... Pennsylvania 5's. 102 102 103 104 104 95 100 Manhattan Bank. *98 Mechanics' Bank... Bank of Commerce.. 98 97 943 86 84 34 37 81 118 84 891 82 261 231 51 574 571 33 321 80 931 844 60 83 1034 105 108 105 104 102 103 105 1054 961 *102 113 114 113 114 1014 100 101 100 100 100 100 100 106 *104 105 105 108 110 +115 *105 106 107 108 108 105 1054 102 967 96 *97 97 381 84 801 80 174 161 514 521 61 614 361 32 324 90 • Offered. + Asked DEBT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. From the message of the Governor of Louisiana to the Legislature of that State which commenced its session on the third Monday in January, 1850, we derive the following particulars of the financial affairs of Louisiana :— In obedience to a resolution of the Legislature of the 16th of January, 1844, I am enabled to report that in November last, twelve hundred bonds, representing six hundred thousand dollars of the issue of the State to the Bank of Louisiana, were destroyed in due from of law. On the 1st of January, 1845, the liability of the State for the property banks was fourteen million three hundred and twenty-one thousand five hundred and ninety-six dollars. Since then this liability has been reduced, as follows: The State bonds in favor of the Second Municipality of New Orleans, have been reduced $100,320, and the debt proper of the State has been reduced $65,000, by the payment of the debt due the Consolidated Bank; thus showing a reduction of the liability of the State, in the last five years, of nearly four millions of dollars. The State is indebted to the Charity Hospital in the sum of $125,000, on which it pays an annual interest of 6 per cent, for the purchase of the State House Square in New Orleans. I continue to urge a sale of that portion of the square which has not already been disposed of, in order that the bonds of the State may be taken up, and the payment of interest thereon avoided." |