short process, without a corresponding increase of risk. Royal roads to wealth are always tempting but never safe. This spirit of speculation has been aided by the expansion of bank accommodations, although this has been confined as yet, within very safe limits. At New York, for the last quarter, the 40 banks have increased their loans and discounts about $8,000,000; but their specie has increased $2,350,000, and their deposits $8,781,000, so that they still stand in a very safe position. We annex a comparison of some of the leading items, which we have compiled from the separate statements of the banks as printed under the order of the controller; the totals will be varied slightly when the official returns are completed. Loans and Deposits. Specie. CONDITION OF THE NEW YORK CITY BANKS AT THE DATES ANNEXED. Incor❜d Asso. Circulation. b'nks. b'nks. Capital. March 27, '52. $71,945,698 $43,415,125 $9,716,070 $7,671,989 17 23 $35,137,870 Dec. 20, '51. 64,141,399 34,631,459 7,364,439 7,073,345 17 23 35,133,640 Sept. 20, '51. 65,426,353 36,640,617 6,032,463 7,376,113 17 21 34,603,100 March 29, '51. 68,106,072 36,500,522 7,955,640 7,048,973 17 14 28,875,855 It will be seen from the above that nine new banks have been formed within the year, and that the banking capital has increased $6,300,000, so that there is now less expansion on the part of these institutions than at the corresponding period of last year. This movement has also been followed in other parts of the Union, but still the banks are prosperous, and doing business on a sound specie basis. In our journal of banking, &c., will be found the March statement of the New Hampshire Banks. Foreign exchange still keeps below the point at which specie can be shipped, good bills on London fluctuating between 109 and 109§, and on Paris 5,224 a 5,184. At the inside rate noticed there is always a good demand for remittances, and it seems doubtful if a much lower point will be reached at present. We continue our usual statement of the deposits and coinage at the Philadelphia and New Orleans mints, by which it will be seen that the amount has increased over the total for last month. This makes a total deposit since January 1st of California gold, amounting to $12,600,000. This is an average of $50,000,000 per annum; and although the total for April may fall a little short of its proportion, there is every reason to believe that the receipts for the following months will make up the deficiency. We noticed in our last a decline in the general imports of foreign goods, and the total falling off in the receipts at the port of New York, amounting to $7,101,742 for the two months ending February 29th. We now annex a comparative statement for the month of March, by which it will appear that this decline continued up to the 1st of April: IMPORTS ENTEred at new YORK FROM FOREIGN PORTS DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH. Notwithstanding this decline from last year in the receipts, the amount thrown into the channels of consumption has increased, owing to the drawing down of the stock in warehouse. Our readers will remember that the total receipts at the port are made up of the dutiable goods entered directly for consumption, the stock thrown into warehouse, and the free goods; while to make the total thrown into the channels of trade, the goods withdrawn from warehouse instead of the goods entered, are added to the other items. The following will exhibit the comparative total taken for consumption: IMPORTS THROWN UPON THE MARKET AT NEW YORK DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH. The decline in the receipts would have been much greater but for the large increase in free goods, the imports of which have been nearly doubled. The entries at the other ports of the United States, exhibit very trifling changes from the business of last year, so that the decline at New York will show about the actual difference in the whole import trade of the country. As this is a very important subject, we annex a comparison for the 1st quarter of the year. IMPORTS ENTERED AT NEW YORK DURING THE MONTHS OF JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH. This shows a total decline from last year of $7,759,399, or nearly 20 per cent on the entire amount of imports for the quarter. Of this decline $3,577,725 have been in dry goods, extending to nearly every description of fabric, and running throughout the entire quarter, although most noticeable in January and February. We subjoin a comparison of the imports for March for three years: 5,407 Excess in 1852..... The following will show the exports from New York to foreign ports, of some of the leading articles of produce, from January 1st to April 17th: Ashes-Pots....bbls. Pearls... 935 1851. 1852. Hops..........bales. 20 89,747 419 113,665 17,995 The export of rye, noticed above, has been chiefly to Germany, where the crop is short, and where many of the people are suffering for lack of food; and, with the exception of 3,000 bushels, has all been cleared within the last month. Under another head in this number of the Magazine will be found the commercial tables accompanying the last report of the Secretary of the Treasury, now first published in an official form. For the fiscal year, now three-quarters gone, the Commerce of the country will present still more gratifying statements, although for the first five months the imports from foreign ports were unusually large. The recommendations which were made by the Secretary of the Treasury in regard to changing the standard of value in the currency of the country, have been embodied in a bill, which has passed one branch of Congress, and is now before the other with a good prospect of success. The provisions are, with one exception, in accordance with our previous suggestions; the silver coins representing fractional parts of a dollar are to be reduced in weight about 7 per cent, and not made a legal tender except for a small amount. The exception referred to is a provision authorizing a charge of one-half of 1 per cent for coining all deposits of gold. The insertion of this clause has delayed the passage of the bill, it having called out numerous remonstrances, and there can be no doubt but that the charge, if authorized, would be very unpopular. At the same time, we can see no good reason why it should not be made. There is, strictly speaking, no justice in taxing the nation at large for the expense of turning the gold of the miner into currency. The actual expense of stamping the metal ought to be borne by its owner, and thus the principle upon which the clause was inserted is undoubtedly correct. But the attempt to authorize it, has raised no little clamor, and may be abandoned. JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. THE PROPOSED ALTERATION IN OUR CURRENCY. The bill introduced by Mr. Hunter, from the Committee of Finance in the Senate, to change the amount of silver in our standard dollar, is one of great importance, and deserves most careful deliberation and discussion before it is adopted. Its object is to prevent the exportation of our silver coin, which for some time past has borne a premium of 2 or 3 per cent; and it effects this object by reducing the weight of the dollar from 4124 grains to 384, making a depreciation of nearly 7 per cent. As the weight of the eagle is 258 grains, and the fineness of both the same, the former ratio between gold and silver was nearly 16, and the proposed bill reduces it below 15. So great a change in the usual medium of trade, in the common standard by which all commercial transactions are measured, in the unit by which our State and general governments have promised to pay millions and hundreds of millions of dollars, demands a thorough investigation and examination. It is not now proposed to undertake this task, but a few remarks and suggestions will be offered, to awaken attention and inquiry in the matter. 1. Some change ought to be made. The exportation of our silver coin will flood the country with small bills of paper money to which there are many grave objections. 2. The recent premium on silver will, in all probability, be fully sustained. Not that it will remain unchanged from time to time, but that it will rise and fall above and below 24 or 3 per cent, presuming an average depreciation of at least this amount. A sufficient reason for this is the fact that in all the countries of Europe, ten of our silver dollars are worth more than our gold eagle, according to their legal standard value of these two metals. It is not necessary, therefore, to enter into any abstract discussions on the change of relative value in gold and silver bullion brought about by the increased production of gold in Russia, California, and Australia. The question is far more simple. We are large producers of gold; we are thus, by necessity, exporters. If a merchant has a debt to pay in France, which he can discharge, according to the French laws, either by 100 grains of gold or 1,550 grains of silver, and the 100 grains of gold are worth here, at our mint, the same as 1,600 grains of silver, the imperative law of self-interest will induce the merchant to send abroad silver rather than gold. In Holland the ratio is the same as in France. In England and Russia the ratio is still lower. The gain in sending silver to France and Holland is over 3 per cent, and to Russia it is more than 4 per cent. As gold is the only legal tender in England, the inducement to send silver there is not so great, but the market value of bullion in London will always be near the market value on the continent, especially when the course of exchange may lead to the export of coin from the British ports to the other countries of Europe. As long, therefore, as our present laws remain unchanged, a premium of 2, 3, or 4 per cent on silver may be anticipated with great confidence. When the export of coin was only occasional, and when the foreign gold we had imported could often be exported in sovereigns, which were not recoined abroad, this difference in the values of gold and silver did not make itself sensible. But now our exportations being in American gold, its value is estimated abroad as bullion, and thus the difference becomes manifest. 8. Although a change seems desirable, it does not follow that the silver dollar must be depreciated, because an increase in the value of the eagle will produce precisely the same effect. If the grains of gold in an eagle be increased 2 or 3 per cent, the premium on silver will disappear as suddenly and completely as if the grains of silver in the dollar be diminished to the same extent. 4. This remedy would be less troublesome and expensive than the other; because, in both ways, all that part of the currency that is altered in value must be recoined, and the amount of silver in circulation is probably greater, and made up of twenty times as many pieces as the gold. The cost of recoining a million of dollars in tencent pieces, quarters, and halves, would be far greater than the recoinage of the same sum in eagles, double eagles, halves and quarters. 5. Silver has always, in times past, been our usual medium of circulation; before the Revolution, and since, down to the present day. But few gold pieces are ever seen in circulation; and it is objectionable to alter the usual standard. 6. Our Government has hitherto regarded silver as the standard of value, and at various times, in 1790, 1834, and 1837, altered the gold and never the silver; except the slight change that was made in 1837, in the fineness of silver, from 11 oz. 2 dwts. to the pound to 11 1-9 oz.; and this was done merely for the convenience of the mint in calculating the alloy, the change being only the one-fifth of 1 per cent. The new remedy is, therefore, contrary to precedent. 7. To have two standards, as we have, and first to depreciate the gold and then the silver, looks much like bad faith to our creditors. Pennsylvania borrowed, between 1830 and 1834, much of the money she now owes. She promised to pay so many dollars-that is, so many grains of silver or of gold. If Congress first depreciates the gold in the dollar, and then the silver, she would thus pay neither of the things she promised. 8. It is, in some respects, better to keep silver as the invariable standard than gold. There is much more of it in the world, and it is less liable to fluctuate. The mode it is obtained, by working deep and expensive mines, forbids the expectation of any great variation in the amount produced. The world generally employs silver; everywhere, except in England, it is the usual medium of payments This is true of Europe, even; in Asia, in China, and India especially, silver is almost the only medium of commercial exchanges. Gold is farther liable to fluctuate in value much more than silver by its dependence on the price of quicksilver, by the discovery of new mines, and by the exhaustion of existing sources of supply. 9. There can be but little doubt that the present disturbance in the comparative value of gold and silver is more likely caused by a slight depreciation in gold than by an appreciation of silver. Now justice says, keep your contracts inviolate-give back the same value as before; that is, give more of the depreciated metal for the same nominal sum. 10. It was well known and avowed, when the eagle was changed in 1884, that we were rating the value of gold too high. We altered the ratio from 15 to 16. The first was too low; but the last was higher than it was reckoned anywhere else. In France and Holland the ratio was, and is, 15.5; in England and Russia it was still less. Ought we not retrace our steps, and rectify the wrong we then committed? Ought we not bring the eagle up to the proper weight, if we reduced it too low in 1834? We made the change with the design of displacing paper money: we have found the effect to be the driving out of silver. Ought we not now give back the proper weight to the eagle, rather than reduce the weight of the dollar? 11. A depreciation of our silver would make all the imported Mexican and Peruvian dollars articles of merchandise, and they would have to be recoined, and this would increase the labor and expenses of our mint. 12. If we first alter the gold dollar, then the silver, then again the gold, and then |