Banks and Money

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 17, 1911

Banks and Money.—During the fiscal year of 1910 the combined resources of the 7,000 national banks of the United States grew to approximately $10,000,000,000. On September 1 last their loans and discounts had reached $5,400,000,000 — an amount never before equaled since the creation of the national banking system in 1864. At the same time they were counting nearly $30,000,000 of overdrafts in their assets, a practise which there is no law to stop.

Combining all other banks in the United States and its island possessions with those of the national system, and allowing an estimate for those not reported, it is evident from the comptroller's report that the banking power of the nation has grown in the last ten years from 13,977 of all sorts of banks, with capital of $1,150,000,000 and individual deposits of $7,688,000,000, to more than 27,000 banks with combined capital close to $2,000,000,000 and individual deposits of nearly $16,000,000,000. The deposits have more than doubled in little more than a decade, and in the same time the combined loans and discounts have grown to more than $12,000,000,000.

The volume of business is reflected in reports which have been assembled from 137 clearing-house exchanges, showing combined clearings of $169,000,000,000 for the year ended on September 30, as against $158,800,000,000 for 1909. Cincinnati and six smaller cities were the only ones that did not show an increased volume of business transacted.

The New York Clearing House Association represented 60 per cent of the clearings of all associations of the country, and during the current year has reached $102,000,000,000, some $3,000,000,000 greater than in 1909. For those enormous transactions balances of only little more than $4,000,000,000 were used.

Bishop Nicholas C. Matz, Roman Catholic, urged in address before the Knights of Columbus at Denver, Jan. 1, 1911, that all Roman Catholics federate "to the end that by such a union they may become powerful enough to demand their civil and political rights." "Referring to the recent upheaval in Portugal, the prelate declared that the revolution was made possible through lack of organization by Catholics." So says a report in the Examiner of January 3.

A movement to substitute immersion — baptism — for the sprinkling method, was approved in the report of the committee to the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, presbytery; but after a heated discussion the idea was turned down. The movement, altho a futile one, was regarded as important from the fact that the Presbyterian headquarters are nominally in Pittsburg.

A new method of mining, adopted in German coal-shafts, does away with dangerous blasting, while also avoiding much of the risk of spontaneous explosion of coal-dust. Deep holes are bored; but instead of putting in shots, water is forced into the holes under heavy pressure through pipes. The water finds its way through the coal fissures, and after the mass is loosened, the coal is removed without any dust, with a light pick and shovel.

The present type of battle-ship threatens to become obsolete, for it can be but a short time before the new Dreadnought type will be motor driven. The internal combustion engine, which is used successfully on smaller vessels, will, it is thought, do away with boilers and smoke-stacks, which will be a great saving in space and weight, and also add to the gun power.

In England a new system in railway transportation is now in daily service. It is called the "slip-coach," so named because one or two rear coaches may be "slipped," or uncoupled, from the train, traveling at a high rate of speed, and the coaches brought to a stop at any given point, while the rest of the train, without slackened speed, hurries on to other points.

The Western Union Telegraph Company has offered to the public a new service to be known as the "Ocean Mail Service," whereby messages addressed "Care Ocean Mail" at New York, San Francisco, Seattle, or Vancouver will be deposited in the post-office in time to catch the next ocean mail from the point designated.

In a train robbery, January 4, on the Southern Pacific near Ogden, Utah, one porter was killed and another wounded. The bandits entered the sleeping-cars, and after brutal treatment of some of the passengers, made their escape with over $2,500, including several articles of jewelry.

France is in a crusade against alcohol, in which leading scientists and public men are taking prominent part. Since 1880, when the restrictions on the sale of intoxicants were removed, the number of saloons in France has increased from 334,000 to 500,000.

Washington, D. C., is leading out in the matter of manual training schools. Two-year courses have been provided in seven trades for boys and three for girls. These courses are especially adapted to children in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman has completed arrangements for a great religious campaign in Jerusalem and another in Cairo, Egypt, in which he will be assisted by a number of prominent evangelists and singers.

The revolution continues in Mexico, and there is little prospect that it will soon cease. The federal troops have defeated the revolutionists in Chihuahua, and have taken the city of Guerrero.

A whole car-load of babies, fifty-two of them, none over three years of age, were sent from a foundling home in New York to Texas, where each baby will be adopted by some family.

It is said that the Sioux Indian tribe raises $300 every year to send a missionary to their worst enemies, the Crows, because the Bible tells them to love their enemies.

In the annual Christmas list of wealthy citizens of Spokane, Washington, it is stated that there are twenty-one millionaires and 133 persons who own $58,000,000.

A new fuel has been discovered called sudd. It is a weedy growth extending three hundred miles along the Nile, and is estimated to cover some 35,000 square miles.

It is proposed to build a railroad across Persia, at a cost of $90,000,000, which will bring London within seven days' journey of Bombay.

Dinah Hicks, a Negro woman born in slavery, died at her home in New Rochelle, New York, recently at the age of 110 years.