Article Text
BANK REPORT. BANK DEPARTMENT. ALBANY Dec. 29, 1866. To the Honorable, the Legislature of the State of New-York The operations of this Department, and the condi will tion of the Banking System of the State of New-York a be found mainly in Table two (2) and three (3) and by comparison of Table No. 1 of this Report with Statement These page operations of the Report and of this last condition year. may be condensed as follows: $994,351 Circulation issued 17,901,309 00 cauceled Circulati returned 27,009,449.00 Circulat outstand Sept. 30, 1865 10,102,491 00 Circula on outstandis Sept. 1866 16,906,958 00 Decrea in Circulation Stocks Mortgages a 1 Cash Securities depo ed with the Si perintendent to secure 25,796,550 95 CIP dation, Sept. 1865 11,333,541 76 Do. do. Sept. 30, 1866. 14,463,009 19 Decrease of Securities On the 30th September, 1865, 114 Banks reported to this areDepartment; on the 29th September, 1865, but 85 Bank ported. longer reporting) eight have been converted Of these (no and the remainder into National Banks during the year, and close their have taken steps to transfer their assets, business corporate organization, and are no longer doing under the Banking laws of this State. The process of dissolution foreshadowed in the last Report from this Department, has been progressing rapidly during Buggestive as the year. these considerations are, the causes operating to produce them are beyond the power of State legislation to affect or remove, and Congress, which possesses the power, has thus far imperiously refused no to grant even the negative relief applied for, and I have hope of any change of purpose in that quarter. of During the year 39 banks have availed themselves the provisions of the law au thorizing a deposit O1 money six with the SuperIntendent for the redemption, during all years, of their circulating notes, and have withdrawn other securities. Other measures, looking to a retention of securities in lieu of making a cash deposit, will doubtless be urged upon the atten Mon of the Legislature by parties interested in effecting a change. While the present provisions have proved adequate as a protection to the public, and have afforded a simple, cheap and efficac eious means of redeeming the circulation bur of closing banks, and have imposed no considerable obden the banks themselves, there is, perhaps, no jection upon to a change in the law that shall still afford unquestioned security to the bill-holders, more weighty, than that it will tend to keep in existence this Department beyond a period when it might otherwise be dispensed with. Two banks, the E. S. Rich's Bank of Exchange, an individual bank located at Bu iffalo,and the Ilion Bank, bank ing association located at Ilion, have become insolvent during the year, the former passing into the hands of as signees. and the latter into the hands of a receiver. The of securities of each will be ample for the redemption their notes at par. Though occurring since the close of the fiscal year, it 18 proper to note the fact of the organization under the Banking Laws of this State of a new bank in the City of New-York with a capital of $500,000, and called the NewYork Gold Exchange Bank. It is a gratifying testimony to the simplicity and efficiency of our system of free banking that with all the diser iminations against State it Banks by the General Government bankers still'turn to as the model system of the country, and capitalista organize under it wherever the course of business is such as will enable them to dispense with the issue of circulation as a source of profit. THE SAFETY FUND. Pursuant to the provisions of an act of the last Legislature, chapter554, the Superintendent has converted the available assets of the safety fund into cash, and declared a dividend of 40 cents on eachedollar of the outstanding circulation of the Lewis County Bank, Yates County Bank, Bank of Orleans and Reciprocity Bank. Before arrangements for declaring such dividend were completed, the Receiver of the Yates County Bank commeneed proceedings against the Superintendent, by application for a mandamus to compel the payment to him, for the benefit of creditors of the Yates County Bank, of the whole of the Safety Fund. Believing the assumption of the Receiver to be wholly unfounded in law, and knowing it to be unfounded in justice, and in direct contravention of the order above cited, the undersigned, by cousel, opposed the motion before a special terin of the Supreme Court in Stenben County, and was sustained by the Court on every point. After this authoritative exposition of his duties, the Su perintendent felt that he would be no longer justified in delaying to comply with the plain and mandatory provisions of the above act, a neglect of which would justify, and almost certainly expose him to an action by the parties for whose protection the act was passed, to which action he could interpose no valid defense. The Superintendent, therefore, entered upon the duty imposed upon him, not withstanding the fact of an appeal from the decision of the Special Term. The appeal has been argued before the General Term of the Supreme Court, but no decision has yet been pronounced.* Ideem it improbable that any other conclusion shall be rea ed already pronounced, and that the worst result than that of will be an expenditure for legal services of a portion the fund that might have been applied to a better purpose. But, in event, I am very clear as to the correctness of my official action. The amount of cash held for account of the several funds 18 $69,210 71. BUSINESS OF THE DEPARTMENT. It will be seen that the work of the Department, except the registration of notes, has greatly exceeded that of most previous years. During large portion of the year the labor has been very arduous, taxing the energies of all employed to their fullest extent In view of the demand for promptness in the transaction of the business of the Department, rendering it necessary at all times to have suffic ient force for any emergencies of business, it has been found impossible to reduce the clerical force of the Department, and, as a consequence, the expenses could not be materially lessoned from those of former years. It is, however, anticipated that some reduction of this expense may be practicable during the current year. DESTRUCTION OF BANK NOTE PLATES. Table No. is a list of Bank note plates destroyed during the year. Quite a large number of plates of closed banks now await destruction, which will receive attention at early day. CLERKS IN THE DEPARTMENT in the The name and fixed compensation of the clerks Department will be found in table No. The legislative increase of compensation of the clerks in the several departments has been extended to the clerks in this Department as an act of justice or indeed of ne cessity. Upon none do the inconveniences of depreciated currency and the burdens of taxation and inflated prices fall so henvily as upon those whose support is derived from fixed incomes, as in the form of salary, Most of the clerks of this Department have been employed here for many years, some of them from its orgarrization, and I cheerfully bear testimony to the ability, courtesy and integrity with which the duties of each have been discharged. CONCLUSION. From the statistics herewifh presented, it will be seen that Passing Away' is written upon the Banking system of the State of New York. It is useless to sit in sorrow, or to indulge in vain regrets over the dissolution of a system that has so long mulstered 80 acceptably to the material prosperity of the State. In the march and progress of social revolution, creating new financial exigencies, it has been swept away, leaving to us, however, the hope that the larger growth and higher demands of the opening era may be as fully served and answered as have been those of the one now closing upon our sight. Rospectfully submitted, GEORGE W. SCHUYLER, SuperIntendent *Since the above was written, the General Term has affirmed the decision of the Court below
