COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.

DEMAND FOR MONEY-RATE OF INTEREST-PROGRESS OF THE FREE BANKING SYSTEM OF NEW YORK -SECURITIES IN THe hands OF THE CONTROLLER-COMPARATIVE CIRCULATION OF THE FREE AND SAFETY FUND BANKS OF NEW YORK-AMOUNT OF CALIFORNIA GOLD RECEIVED HERE AND IN ENGLAND-ACCUMULATION OF COIN IN LONDON, NEW YORK, BOSTON, BALTIMORE, AND NEW ORLEANS -SUPPLIES OF GOLD AFFECTING THE CURRENCY OF THE WORLD-BILLS INTRODUCED INTO CON GRESS FOR CREATION OF MINTS IN CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK-THE BENEFITS OF THE WAREHOUSING SYSTEM-OPERATIONS IN REAL ESTATE-USURY LAWS-SHIPMENTS OF MERCHANDISE ON THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL FIVE LAST YEARS-EXPORTS OF UNITED STATES FOR FOUR YEARSEXPORTS OF COTTON FROM UNITED STATES FOR FOUR PAST YEARS--DESTINATION OF COTTONCOMPARATIVE RECEIPTS OF COTTON, ETC.

THERE has been more demand for money during the month, and the rates in some cases are higher, although the supply continues very good. It appears, from recent reports, that the incorporated banks of the city, being restricted in their discounts to 250 per cent of the capital, have their "lines" full, and therefore are not disposed to continue loans, unless at better rates. Inasmuch, however, as that the supply in other hands is good, and the deposits large, there is difficulty in raising the rate above 6 per cent. The banks under the general law are not thus restricted, and they therefore are not governed by legislative whims as to the extent of their operations. The progress of the free bank system is indicated in the following table :

SECURITIES FOR FREE CIRCULATION IN THE HANDS OF THE CONTROLLER.

It appears that the law permitting United States stocks to be deposited has caused a slight diminution in the amount of New York stocks on hand, while the aggregate number of banks and their securities have increased. To the number may be added, also, the Bank of Utica and Branch, the Banks of Auburn, Ithaca, and Monroe, whose aggregate capitals are $1,300,000, and the charters of which have expired January 1, 1850, some of them will probably come under the new law. The comparative circulation of the two systems are now as follows:

BANK CIRCULATION OF NEW YORK, DISTINGUISHING FREE AND CHARTERED.

There continues to be an increasing value in bank stocks, and a consequent desire to increase the number, notwithstanding that specie is constantly entering in larger amounts into the current circulation. It is now known that the amount of California gold arrived in the country reaches fully $6,000,000. About $3,000,000 has arrived in England, and as much more lingers in the islands and ports of the Pacific, gradually finding its way to the great reservoirs of commerce. While this is the case, the accumulations of coin are considerable about those points. They are comparatively as follows:

This gives an increase of 17 per cent, at these five great centers of business. The amounts at Boston and New York include that in the assistant treasury, as well as that in the bank vaults. That in the vaults of the Bank of England is probably now larger than ever before; and as being the center of the financial operations of the world, will probably exert a great influence upon the state of things. In short, the increased supplies of gold are already affecting the currency of the world. It will be observed that while these accumulations have taken place at all points, there has been no great disturbance of the exchanges; on the other other hand, from all points of the East and South Pacific, as well as Central America, specie is flowing toward London in unchecked amounts, the silver passing into the channels of continental circulation, and the gold swelling the volume of the bank deposits. At the same time, exchanges are in favor of the United States, and the capital of Europe is rapidly immigrating. That there will be an increasing export of gold from California is as certain as that the increasing facilities of transportation and communication will tend to draw it to the cities of the United States more directly. Bills have already been introduced into Congress for the creation of mints at San Francisco and New York. It is to be hoped that these most necessary measures will be promptly passed. In the Southern States there are already three, namely: at New Orleans, at Charlotte, North Carolina, and at Dahlonega, Georgia, neither of which are of importance to the national wants, as compared with one for the California mines, and for coinage of foreign gold at New York. These mints, in connection with the new communication across the Isthmus, and the warehousing system, are among the most important measures of the age, in a commercial point of view. The mint will give value and effect to the vast products of those mines, while the construction of a passage across the Isthmus would inevitably make our warehouses the depositories of the wealth of Asia, for the supply of Europe in American

bottoms. In view of the protective effect of the Californian settlements upon the trade of the coast, the warehousing system is the most important measure ever adopted by our government to promote the national interests, and ensure the commercial supremacy of the United States upon the Atlantic. The policy which would destroy the system because, in its mismanaged infancy, it has not yielded a profit, would have stopped the war of Independence, because the first year of expenditure exceeded the realized benefits.

While money promises such abundance, the disposition of all property, at home and abroad, has been to advance, and the operations in real estate in New York and its vicinity, have been on an immense scale, attracting more attention than any other description of property. This feeling has been probably somewhat enhanced by the shock which securities have undergone, through the application of legal restrictions and penalties, to the transactions of corporate companies. The most notable of these was in the case of the North American Trust and Banking Company, a concern started in 1838, under the free banking law of New York, and which, having failed, secured its creditors by creating their trusts. There was issued to creditors, mostly as evidences of money previously borrowed, $2,793,333 32 of bonds and notes, of a character illegal by the laws of New York. To secure this paper, the trusts were created; and one of these trusts, amounting to $327,000, has been set aside by the court of last resort in New York, leaving the creditors to come in as general claimants, and requiring any monies that may have been paid to them under the trusts, to be repaid to the receiver of the company. The question of the claim itself may be subjected to the plea of usury, which has so successfully been applied to the debts of the New York Dry Dock Bank, to the extent of $400,000. There is but little doubt but that during the years of speculation in the creation of many State debts, the formation of corporate companies, and in the exercise of powers under their charters, as well as by commissioners and trustees, the laws of the land were very generally disregarded or evaded, under the impression that they would never be enforced. The late decisions have awakened all parties to the fact that the law is not a dead letter, and stockholders seem now determined to assert their rights. In the case of the late National Bank, there is but little doubt that a determined action in the United States Courts would put an entire different face upon the state of affairs as regards stockholders. The severe penalty of the New York laws against usury is such, however, as to prevent the investment of capital within reach of laws that, in the hands of wiley and dishonest debtors can easily be made to repudiate the claim. It is no doubt the case that in the country, where the competition of capital is not great, that the usury laws operate greatly to the protection of farmers under mortgage, but on the seaboard they are exceedingly injurious to trade, in making dealers exceedingly cautious in advancing upon goods, and in preventing capital from seeking this port, where it is most wanted. It is a serious matter where a trifling infringement of an arbitrary local law operates an entire loss of the claim; it would be sufficient if the laws are to be retained, if, as in some other States, the excess of interest only is forfeited. This question may, however, come before the United States courts, as to how far the laws conflict with the Constitution of the United States.

The official returns of the business of the past year, as indicated as well in the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury as in those of the several canals, show

a much improved state of business. The operations of the Pennsylvania lines, for five years, showing the imports and exports from Pittsburg, are as follows:

SHIPMENTS EASTWARD ON THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL, FROM PITTSBURG, IN THR PAST FIVE

SHIPMENTS WESTWARD TO PITTSBURG, ON THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL, IN EACH OF THE PAST

The quantities of dry goods, groceries, and other supplies to the interior, show a fair increase; as does also the movement of iron. The exports of the United States, for the fiscal year 1849, as compared with previous years, have been as follows:

The amount of domestic exports in 1849, was far greater than in any previous year, with the exception of 1847. The exports of manufactured goods have doubled in value since 1846; of cotton, 50 per cent; and although in that year the failure of the potato crop had given an impetus to the importation of food into Great Britain, permitted by the modified tariff of 1842, the value this year has been larger than in any year, save that of the famine year, 1847. The value of the cotton exported has continued annually to increase, and it has now reached a larger figure than ever before in value. In our article for August, we compiled a table of the exports of the year then about to expire, in which we estimated the value of cotton exports, of eleven months, at $64,665,430. The official value for twelve months, is, as seen alone, $66,396,967; being an excess of $1,741,537 in the official value for twelve months, over our estimate for eleven months. Our estimate was, therefore, very nearly accurate. The quantities and value of cotton exported for the past four fiscal years, have been as follows:

EXPORTS OF COTTON FROM THE UNITED STATES.

The quantity of cotton sent abroad has very nearly doubled in 1849, over that of 1846, and the value has risen 60 per cent, or $24,000,000. The destination of this enormous crop has been, as compared with previous years, as follows: