THE BANK OF FRANCE.

[From Crump's English Manual of Banking, London, 1877, and from the Economist, and the Bankers' Magazine, London, 1877.]

THE Bank of France was founded by Napoleon I. at the beginning of this century, and an institution then existing, and called "Caisse d'escompte, which was established in 1776, was amalgamated with it. The capital of the Bank of France was at first 30,000,000 francs, divided into 30,000 name shares of 1000 francs each. The bank commenced business on the 20th of February, 1800, and was presided over by a committee of fifteen members. Its operations consisted of discounting and collecting bills, opening of current accounts, issuing notes payable to bearer oй demand, and receiving deposits, on which it paid interest.

In 1803, the bank was granted for fifteen years the monopoly of issuing notes, the capital being raised at the same time to 45 millions. Since that time provincial banks have not been able to issue notes except under government license.

In 1805, the bullion reserve of the bank was very small, and the government ordered the bank to encash only 600,000 francs of notes per diem, the total amount of notes issued, which, moreover, had fallen to a discount of ten per cent to fifteen per cent, being 70,000,000 francs. This state of affairs continued till the beginning of

1806.

In 1808, the monopoly of the bank, which was to expire in 1818, was extended to 1843, and the capital of the institution was doubled. From this time the bank, which had retained the character of a private company, became essentially a government institution, with private commandite partners. The management was confined to a governor and two sub-governors, named by the government, and to fifteen regents and three censors, who are nominated by the shareholders, and who form the general council.

In consequence of the political events of 1848, the bank asked the government to be allowed to suspend payment. The government granted this request, and decreed the forced currency of the bank-notes, on condition that the whole issue of notes should not exceed 350,000,000 francs. In consequence of this decree, the notes, which had been at a discount of five per cent, rose to par. This maximum was raised to 525,000,000 francs in 1849, and in August, 1850, the maximum was done away with altogether, and the notes were again convertible.

In 1857, the monopoly of the bank was continued until 1897, and the capital was doubled to 182,500 shares, or $36,500,000, the new shares being issued at 1100 francs. In consequence of the Franco-German war, the notes of the Bank of France were declared legal tender, and became a forced currency on the 12th August, 1870, and the limit of the circulation was fixed at 1,800,000 francs. This limit was raised to 2,400,000 francs in December, 1870; to 2,800,000 francs in December, 1871; and to 3,200,000 francs in July, 1872. The notes remain still inconvertible, but are at par with gold.

In July, 1870, when the war began, the circulation of the Bank of France was $251,000,000, and the specie in hand $229,000,000, or about 90 per cent. The first bank statement after the peace, June, 1871, showed a paper circulation of $442,000,COO, and a specie reserve of $110,000,000, or about 25 per cent. The highest point attained by the paper-money emissions was in November, 1873, $602,000,000, with a metallic reserve of $146,000,000, or 24 per cent. The largest depreciation of banknotes was 22 per cent as compared with gold, in November, 1871.

Since 1848, the Bank of France has had the sole right of issuing notes in France, and paid, up to 1871, per mille, and since 25th August, 1871, 1 per mille stamp duty on its issue to the government.

If the rate of discount rises above six per cent, the extra profit goes to the

reserve.

As long as the notes had not a forced currency, no limit was prescribed to the amount of the circulation, or to the proportion of the specie kept as cover for the notes; all this was left to the discretion of the management.

The Bank of France has eighty-nine branches.

The official report of M. Rouland, governor, and the censors of the Bank of France, January 25th, 1877, represents a considerable decrease in transactions. This decrease was in discounts of commercial paper and bills by the bank and branches, as follows (stated in dollars):

The decrease of discounts is attributed to the general depression of business in

France, and in part to the steady raising of the stamp duty on commercial paper, diminishing the number of commercial bills which can afford to pay so heavy a tax. The metallic reserves were stated as follows:

The statement adds that over $100,000,000 of specie, proceeding from abroad, has been put into the bank, the rate of exchange being steadily favorable to France. This aggregate specie was composed of $93,200,000 in gold and $8,980,000 in silver. The report adds that the metallic reserves are so much the greater, as the country, strong in its confidence in the note circulation of the Bank of France, continues more than ever to prefer its notes to gold and silver. It is urged that the true interests of France require speedy resumption in specie, a paper circulation being only supplementary to specie. It is added that the Bank of France is in a very strong condition for resumption, which is to take place, under existing laws, on the 1st of January, 1878.

The total circulation of notes issued by the bank and branches is given as follows:

This circulation is nearly half made up of notes of one hundred francs, or twenty dollars. The smallest notes issued are for five francs, of which, however, there are only 257,724 in circulation, representing only a quarter of a million dollars out of about five hundred million. The maximum limit of note circulation is fixed by law at $640,000,000.

The liabilities of the French public treasury toward the bank have been diminished by more than one half. It owed on the 24th of January, 1876, $111,275,000. On the 25th of January, 1877, the state owed the bank only $67,500,000. On November 15th, 1877, the debt of the government was still further reduced to $62,135,000. As to the relative proportions of gold and silver in the large specie reserve of the Bank of France, it was stated July 15th, 1877, as follows:

Gold.
Silver..

.1,386.780,000 francs.
823,930,000

66

Of this heavy amount of silver coin, all but about 50,000,000 francs was in five-franc pieces, which are a legal tender in France to any amount for all debts, public and private. There was thus over $150,000,000 in silver money of full-valued currency in the Bank of France, besides $277,000,000 in gold coin.

STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE BANK OF FRANCE,

DISTILLERIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1877.

The following Statement shows the Number of Distilleries Registered and Operated during the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1877.

[From the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1877.]

INTEREST LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES.

[Compiled from Hubbell's Legal Directory, 1877.]

Laws of each State and Territory regarding Rates of Interest and Penalties for Usury.

THE CUSTOMS TARIFF OF GREAT BRITAIN.

No protective duties are now levied on goods imported, Customs duties being charged solely for the sake of revenue. Formerly the articles subject to duty numbered nearly a thousand; now they are only twenty-two, the chief being tobacco, spirits, tea, and wine. The following is a complete list:

DUTY.

03 9
0 13 3
002
0 1 3

0

0

0 16 0

1 1 0

0

1 4 0

POPULATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AT EACH DECENNIAL CENSUS FROM 1801 TO 1871.

9,156,171 10,454,529 12,172,664 14,051.986 16,035,198 18,054,170 20,228,417 22,712,266 1,678,452 1,884,044 2,137,325 2,405,610 2,652,339 2,922,362 3,096,808 3,360,018 5,319,867 *6,084,996 6,869,544 7,828,347 8,222,664 6,623,982 5,850,309 5,411,416 82,810 *85,517 92,654 106,542 126,249 145,435 145,674 144,638

Unit. Kingdom 16,237,300 18,509,116 21,272,187 24,392,485 27,239,404 27,958,143 29,571,644 31,857,338

The population of Ireland and that of the Channel Islands in the British Seas for 1801 and 1811 are given by estimate, no census having been taken before 1821.