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MONEY IN CIRCULATION

UNITED STATES BANKING ABROAD

THE
HE per capita circulation of money THE Federal Reserve Board has au-

in the United States on Jan. 1, 1917, was the highest in our history, $43; 1916, $38.48; 1914, $35.11; 1911, $34.25; 1907, $33.78. The total money in circulation Jan. 1 was $4,440,932,634, an increase of $137,937,400 in a month.

THE

FRENCH GOLD

HE Bank of France is accumulating an enormous quantity of gold from the hoardings of the masses. An engraved certificate is issued to any one who exchanges gold for paper. In addition to this method of patriotic appeal, a bill has been introduced proposing that after the war all gold coins in the bank's possession shall be restruck so as to bear the peace date-which he suggests will be 1917 and that only these coins shall be legal. All other gold coins, he argues, must have remained in the hands of unpatriotic Frenchmen, who deserve to suffer for retaining them.

M. Bouffandeau has found that of the $2,400,000,000 which represents France's total gold coinage only $1,600,000,000 is at the present moment known to be in the State's possession and abroad, hence $800,000,000 is still concealed somewhere.

He would have a special law passed to guarantee the value of their gold coins to foreigners holding them, but "Frenchmen," he writes, "have not the right to keep their gold when the country needs it, and thanks to my bill, those who have shut their ears and safes will be affected in their pockets, and it will be just!"

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thorized the Bank of England to become the agent and correspondent of the New York Reserve Bank, and possibly this bank and other Reserve Banks will become agents of the Bank of England.

The arrangement was made possible by amendments to the Federal Reserve Bank act by Congress last session. Owing to the difficulties encountered in conducting foreign exchange during the war, it was deemed advisable to expand the Reserve system and make it possible for banks in Europe to appoint agents and maintain gold funds here with which to meet the obligations incident to war purchases. The Bank of England had never adopted the policy of having foreign agents until the necessities of the present war made it advisable to maintain a gold fund in Ottawa. The plan adopted has worked so well that it can be seen that similar agents in the United States would be to the advantage of Great Britain.

In line with this expansion of the exchange mechanism between the United States and Great Britain is the growing demand from business men of the British colonies for closer relations with this country. Australia particularly has been multiplying her purchases in the United States. Canada never did so much business here as now. Recent trade reports show that capital from this country is going into Canada at a rate never before witnessed. The relations between the two countries are rapidly assuming important proportions. Canadian capitalists are turning to the United States for funds, and it is regarded as essential that banking relations should be prepared to meet the certain trend of business.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of New Zealand has returned from a four months' trip through the United States and Canada, and announces that arrangements have been completed with American banks whereby dollar credits can be arranged to facilitate trade between New Zealand and

America. Consul General Winslow, at Auckland, in a dispatch to the Department of Commerce, says this will be in the interest of American trade and now is the time for American marufacturers and exporters to make the most of it.

A reciprocal arrangement similar to that established with the Pank of England is expected soon to be made with the Bank of France.

M

RAILROAD EARNINGS

ORE than $1,000,000,000 net income from operations was made by the railroads of the United States in the year 1916. The huge total is the peak of prosperity in railroad operations, and stands more than one-third higher than the total of 1913, hitherto the banner year. Statistics gathered by the Interstate Commerce Commission, complete for nine months and made the basis for calculation for the entire year, indicate that the total net income from operations will be approximately $1,098,000,000. For the first nine months of the year complete returns show $785,558,266. Even this does not represent the full amount, as roads whose income is less than $1,000,000 are not included. The estimate of $1,098,000,000 is regarded by officials as conservative.

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COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES

O.P. AUSTIN, statistician of the For

eign Trade Department of the National City Bank, writing for THE NEW

And it must be remembered, too, that these enormous totals have come with several of the great trading countries temporarily wiped off the commercial map. Our total trade with Germany, AustriaHungary, Turkey, and Belgium has been but $35,000,000, against $700,000,000 in the latest normal year.

THE

NATIONAL BANK RESOURCES THE resources of the national banks of the United States on Nov. 17, 1916, were $15,520,000,000. This exceeds by $1,000,000,000 the combined resources of the Bank of England, the Bank of France, the Bank of Russia, the German Reischsbank, the Bank of Italy, the Bank of Spain, the Bank of the Netherlands, the Bank of Denmark, the Swiss National Bank, and the Imperial Bank of Japan.

The resources of the national banks throughout the country have doubled since the Spring of 1906.

Against total resources of $7,670,000,000 in April, 1906, their assets on Nov. 17, 1916, were, as shown above, $15,520,000,000, the increase being nearly $8,000,000,000. The resources of the national banks on the date of the latest call are greater than the total resources of all reporting State banks, savings banks, private banks, and loan and trust companies throughout the United States at the time of the inauguration of the Federal Reserve system, about two years ago.

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EXPORT TRADE

YORK TIMES ANNALIST for Jan. 1, 1917, THE National City Bank's compilation

says:

The commerce of the United States in the year just ended has been a surprise to the most optimistic. Who could have foreseen a year ago that our imports would reach nearly $2,500,000,000 and the exports nearly $5,500,000,000, and the total for the United States approximate $8,000,000,000? But these are almost sure to be the approximate figures. Reports of the Department of Commerce, just received, show total imports for eleven months ending with November to be $2,187,000,000, and if December even comes up to the monthly average of the year, the total for the full year will be about $2,375,000,000, against $1,818,000,000 in 1912, the former high record calendar year in imports. Exports are even more astonishing. They show for the eleven months $4,961,000,000, and if December equals November will be $5,475,000,000, against $3,547,000,000 in 1915, the former high-record calendar year.

shows that the total exports of manufactures from the United States during the year 1916 exceeded $3,000,000,000, $1,000,000,000 more than Great Britain's highest record, which was made in 1913. Since the beginning of the war the United States has made its great increase in the exportation of manufactures, which amounted in the calendar year 1914 to $974,000,000, in 1915 to $1,784.000.000, and 1916 will approximate $3,200,000,000.

The growth in exports since the beginning of the war is, of course, due in a considerable degree to the demands for strictly war material, explosives alone being for 1916 approximately $675,000, 000, brass tubes for the manufacture of shells $225,000,000; while in many other

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Retail prices of exports and imports are obtained by adding 50 per cent. to the wholesale figures reported, on the assumption that wholesale prices are two-thirds of retail prices. The percentages in the final column are obtained by dividing the figures for foreign trade by the figures for domestic trade. The percentage would reach 100 when foreign trade becomes equal to domestic trade.

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