to cause or effect, and the question whether currency is not fast becoming, under our present banking system, a mere convenience to commerce, instead of an indispensable necessity to her success; and that it is in a measure losing its materiality as to the profits of banking, is left for the solution of the parties whose interest it may be to solve the problem.

This great discrepancy in the former and present relative aggregate proportion of capital and currency, presents a curious result to the bankers in the State of New York; and it may be found, upon a careful examination, that currency, under our present banking system, costs more than it can legitimately earn; and that its use, particularly at the great commercial points in this State, has sunk to a condition where its chief value rests upon its convenience alone.

CONDITION OF THE BALTIMORE BANKS.

We condense, from the annual statement published in the Baltimore Patriot, the condition of the banks of that city for the first Tuesday in January, 1857, and a comparative statement for seven years last past :—

TAXES AND TAXABLE PROPERTY OF MINNESOTA,

In 1850 Minnesota Territory was divided into nine counties. It then had a population of 6,077. There has been a great emigration during the last six years, and the present governor of the Territory claims for the State some 170,000. The taxable property of the Territory in 1851 amounted to $1,182,060, and the taxes on the same to $1,183; in 1852 the property was valued at $1,598,165, and the taxes on the same $1,598.

We have now before us the report of the Territorial Auditor, made to the Legislature of the Territory, bearing date St. Paul, January 9th, 1857. From this report we learn that the amount of Territorial tax assessed for the year end

ing December 31st, 1856, is $23,341. The amount of drafts drawn on the treasury during said year was $7,394. The salaries of the officers of the Territory for 1856 amounted to $4,516. The taxable property of the counties for the year 1856 amounts, in the aggregate, to $23,341,701 95; showing an increase over the preceding year of $14,316,544 95.

The following table, which we take from the Auditor's report, shows the amount of taxable property, and taxes levied on the same, in twenty-four counties of the Territory in 1856 :—

VALUATION AND TAXATION OF CITIES IN THE united states, 1856.

In the following table, compiled from official sources, we have the valuation of real and personal property, and the rate of taxation on every $100 of val

THE DEBT OF CALIFORNIA.

It appears, from the annual message of the governor of California, that at no former period of the history of that State, has the time existed when the subject of State indebtedness attracted such universal attention as at the present moment, and a great degree of solicitude has been manifested in the public mind regarding the policy which the present Legislature will pursue in relation to this important matter. From the statement furnished, it appears that the present indebtedness of the State is as follows:

Amount of legal indebtedness on the 1st of July, 1857, principal and

interest of which has to be provided for..

Bonds issued in 1851, 1852, 1855, and 1856....

Valid outstanding warrants

Warrants to be drawn..

Deficiency to July, 1857.

$3,564,640 97

3,223,600 00

229,079 64

24,374 60

3,000 00

$3,777,054 24

212,404 37

$3,564,649 97

"With these facts before us," says the governor, "and the known necessity of indicating the course to be pursued in relation to our indebtedness, the question now arises, what shall be adopted with reference to it? Answering as your executive, and echoing the sentiments which I believe are entertained by those whom we alike represent, (the people of the State,) I would say, 'pay the debt' by those means the constitution of the State prescribes. Pass an act, at the present session of the Legislature, legalizing the outstanding bonded indebtedness, permitting Controller's warrants, issued after the 1st day of January, which may not be redeemed prior to the 1st of July next, to be funded under the act of 1856, alike with the warrants issued prior to January, 1857, and a law embodying those features presented to the people for their ratification or rejection at the next general election."

NEW BANKING LAW, AND BANKS OF ILLINOIS.

The Bank Bill of Mr. Denham, after some amendments, has passed both branches of the Legislature of that State. We give below an abstract of its provisions, as follows:

1. That all bonds shall be received at 10 per cent less than their New York value, as the basis of banking in this State.

2. That when notes are presented to a bank for redemption, the redemption shall be instant, and in gold.

3. That notes, when payment is refused, may be protested in aggregate; that is, each note is not necessarily to be protested, as is now the ruling.

4. That banks shall do business at the place where they are established; that they may receive 10 per cent interest, and that no bank shall hereafter be established in any place not having at least 500 inhabitants.

5. That no bank hereafter organized shall go into operation without an actual cash capital of $50,000, paid up.

The proposed establishment of a State Banking Department was struck out. BANKS OF ILLINOIS, THEIR NUMBER AND SECURITIES. According to the report of the Hon. T. H. Campbell, Esq., late Auditor of Illinois, the whole number of the institutions organized under the General Banking Law is 61; of these,

11 have been closed by protest, or have voluntarily withdrawn their circulation, leaving 50 now in operation.

The following table gives the kind of stock deposited as securities, and their

The original deposits were, in amount, $11,791,752; of which, $4,146,162 have been withdrawn. On the basis of these stocks, six millions four hundred and eighty thousand eight hundred and seventy-three dollars, in bank-notes, are now outstanding, most of which are supposed to be in circulation. The cash value of these stocks deposited is estimated by the Auditor at $6,663,389-leaving a margin of $182,516 for depreciation.

OF COMPUTING STERLING AND FRENCH EXCHANGE.

SAN FRANCISCO, February 4, 1857.

FREEMAN HUNT, Editor of the Merchants' Magazine:

SIR-In your Magazine for December, 1856, (vol. xxxv., page 734,) is a communication signed “Algebra,” on a new method of computing sterling exchange. For more than thirty years I have seen the same method used; the reason, however, for multipling by 40 and dividing by 9, is that our premium of exchange is calculated on the old par of 4s. 6d. sterling to the dollar. There being 40 sixpences in the pound and 9 sixpences in the dollar, why do not the dealers in exchange adopt the same system that prevails almost everywhere else, of selling so many pence to the dollar? In California we have adopted it in sterling exchange; and, strange to say, in French exchange, have adopted the false standard of 5 francs to be par for the American dollar, and buy or sell at a premium or discount; while in New York so many francs are given for a dollar. I only wish to give the right reason for the reduction of pounds to the American currency.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

ACCOUNTANT.

FOREIGN COINS, AND COINAGE OF CENTS AT THe united statES MINT. The following are the several sections of the law relating to foreign coins and the coinage of cents at the mint of the United States, passed at the last session of Congress, and approved February 21, 1857:

SECTION 1. That the pieces commonly known as the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish pillar dollar, and of the Mexican dollar, shall be receivable at the treasury of the United States, and its several offices, and at the several post-offices and land-offices, at the rate of valuation following; that is to say, the fourth of a dollar, or pieces of two reals, at twenty cents; the eighth of a dollar, or pieces of one real, at ten cents; and the sixteenth of a dollar, or half-real, at five cents.

SEC. 2. That the said coins, when so received, shall not again be paid out or put in circulation, but shall be recoined at the mint. And it shall be the duty of the director of the mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to prescribe such regulations as may be necessary and proper to secure their transmission to the mint for recoinage, and the return or distribution of the proceeds thereof, when deemed expedient, and to prescribe such forms of accounts as may be appropriate and applicable to the circumstances; provided, that the expenses incident to such transmission or distribution, and of recoinage, shall be charged against the account of silver profit and loss, and the net profits, if any, shall be paid, from time to time, into the treasury of the United States.

SEC. 3. That all former acts authorizing the currency of foreign gold or silver coins, and declaring the same a legal tender in payment for debts, are hereby repealed; but it shall be the duty of the director of the mint to cause assays to be made, from time to time, of such foreign coins as may be known to our commerce, to determine their average weight, fineness, and value, and to embrace, in his annual report, a statement of the results thereof.

SEC. 4. That from and after the passage of this act, the standard weight of the cent coined at the mint shall be seventy-two grains, or three-twentieths of one ounce troy, with no greater deviation than four grains in each piece; and said cent shall be composed of eighty-eight per centum of copper and twelve per centum of nickel, of such shape and device as may be fixed by the director of the mint, with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury; and the coinage of the half-cent shall cease.

SEC. 5. That the treasurer of the mint, under the instruction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall, from time to time, purchase from the bullion fund of the mint the materials necessary for the coinage of such cent piece, and transfer the same to the proper operative officers of the mint to be manufactured and returned in coin. And the laws in force relating to the mint and the coinage of the precious metals, and in regard to the sale and distribution of the copper coins, shall, so far as applicable, be extended to the coinage herein provided for; provided, that the net profits of said coinage, ascertained in like manner as is prescribed in the second section of this act, shall be transferred to the treasury of the United States.

SEC. 6. That it shall be lawful to pay out the said cent at the mint in exchange for any of the gold and silver coins of the United States, and also in exchange for the former copper coins issued; and it shall be lawful to transmit parcels of the said cents, from time to time, to the assistant treasurers, depositories, and other officers of the United States, under general regulations proposed by the director of the mint, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, for exchange as aforesaid. And it shall also be lawful for the space of two years from the passage of this act, and no longer, to pay out at the mint the cents aforesaid for the fractional parts of the dollar hereinbefore named at their nominal value of twenty-five, twelve-and-a half, and six-and-a-quarter cents respectively.

SEC. 7. That hereafter the director of the mint shall make his annual report to the Secretary of the Treasury up to the 30th of June in each year, so that the same may appear in his annual report to Congress on the finances.

The new cent piece, soon to be issued, is composed of copper and nickel, and is about the size of a quarter-eagle, as thick as the present cent, and but little darker than German silver. The obverse is a well-executed figure of an eagle in full flight, with the date underneath, and the words United States of America above. The reverse is a fine-executed wreath, representing all the principal staples of the country-cotton, corn, tobacco, wheat, grapes, &c., with the words ONE CENT in the center. It is stated by the officers of the mint that at the present price of copper, and for several years past there has been little or no profit on the issue of copper cents, and in consequence of the low value of this coin, it