EDITOR'S PREFACE.

An orderly presentation of the salient facts in the banking history of the United States is a task beset with so many difficulties that heretofore no attempt has been made in this direction. It is believed that the important relation which the banks sustain to the business and political life of the country justifies the present endeavor to set forth in detail the experience with the various classes of banks operating under State and National laws, and with those whose transactions were carried on without legal sanction.

There is no lack of information available in regard to banks deriving their authority from the Federal Government, and particularly since the adoption of the National banking system there has been a complete record, statistical and otherwise, of the progress of these institutions. But with the State banks it is entirely different. While in some of the States, where banks have been placed under public supervision, considerable historical material is to be found, in others the collation of such data is exceedingly difficult, no statistics ever having been compiled and but few, if any, laws enacted regulating the business of banking.

The late John Jay Knox, who as Comptroller of the Currency for many years had charge of the execution of the laws relating to National banks, was in the best position to obtain the information and gather the material for a work of this kind. As Comptroller of the Currency he was required by law to furnish to Congress annually statistics not only as to National banking associations, but also as to State banks, private banks, Savings banks and trust companies. In Mr. Knox's report as Comptroller for 1876 will be found the germ of this work. In that year and since, but especially during the last five years of his life, he was collecting gradually from all sources all that could possibly throw light upon every phase of banking in every State of the Union. It was his hope, as expressed in the preface to his well-known work on "United States Notes," to publish a volume worthy of the title "History of Banking in the United States." With this purpose in view he substantially completed that portion of the work relating to National banks, and also accumulated a large part of the facts desired for treating of

the State banks; but he did not live to finish what he regarded as one of the most important undertakings of his life. Through the editorial co-operation of Mr. Wm. B. Greene, for many years Chief of Division in the Comptroller's Bureau under the administration of Mr. Knox, and who was entirely familiar with the author's plans, it has been possible to carry out these plans in accordance with their original scope. A comprehensive history of banking in the various States was deemed an essential feature of the book, especially as there was nothing of the kind in existence, and as the public records were either incomplete or nonexistent in many cases, it was thought best in the preparation of this part of the work to secure the aid of those who were familiar with banking traditions and who understood the best means of bringing out the striking features of State bank history. As a result of their long and patient researches a record is here presented that may be found nowhere else and that constitutes an invaluable source of knowledge to students of American banking. A list of these contributing authors follows: Arkansas, Robert J. Brown; Connecticut, Charles E. Curtis; Florida, Charles A. Choate; Georgia, W. G. Cooper; Illinois, Frank W. Tracy; Indiana, W. H. Smith; Iowa, George G. Hunter; Kentucky, John H. Leathers; Maine, E. A. Noyes; Maryland, Alfred Cookman Bryan, Ph. D.; Minnesota, E. M. Pope; Missouri, Chas. Parsons, assisted by D. M. Grissom; Nebraska, Henry W. Yates; New Hampshire (Savings banks), James O. Lyford; New Jersey, Thomas Holmes; North Carolina, W. A. Blair; North Dakota, R. E. Wallace; Ohio, Wm. A. Graham; Pennsylvania, Frank M. Eastman; South Carolina, George W. Williams; South Dakota, Maris Taylor; Tennessee, John W. Faxon; Utah, Geo. M. Cannon; Virginia, John D. Murrell; West Virginia, W. C. Beans; Wisconsin, N. B. Van Slyke.

The history of banking in the States not enumerated above has been compiled from memoranda left by Mr. Knox and from other sources. Acknowledgment is due to the many bankers and State bank supervising officers for their co-operation. The publications issued by the Reform Club, of New York, under the title of "Sound Currency" and the reports of the Comptroller of the Currency have been freely quoted.

Valuable assistance in the preparation of the volume has been rendered by Mr. E. H. Youngman, Associate Editor of the BANKERS' MAGAZINE, the entire work being under his inmediate editorial supervision.

The statistics of banking in many of the States are incomplete. In the Comptroller's report for 1876 will be found tables showing the condition of these institutions from 1834 to 1863. The items that seemed to be most important, viz., the number of banks, loans and discounts,

specie, capital, circulation and deposits, have been reproduced. For the years subsequent to 1863 the figures are in most instances from the reports of the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Treasury Department or from the Comptroller's reports. As the law does not compel State banks to report to the Federal Government, these statements are believed in some cases to be incomplete, but are as nearly correct as it is now possible to obtain. Fortunately, however, it has been found possible, after much laborious research, to obtain accurate statistics from most of the State banks in more extended form. Official publications have been consulted for this information in those States having a State banking department. The statistics of the National banks are from the reports of the Comptroller of the Currency, and are full and accurate from the beginning of the system to the present time.

No country in the world can equal the United States in the number of its banks or in the variety of banking systems. At some time in our history nearly every theory in regard to credit and banking has been tried, with results that may be studied with interest and profit. To chronicle these experiences without conscious bias has been the aim of the publishers of this volume.

NEW YORK, May, 1900.

BRADFORD RHODES.

HON. JOHN JAY KNOX.

The author of this work was distinguished among recent American financiers by reason of his long official connection with the Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency-five years as Deputy Comptroller and twelve years as Comptroller-by his relationship to the famous coinage act of 1873, and by the reputation which he earned as a successful banker and as a writer and lecturer on banking and financial topics. While he was long regarded as an authority on these subjects, he was to the end of his life a student, ever learning by study and experience, and in the light of such information he did not hesitate to change his opinions, valuing truth always above consistency.

His public acts were marked by lofty intelligence and absolute devotion to the great interests intrusted to his keeping, and in business and private life he measured up to the highest requirements. He was straightforward and candid in what he did and said, and no man was less likely to resort to evasion and subterfuge to carry out his plans. His fights were made in the open field, and no one need question where he stood on any public issue. His advancement to a high position in the administrative affairs of the Government was due to his ability and character and not to political influence.

Mr. Knox was born at Knoxboro, Oneida County, N. Y., March 19, 1828, his father's ancestors being Scotch-Irish. His early education was received at the Augusta Academy, near Knoxboro, and at the Watertown Classical Institute. In 1849 he graduated from Hamilton College. Among his fellow students were Hon. Joseph R. Hawley and Charles Dudley Warner, of Hartford, Conn., and Rev. Dr. Thomas S. Hastings and Col. Emmons Clark, of New York.

He began his business career in a bank at Vernon, N. Y., of which his father was President, remaining there for two years, until 1852, when he entered the Burnett Bank, of Syracuse, N. Y., where he remained for four years. Subsequently he was for a brief period Cashier of the Susquehanna Valley Bank, at Binghamton, N. Y. In 1857 with his brother, Henry M. Knox, afterwards Public Examiner for the State of Minnesota, he started a private bank at St. Paul, the business being continued for six years.

Mr. Knox first attracted attention as a financier in the discussions preceding the establishment of the National banking system. In 1861