Summary
Oct. 17. Ther. 48°. The Banks.—The arrival of every mail continues to be watched with unabated interest to ascertain the progress of suspension. The banks of New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, have all declared their resolution to continue to pay specie; those of Rhode Island and the banks to the south and west of Philadelphia, with few exceptions, have suspended. The stock of the United States' Bank has been down to $70 in New York. The consequences to trade are ruinous. The difference of exchange between Philadelphia and New York was at one time 13 per cent. If a merchant had $1000 in his banker's hands in Philadelphia, and owed that sum, payable in New York, he must have added to it $130 of exchange, before he could have retired his note in New York. If, previous to the suspension, a merchant in New York had sold $1000 worth of goods to a merchant in Philadelphia, and taken the purchaser's promissory-note for the amount payable in the latter city, he would have received payment, after the suspension, in a depreciated currency consisting of suspended banknotes, and he would have lost 13 per cent, in exchange before he could have converted it into the currency of his own domicile. On the other hand, if a merchant in New York had owed $1000 payable in Philadelphia, he would have gained 13 per cent.; for he could have bought up Philadelphia banknotes from the brokers in New York at that rate of discount, which, when sent to Philadelphia, would have discharged his debt to the extent of their nominal amount.
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- Notes on the United States of North America during a Phrenological Visit in 1838–39–40 , pp. 107 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1841