BANKS.

State of the banks, January 7, 1834, as given in a document laid before Congress, June 21, 1834.

NAME.Capital stock paid in.Bills in circulation.Specie and specie funds.
Canal and Banking Company 3,998,200 951,780 297,451.21
City Bank 2,000,000 380,670 335,288.88
Commercial Bank 817,835 145,000 135,903.73
Union bank of Louisiana 5,500,000 1,281,000 291,587.87
Louisiana State Bank 1,248,720 428,470 546,125.34
Consolidated Association Bank 2,500,000 84,300 61,936.43
$16,064,755 3,271,2301,568,293.46
Estimated situation of the following banks.—no returns.
Bank of Louisiana 4,000,000 }
Bank of Orlealns 600,000 }
Citizens' Bank of Louisiana 1,000,000 }1,522,500 650,000.00
Mechanics' and Traders' Bank 2,000,000 }
Total $23,664,755 4,793,7302,218,293.46

The Union Bank of Louisiana has branches at the following places, viz. Thiboudeauville, Covington, Marshville, Vermillionville, St. Martinsville, Plaquemine, Natchitoches, and Clinton.

Interest. "Legal interest is 5 per cent. Conventional interest, as high as 10 per cent., is legal. Of our banks, none can charge higher than 9 per cent., and some of them not higher than 8. But if I lend $100, and the borrower gives me his note for $110, $120, $130, $140, or even $150, or more, with 10 per cent. interest from date, the law legalizes the transaction, and will not set aside any part of the claim on the plea of usury. In fact, money is considered here like any other article in the market, and the holder may ask what price he pleases for it."

INSURANCE COMPANIES.

Merchants' Insurance Company of New-Orleans$1,000,000
Phoenix Fire Insurance Co. of London—agent at New Orleans1,000,000
Louisiana Slate Marine and File Insurance Co.400,000
Western Marine and Fire Insurance Company300,000
Louisiana Insurance Company300,000
Mississippi Marine and Fire Insurance Company300,000
New-Orleans Insurance Company200,000
Pontchartrain Rail-road Company250,000
Orleans Navigation Company200,000
Barataria and Lafourche Canal Company150,000

NEWSPAPERS.

Louisiana was originally settled by the French; in 1762, it was ceded by France to Spain; near the end of the 18th century it was restored to France; in 1803, it was purchased by the United States; in 1804, the country now forming the state of Louisiana was formed into a territorial government under the name of the Territory of Orleans; and in 1812, it was admitted into the Union as a state.

Mr. Thomas, in his "History of Printing," remarks "that several printing-houses were opened at New-Orleans, and several newspapers were immediately published there, after the country came under the government of the United States."