It was these combined influences which led to distrust of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, and to the runs upon that company and others during the late days of October and early November. The result was to reduce the total resources of the forty-eight trust companies of Greater New York from $1,205,019,700 on the 22nd of August 1907 to $858,674,000 on the 19th of December 1907. Individual deposits subject to cheque fell from $692,744,900 to $437,733,400. Such a reduction of resources within so short a time, most of it being accomplished within a few weeks, has hardly ever been recorded in the history of banking, and the fact that the stronger companies were able to call in their cash and meet such demands was evidence to a certain extent that the criticisms upon them were exaggerated. The necessity for stronger reserves and for greater safeguards against speculative operations was so strongly impressed upon the public mind, however, that several restrictive measures were enacted at the session of the New York legislature in 1908, designed to prevent any abuses of this sort in the future.

The function of issuing notes, which is exclusively a privilege of national banks, has diminished in importance in America, as other methods of transferring credit have attained a wide development. This has not only been true of the national banks themselves, but has accounted for the development alongside the national banking system of state banks, private banks and trust companies, which have not had the privilege of note-issue, but have obtained other privileges sometimes greater than those of the national banks.

The aggregate resources of all classes of banks in the United States have greatly increased in recent years. The following table shows the increase in the chief items of the accounts of national banks for representative years from the reports made nearest to the beginning of the year:—

Progress of National Banks, 1865-1908

Year.

No of
Banks

Loans and
Discounts.

Individual
Deposits

1865

638

$166,448,718

$183,479,636

1870

1615

688,875,203

546,236,881

1875

2027

955,862,580

682,846,607

1880

2052

933,543,661

755,459,966

1885

2664

1,234,202,226

987,649,055

1890

3326

1,811,686,891

1,436,402,685

1895

3737

1,991,913,123

1,695,489,346

1897

3661

1,901,160,110

1,639,688,393

1899

3590

2,214,394,838

2,225,269,813

1900

3602

2,479,819,494

2,380,610,361

1901

3942

2,706,534,643

2,623,997,521

1902

4291

3,038,255,447

2,964,417,965

1903

4666

3,303,148,091

3,152,878,796

1904

5180

3,469,195,043

3,300,619,898

1905

5528

3,728,166,086

3,612,499,598

1906

5911

4,071,041,164

4,088,420,135

1907

6288

4,463,267,629

4,115,650,294

1908

6625

4,585,337,094

4,176,873,717

The combined returns of state and private banks, savings banks and loan and trust companies in the United States show a growth within a few years which is indicated by the principal items of their accounts:—

Resources of State Banks, Trust Companies, &c.

Items. 1897. 1907.
Capital stock $380,090,778 $807,178,262
Surplus and profits 382,436,990 924,655,010
Loans 2,231,013,262 6,099,897,535
Deposits 3,324,254,807 8,776,755,207
Total Resources 4,258,677,065 11,168,514,516

The aggregate banking power of the United States, as computed by the comptroller of the currency in his annual report for 1907, increased from $5,150,000,000 in 1890 to $17,824,800,000 in 1907, and the banking power of foreign countries from $10,835,000,000 to $27,034,200,000, representing an increase for all reporting countries from $15,985,000,000 to $44,859,000,000.

The system of clearing cheques has attained a higher development in the United States than in any other country, except perhaps, Great Britain. Clearing-houses exist in about 112 leading cities, and the aggregate clearings for the year ending 30th September 1907 reached $154,662,515,258. The New York Clearing-House inevitably does a large proportion of this business; its clearings constituted in 1906 67.2% of the total clearings in 55 of the larger cities. The volume of clearings fluctuates greatly with the volume of stock-exchange transactions and with the business prosperity of the country. An indication of these fluctuations at New York is afforded by the following table, taken from Conant's Principles of Money and Banking, brought down to 1907.