at the close of each week, shows the range to have been much higher the past year than in 1852-3. The quotations, however, are for currency, and the high rates are partly attributable to the depreciation in the value of bank paper, to which we have already referred. Another cause of the high rates is this:-In 1852-3, Western railroads were heavy borrowers in New York, and most of them were sellers of exchange. The past year loans were not obtainable by these corporations, and instead of selling exchange they were compelled to buy in order to meet the interest falling due on their debts. Our quotations below indicate the rates for banker's checks : OF THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN BANK NOTES IN OHIO. The following Act, prohibiting the circulation of bank bills of other States of a less denomination than TEN DOLLARS, was passed at the last session of the Ohio Legislature, and approved May 1st, 1854: AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN BANK BILLS, OF A LESS DENOMINATION THAN TEN DOLLARS. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That from and after the first day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, it shall be unlawful for any person or persons, firm, or body corporate, to pass, transfer, or circulate, either directly or indirectly, or offer to pass, tran-fer or circulate, or cause to be passed, transferred, or circulated, or to receive, or cause to be received, any bank bill, or note of less denomination than ten dollars, unless said bank bill or note shall have been issued by and made payable at one of the banks in this State, in accordance with the laws of this State; Provided, however, that the mere transfer or receiving of such unlawful paper bona fide for the purpose of sending the same directly out of this State, for redemption, shall not be deemed a violation of the provisions of this act. SEC. 2. That all bank bills of a less denomination than ten dollars, unless issued by and made payable at one of the banks of this State, in accordance with the laws of this State, shall not directly nor indirectly, be paid out or received in payment of any tax, debt, judgment, decree, fine, or amercement, or other demand whatever: and all such unlawful paper shall be held in this State to be worthless, and all contracts in relation thereto null and void; and any disbursements or payments or exchange for other property of value, made or attempted to be made therewith, of no effect what ever. SEC. 3. That any bank or bankers, broker or brokers, or body corporate, or public officer or officers, knowingly violating any of the provisions of this act, shall forfeit and pay for every such violation, the sum of one hundred dollars, and any other person or persons the sum of ten dollars, to be recovered in a civil action in the name of the State of Ohio, upon complaint in writing, on oath, in the same manner that debts of a like amount are by law recoverable, and under the same limitations and provisions, one half of which shall go to the person complaining, and the other half to the treasurer of the township in which the offense was committed, and for the use of common schools in said township; and the person so complaining shall not, after the filing of such complaint, be liable to a forfeiture in the same case, although a party to the same offense. Sec. 4. The following shall be the form of the complaint in suits for forfeitures under the provisions of this act, so far as the same may be applicable, but may be varied to suit the nature of the particular case, namely:-State of Ohio, County, ss. Before me, A. B., one of the justices of the peace for said county, personally came C. D., who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that on or about the day of in the year in the township of, at the county of, aforesaid, E. F. (if a bank, body corporate, broker, or public officer, describe them accordingly,) did knowingly pass, (or transfer, or cause to be passed, or transferred, &c., as the case may be,) to one G. H., a certain bank bill, (or note,) of the denomination of dollars, not issued by and made payable at any one of the banks of the State of Ohio, in accordance with the existing laws of said State, and this deponent verily believes the foregoing complaint to be true, and further saith not. (Signed) C. D. Sworn to and subscribed before me, at the township and county aforesaid, this A. B., Justice of the Peace. Upon such complaint being filed, the justice shall issue a summons thereon, (or capias, or other civil process, upon the proper affidavit being made, as the case may be,) stating briefly therein the substance of such complaint, and make such writ returnable, as in other cases. day of SEC. 5. That the members of every firm, and the stockholders of every incorporated company, and every bank or banker, public officer, or other person shall, in addition to the forfeiture specified in the third section of this act, be individually liable for the redemption in gold and silver coin, of all such unlawful paper out in circulation, paid out or transferred by them or such firm, incorporated company, or bank, of which they are members or stockholders; and every bank or other incorporated company, who shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this act, shall thereby forfeit its charter and corporated privileges; and all notes, and other securities or obligations, discounted in whole or in part by any bank, banker or bankers, broker or brokers, with or by paying out the unlawful paper, the circulation of which is by this act prohibited, shall be void, and no action shall be maintained to enforce the collection thereof. SEC. 6. That all the laws and parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act, be, and the same are hereby repealed. GOLD SHIPMENTS AT SAN FRANCISCO. The San Francisco Commercial Advertiser furnishes the subjoined carefully prepared table of the shipment of treasure from the port of San Francisco to the Atlantic States, by the steamers of the Panama and Nicaragua routes, for the year commencing June 1, 1853, and ending with the shipment of May 16, 1854. Independent of these mediums, large amounts have been sent to other parts of the world, conveyed by sailing vessels. It is a well-known fact that, latterly, the means of transportation and travel between California and the other United States have become so certain, expeditious, and safe, many, in fact a large portion of those going home, take their treasure with them, under their personal supervision, thus saving the charges incident to forwarding by express and other companies. The amount which thus leaves San Francisco it is impossible to estimate. The Commercial has known individuals to take as much as $85,000 in this way by one steamer : To the sums via Panama and Nicaragua, add $310,000 by steamship" Uncle Sam," May 1, 1854, and we have a grand total of $53,700,869. RATES OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC EXCHANGE AT MOBILE IN 1853-4. AVERAGE MONTHLY RANGE OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BILLS AT MOBILE DURING THE COMMERCIAL YEAR OF 1853-4. Sterling. 8 a 9 pm. 8 a 9 pm. 81 a 85 pm. a 8 pm. 8 a 8 pm. 2 a 2 dis. 1 a 21-16 dis. par a dis. par apm. par apm. par apm. dis. a par. par apm. April... 8 a 9 pm. 9 a 94 pm. apm. apm. a 1 dis. par apm. a 14 dis. pm. par apm. apm. apm. par apm. SWEDENBORG ON PAPER MONEY. MEMORIAL RESPECTING FINANCE, PRESENTED TO THE DIET OF SWEDEN IN 1761, BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. [Translated for the Merchants' Magazine.] If the States do not, during this Diet, make some arrangement for the gradual recall of the notes now in circulation, and the substitution of pure coin in their stead, it is to be feared that the present prevailing dearness will constantly increase, until the country becomes exhausted, when a national bankruptcy in all paper money must be the consequence. This must be evident to every reflecting person when he considers, that a note of six dollars is now worth only three dollars in plats, (a former Swedish copper coin,) in foreign trade, and two in domestic; and if the high prices still continue, it will probably come down to one dollar. In such case, how can the nation be preserved from ruin? These grievous and dreadful events can only be prevented by the restoration of a pure metallic currency. Many plans might be devised and proposed to compel the circulation of the notes at their original fixed value, and thus meet the high prices; but they must all be of little or no avail, with one exception, and that is, the restoration of a proper metallic currency, as it was formerly in Sweden, and is now in every other country in the world. In money itself consists the value of notes, and consequently of all kinds of goods. If an empire could subsist with a representative currency, yet no real currency, it would be an empire without its parallel in the world.-Tafel's Doc. respecting Swedenborg, p. 178. INCREASE OF TAXABLE PROPERTY IN PENNSYLVANIA. The following statement, which we extract from the final report of the Board of Revenue Commissioners for Pennsylvania, will show the aggregate increase of taxable property returned by the County Commissioners, in each period of three years since 1845, and the amounts added to such property by the successive Boards, in the process of equalization:— It will be seen that the additions made by each Board are less than those made by the preceding one. This is a natural result, supposing the adjustments to be by the operations of the system approaching equality. The whole amount of taxable property is now $531,370,454-making an increase in three years of $40,371,625. VALUE OF PROPERTY IN CONNECTICUT. It appears by the Grand List of the State of Connecticut, published since the adjournment of the Legislature, that the total assessed value of all property in that Commonwealth is $194,141,867, and of polls $676,950, to which should be added about $300,000,000 of railroad, bank, and other stock, not included in the List, but taxed by the State at large, giving a total of $224,818,817 as the taxable property of Connecticut, equal to $607 for each person in the State. The largest item in the assessment is land, apart from lots built upon. There are 2,633.879 acres in the State, worth $56,594,958. The next item is dwelling-houses, $53,972,777. The number of dwellings is given at 60,378, but there are six towns from which there are no returns, which would increase the number to 63,000, or one dwelling-house to every six persons in the State. The mills, stores, &c., in the State are valued at $12,915,281; the amount invested in manufacturing is $10,698,207; the money at interest amounts to $15,877,489; amount employed in merchandise is $6,554,025, and in commerce and vessels, $3,288,182. There are $404,103 worth of clocks and watches returned, and $250,446 worth of musical instruments; of household furniture, the value is $1,277,280. The New Haven Journal remarks that that place is " of course," the largest and richest of any in the State, exceeding by $3,000,000 any other town, and is three times as large as any town except Hartford. The largest investment in manufacturing and mechanical operations is in Waterbury, which returns $2,030,225 thus used; New Haven stands next, having $930,873, and Hartford next, having $670,473. New Haven has the largest amount of money at interest-$870,100; Hartford next, and Stamford next. Old Saybrook has the largest amount invested in Commerce. CONDITION OF THE BANKS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. In the Merchants' Magazine for October, 1854, (present volume) we published a statement showing the amount of loans, deposits, circulation, exchange and specie of the Banks of South Carolina, according to the Controller, on the 31st July, 1854. We give below, for comparison, a similar statement made up to the 30th September, 1854: Loans. Deposits. Circulation. Specie. Exchange. $1,867,236 $379,363 $1,251,968 $119,801 $265,840 5,651 20,540 4,653 14,759 258,445 51,652 322,155 279,175 122,523 183,391 202,915 74,994 236,320 377,089 146,825 630,281 State Bank South Carolina Bank.. 199,252 Bank Charleston... 2,393,851 1,011,537 39,702 408,337 184,304 1,130,263 Farmers and Exchange Bank.. 372,645 Bank of Hamburg.... Com. Bank, Columbia... 288,125 39,081 647,365 136,250 500,392 Bank of Newberry. VALUATION OF PROPERTY IN NEW JERSEY IN 1854. The assessed value of real and personal estate in the several counties of the State of New Jersey in 1854, is given in the following table:— Counties. Burlington.... Value of real and personal estate. $22,019,737 tax. Value of real and County personal sstate. $12,711,190 tax. $16,000 Counties. Cumberland.. Hunterdon.. Hudson 24,891,115 15,000 Salem.... Middlesex 16,035,906 12,000 Warren Monmouth... 16,691,619 15,000 Mercer. 16,119,083 16,000 Includes appropriations for support of county poorhouse. |