largest retail stores in
the New York dry-goods trade sells at its counters ten million dollars'
worth of fabrics per annum, and that another concern in the wholesale
branch of the same trade does a yearly business of between thirty and
forty millions. As for tailors' shops, New York is their
fairy-land,--many eminent examples among them resembling, in cost, size,
and elegance, rather a European palace than a republican place of
traffic.

The most comprehensive generalization by which we may hope to arrive at
an idea of the business of New York is that which includes in tabular
form the statistics of the chief institutions which employ and insure
property.

On the 24th of September, 1864, sixty-three banks made a quarterly
statement of their condition, under the general banking law of the
State. These banks are at present the only ones in New York whose
condition can be definitely ascertained, and their reported capital
amounts to $69,219,763. The national banks will go far toward increasing
the total metropolitan banking capital to one hundred millions. The
largest of the State banks doing business in the city is the Bank of
Commerce, (about being reorganized on the national plan,) with a capital
of ten millions; and the smallest possess capital to the amount of two
hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Camp, now at the head of the New York Clearing-House, has been kind
enough to furnish the following interesting statistics in regard to the
total amount of business transactions managed by the New York banks in
connection with the Clearing-House during the two years ending on the
30th of last September. Figures can scarcely be made more eloquent by
illustration than they are of themselves, I therefore leave them without
other comment than the remark that the weekly exchanges at the
Clearing-House during the past year have repeatedly amounted to more
than the entire expenses of the United States Government for the same
period.

_Clearing-House Transactions._

+-----------------------------------------------------++
| 1862. | EXCHANGES. | BALANCES. ||
|----------+----------------------+-------------------||
|October | $ 1,081,243,214.07 | $ 54,632,410.57 ||
|November | 874,966,873.15 | 47,047,576.93 ||
|December | 908,135,090.29 | 44,630,405.43 ||
| | | ||
| 1863. | | ||
|January |