-------------+-------------+
| 1835 | 704 | $231,250,337 |$365,163,834 | $83,081,365 |
| 1845 | 707 | 206,045,969 | 288,617,131 | 88,020,646 |
| 1850 | 824 | 217,317,211 | 364,204,078 | 109,586,595 |
| 1855 | 1307 | 332,177,288 | 576,144,758 | 190,400,342 |
| 1860 | 1562 | 421,880,095 | 691,945,580 | 253,802,129 |
| 1863 | 1466 | 405,045,829 | 648,601,863 | 393,686,226 |
+------+--------+---------------+-------------+-------------+

_The National Banking System._--The creation of the national banking system
was mainly the outcome of the financial necessities of the Federal
government in the Civil War. It was found difficult to float government
bonds at profitable rates, and Mr Chase, the secretary of the treasury,
devised the scheme of creating a compulsory market for the bonds by
offering special privileges to banks organized under Federal charters,
which would issue circulating notes only when secured by the deposit of
government bonds. But this plan, authorized by the act of 25th February
1863 (supplemented by the act of 3rd June 1864), was not sufficient to give
predominance to the national banks. The state banking systems in the older
states were so firmly entrenched in the confidence of the commercial
community that it became necessary to provide for imposing a tax of 10%
upon the face-value of the notes of state banks in circulation after the
1st of July 1866. The state banks were thus driven out of the note-issuing
business, some being converted into national banks, while others continued
their commercial business under state laws without the privilege of
note-issue. A remarkable growth in the national banking system took place;
in 1864 there were 453 national banks with an aggregate capital of
$79,366,950, and in 1865 there were 1014 banks with an aggregate capital of
$242,542,982.

The national banking system was specially marked by the issue of
circulating notes upon United States bonds. Any national bank desiring to
issue notes might by law deposit with the United States treasurer bonds of
the United States to an amount not exceeding its capital stock, and upon
such bonds it might receive circulation equal to 90% of their par-value. No
bank could be established which did not invest one-third of its capital in
bonds. This was changed in 1874 so as to reduce the requirement to 25%,
with a maximum mandatory requirement of $50,000. Notes were taxed at the
rate of 1% per