was absorbed in the Empire Bank, and all the remaining thirty-two provincial banks were embraced in the regulations of the imperial bank law. The total of thirtythree banks (including the Empire Bank) are authorized to issue an aggregate of 385,000,000 marks. (equal to $91,630,000) of what is called "uncovered circulation." Of this 385,000,000 marks of circulation, 250,000,000 (equal to $59,500,000) is apportioned to the Empire Bank, which may issue such portion of them as its business requires. The remaining 135,000,000 marks is apportioned to the thirty-two provincial banks according to their capital and business. The term "uncovered circulation," as currently used with reference to the above aggregate of circulation for the German banks, is liable to be misunderstood. The Empire Bank and the provincial banks are required to hold a reserve of 33 per cent against all the circulation they issue. This 33 per cent must be, according to the text of the imperial bank law, either "in German currency, in legal tender notes of the empire, in gold bars, or foreign coins valued at 1,392 marks for a pound of gold." This "uncovered circulation" is, therefore, unlike the £14,750,000 of "permanent circulation " which the Bank of England may issue without any legal reserve. But the 385,000,000 marks is not the final limit of the volume of paper money in Germany. It is provided in the imperial bank law that "banks whose note circulation exceeds their 33 per cent reserve and the respective amounts assigned to them (as their portion of the 385,000,000 marks) shall pay yearly to the Exchequer on the excess a tax of 5 per cent, dating from the 1st of January, 1876. It will be seen, therefore, that the provincial banks have the privilege of issuing in excess of

their prescribed amount, and in excess of their reserves, by the payment of 5 per cent tax on the excess. The Empire Bank and its branches, and the provincial banks and their branches, are required to accept at par all German bank notes, but the notes so accepted "can only be used either in presentation for redemption by the bank that issued them, or as payments in the town where the bank which has issued them has its seat." In addition to the bank notes, as above authorized, the state issues 120,000,000 marks ($28,500,000) of legal tender notes of the empire.

Amount of bank notes and government notes circulating in Germany at various periods from 1850 to 1876 expressed in their equivalents in American gold.

1850.

1866..

1870...

Notes of Bank Imperial Bank All other Bank | Total Circulaof Prussia. of Germany. and Govt. notes

$15,120,000 $

38,400,000

102,398,400

tion.

$65,000,000 $80,120,000

79,876,182 182,274,582

164,295,000 36,000,000 200,000,000 166,575,000

AUSTRIA.

Amount of government notes and notes of the National Bank of Austria in circulation each year from 1852 to 1875, stated in florins, and their total approximate nominal equivalent in United States coin :

Paper money in Russia is furnished almost exclusively by the government, and consists of treasury notes issued to the Bank of the Empire, for the debt of the government to that institution. The expenditures of the government have constantly exceeded the revenue since 1832. The aggregate debt thus accumulated amounted in 1869 to 1,375,385,000 roubles (a rouble is equal to 734 cents in United States money), and in 1873 to 2,277,081,364 roubles.

Specie payments have been suspended in Russia for nearly seventy years. There is no gold in circulation, and very little silver or other coin.

The following figures, compiled from an article in the Bankers' Magazine, will show the progress of paper money circulation in Russia:

RUSSIAN PAPER MONEY AND COIN IN CIRCULATION.

There is much confusion and error in the statements in cyclopedias and text-books in regard to the debt of Russia, and the proportion of it used as circulating money. The following will, however, explain some of the discrepancies in the statements as published in the various books.

The total debt of Russia on January 1, 1871, amounted in United States money to $1,241,750,000. This included about $575,000,000 (750,000,000 roubles) of paper money, or bills of credit issued by the government on the guarantee of all the banks and other credit establishments of the empire. These are called notes of the Bank of Russia, but are issued by the Imperial Treasury.

January 1, 1873, the total debt amounted to $1,684,980,000 (2,277,081,564 roubles). In this amount is

included $565,275,000 (763,869,467 roubles) of paper money, or bills of credit.

On January 1, 1875, the total debt had increased to $2,149,995,000 in United States money. Of this amount $580,000,000 (797,313,480 roubles) was bills of credit, or paper money. About $200,000,000 more of the total was treasury paper, which circulates to a considerable extent as money. The total paper circulation of Russia is therefore about $780,000,000, or over 1,000,000,000 roubles. While this shows an increase of about 250,000,000 roubles since 1858, it does not seem to warrant the assertion of the Statesman's Year-Book (London) for 1876, that "the paper money circulation of Russia has more than doubled in the last ten years.' Included in the above total debt there are about $200,000,000 of railway bonds, on which the interest is guaranteed by the government.

The Scientific Review, of Paris, for September 2, 1876, states the debt of Russia at 1,494,070,791 roubles ($1,097,047,960); but I presume this refers to the funded debt of the empire alone, and does not include either the treasury paper circulating as money nor the railway loans on which the interest is guaranteed by the gov

ernment.

ITALY.

Paper currency in Italy is furnished mainly by the National Bank of Italy, whose present position and relations to the national government have existed since 1863. Its present powers to issue legal tender notes, etc., were the result of the financial embarrassments of the new kingdom finally established in 1861 as a result