On June 30, 1917, there were 7,635 national banks in operation or authorized to begin business, being the greatest number of banks reported at any time since the beginning of the system.

On June 20, 1917, the date of the last call for the fiscal year, the total deposits of the national banks aggregated $12,771,833,000, an increase during the fiscal year of $1,894,746,000.

In the same period loans and discounts grew from $7,685,335,000 on June 30, 1916, to $8,967,297,000 on June 20, 1917, an increase of $1,281,962,000.

United States bonds and certificates of indebtedness held by national banks June 20, 1917, plus partial payments made on Liberty bonds, amounted to $1,076,256,000, an increase as compared with June 30, 1916, of $345,051,000.

Specie and legal tenders on hand, including $90,878,000 of national bank, Federal reserve bank, and Federal reserve notes, plus balances with Federal reserve banks, amounted, June 20, 1917, to $1,573,295,000, an increase as compared with June 30, 1916, of $277,589,000.

Bonds and securities other than United States Government bonds on hand June 20, 1917, amounted to $1,843,047,000, an increase since June 30, 1916, of $315,215,000.

Amounts due from banks other than Federal reserve banks were $1,637,176,000, an increase of $98,860,000 as compared with June 30, 1916, while the amounts due to other banks and bankers were reported at $3,025,566,000, an increase of $312,674,000 as compared with June 30, 1916.

As the amounts due to national banks from other banks were only $1,637,000,000 and the amounts due from national banks to other banks and bankers were $3,025,000,000, it is easy to see the large extent to which national banks are used as the depositaries of the State banks and trust companies throughout the country.

Bills payable and rediscounts of all national banks on June 20, 1917, amounted to $370,949,000, an increase as compared with June 30, 1916, of $302,331,000, this increase being mainly due to the temporary financing incident to the negotiation of the first issue of Liberty loan bonds.

The total reserves held by national banks on June 20, 1917, amounted to $2,310,360,000, an increase as compared with June 30, 1916, of $233,864,000. The surplus reserve carried over and above the amount required by law on June 20, 1917, was $841,931,000, an increase as compared with June 30, 1916, of $40,688,000.

The reserve requirements of national banks have been radically changed by the passage of an amendment to the Federal reserve act, approved June 21, 1917, under which the banks in the central reserve cities of New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, instead of being called

on to carry total reserves of 18 per cent, of which a certain proportion had to be carried in the Federal reserve banks and the balance in their own vaults, are now required to carry only 13 per cent reserve, all of which must be carried in the Federal reserve banks; the national banks in other reserve cities, which formerly had to carry a total reserve of 15 per cent, partly in their own vaults, partly with the Federal reserve banks, and partly with reserve agents in the central reserve cities, are now required to carry only 10 per cent, all of which must be carried in the Federal reserve banks; and country banks, which were formerly carrying an aggregate reserve of 12 per cent in their vaults in the reserve banks and with reserve agents in reserve and central reserve cities, are now required to carry only 7 per cent, all of which must be carried in the Federal reserve banks.

Since the passage of the Federal reserve act, December 23, 1913, to June 30, 1917, the total number of national banks chartered was 563, with an aggregate capital of $41,014,500. Of these banks, 372 were chartered with a capital of less than $50,000 each, their aggregate capital being $9,724,500, and 191 had a capital of $50,000 or more, aggregating $31,290,000. Of the banks chartered during the fiscal year 1917, 110 had a capital of less than $50,000, the aggregate capital being $2,825,000, the average capital being $25,681. Fifty-three banks, with an aggregate capital of $6,645,000, were organized with a capital of $50,000 or more, the average capital being $125,377. One hundred and twenty-seven of the 163 banks organized during the year did not take out circulation at the time of their organization.

Of the 163 national banks which were chartered during the past year 31 represented the conversions of State banks and 19 reorganizations of State and private banks, and 113 were primary organizations. The total capital of the banks chartered during the year aggregated $9,470,000.

Since the inauguration of the national-banking system in 1863 there have been issued a total of 11,032 national-bank charters. Of this number 548 failed and were placed in the hands of receivers and 2,849 went into voluntary liquidation.

During the last fiscal year 6 banks failed and were placed in charge of receivers and 110 went into voluntary liquidation. Of the 110 voluntarily liquidating, 23, with an aggregate capital of $6,225,000, were consolidated with other national banks; 2, with an aggregate capital of $50,000, went out of business; and 85, with an aggregate capital of $8,852,500, were absorbed by or reorganized as State banks. The capital of the six banks for which receivers were appointed during the fiscal year aggregated $1,180,000, and the liabilities to

depositors and other creditors at the date of suspension amounted to $5,087,915. Four of the six banks placed in charge of receivers paid dividends during the year as follows: One 100 per cent, one 65 per cent, one 25 per cent, and one 20 per cent, and further dividends are being paid from time to time as assets are being realized upon. It is estimated that the total losses to depositors of the six national banks which failed during the year, with liabilities as above stated of over $5,000,000, will be only $370,000. As the aggregate deposits of all national banks in operation during the year exceeded $12,000,000,000, it is gratifying to realize that the total loss to depositors from national-bank failures during the year will amount, as estimated, to only about three one-thousandths of 1 per cent of the total deposits of the national banks in operation.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, immediately prior to the inauguration of the Federal Reserve System, there were 19 national-bank failures, the estimated loss to the depositors of these 19 failed banks being $1,505,000, or eighteen one-thousandths of 1 per cent of the total deposits of all national banks at the autumn call in 1914. Largely as a result of the improved system of national-bank examinations, greater thoroughness in these examinations, and because of the policy insisted upon by the Comptroller of the Currency that national banks shall observe the provisions of the national-bank act, intended for their protection and the protection of their depositors and shareholders, there has already been effected a marked reduction in bank failures and in losses to depositors, the total failures for the year ending June 30, 1917, having been reduced to six, with estimated losses to depositors, as above stated, of only $370,000, or, say, three one-thousandths of 1 per cent of the total deposits of the national banks in operation.

During this same period the deposits of national banks increased from $8,185,000,000 in June, 1914, to $12,771,833,000 at the close of the past fiscal year. Although the deposits in the national banks at this time are approximately twice as great as they were just 10 years ago, the sum total of the estimated losses to depositors from failed banks for the past 12 months was scarcely one-sixth of what they were for the year ending June 30, 1906.

The following table shows the number of national banks in each State reporting to the comptroller's office on the call of June 20, 1917, and the aggregate capital of the national banks of each State:

The annexed table shows the total number of national banks organized up to June 30, 1917, by States and geographical divisions, also the number of national banks which have become insolvent, the number of voluntary liquidations, and the number of banks in operation or authorized to begin business in each State on the date mentioned.

Number of national banks organized, insolvent, in voluntary liquidation, and in operation on June 30, 1917.

Through the cooperation of the State banking departments of the different States the Comptroller of the Currency is enabled to compile each year a statement showing the resources and liabilities of all the banks of the country, both national and State, including savings banks and trust companies, based upon the returns nearest to June 30.

The table following states the aggregate amount of loans, cash on hand, deposits, and total resources of all banks in the United States, including national banks, State banks, savings banks, trust companies, etc., for or nearest to June 30 for the years 1916 and 1917.