40



that is. tihat hile the river trade, the lesser branch o ourfcommerce,
as i believe. and certainlv the least profitable, has seven millions of
as"iir.g Lank capital, and rni'lions of discount and deposit capital loca-
ted at Louisville, the stock-riowing an ' exporting business and the
manufactmrc ol temp, (ihe Neater branch of our trnde) have located
at Lexinvton but three millin s of capital. I maiv ie mistaken as to
the number and the amount of' ca pital of the Denosit Banks at Lou-
isvil'e. as I have not their chartters before we, the reader, therefore,
will understand mne as stating ihelmnat about two millions from impres-
sion; he wiil also understand me as chargingr Lexin;,rmn and L]ouis-
ville. respectively, with the whole capital of the mother Bank and the
branches attached to the capital Bank atl each place. Bitt added to the
argument that our river trade has had already enough of capital loca-
ted at Loulisville, is the fact that one or the leading objects of creating
this Bank is in addition to giving aid and stirmuiluls to the hemp manu-
factures and the stock drovers. that it is dcrsigfned to make the Sotith
Carolina rail road from Lexinlton to the Tennessee line. It should
therefore, to be useful in promoting the construction of the road, be
located on some commercial or business point. connected with the
road. Lexington is also central to the territory and best land of the
State and accessable by the various roads constructed frwon it, in a
greater degrree than any other business city of the State. These rea-
sons with others bat could be assigned, point to Lexington as the pio-
per location for the mother Bank.
  Upon the subject of domestic Vxchanges, I have but little to say.
Thev are now in so wretched a state that this Bank can't worst them,
but may, and, I thinks will aswsuredlv, improve them. True this
Bank and the great rail road Bank will be governed by different di-
rectors and may, from that consideration, be considered as likely to
keep up the premium on exchanges between Kentucky and the
South, to the shameful height it has been raised by the banks of Ken-
tucky and those of the South: This would hardly be admitted, if it
was not a fact that, although thd two Banks have separate directors
vet the stockholders will be in each Bank the joint owners of the
stocks of the rail road bank, and feel a common interest in increasing
the travel and tonnage of the road, by reducing the rate of exchange
between the west and sou(ith to as low a point as it will bear.
  In submitting my views in this publication, I have felt no desire
either to intrude myself personally upon the public attention, or to
attempt to direct public sentiment. At all times diffident of my own
claims to consideration, and feeling illy qualified to do the subject that'
justice its magnitude requires; I have with much hesitancy brought
myself to submit what I have done to the consideration of the reader;
trusting that he will by his own reflections, and more precise infor-
miation to be derived from others, than I have been able to give him.
be enabled to place a just estimate upon the motives which have
actuated me in calling the attention of my country to a subject so vi-
tally affecting the interest of the whole trade and commerce of the
State.                                         R. WICKLIFFR