GROWTH OF THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM 
The number of national banks was at its height in 1922. In the 
four subsequent years there was an average yearly decrease of 78 in 
the number of banks— the result chiefly of mergers and suspensions. 
At the same time, however, there was further growth both in deposits 
and in loans, and at the end of 1926 the banks had $12.26 of deposits 
and $9.52 of loans per $1 of capital. The growth in national bank 
credit which has taken place since the organization of the Federal 
Reserve System, although facilitated by the passage of the Federal 
Reserve Act, was due mainly to financial and economic forces arising 
out of the war. 
At the end of 1926 there were 7,912 national banks in operation out 
of a total of about 28,000 banks in the entire country. The loans and 
investments of national banks amounted to about $19,500,000,000 
and their deposits (exclusive of bank deposits) to about $18,000,000, 
000, as compared with loans and investments of about $52,000,000,000 
and deposits of about $50,000,000,000 for all banks in the country. 
The table on page 22 will show at a glance the development by 
periods, of certain important features of the national banking system 
since its inauguration nearly 65 years ago. These figures, as well as 
those set forth on the preceding pages were derived from reports com- 
piled at the calls of the Comptroller of the Currency. The figures set 
forth in the table are for dates nearest the end of the period concerned, 
except in reference to the stock of money in the United States, and 
national bank circulation, where June figures are used. 
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