That's a bit of a circular argument, since there are radically fewer banks now than there were in the past. Just in the last 20 years the number of banks in the US was cut down in half; and back in the 1930s, there were almost four times as many banks as we have now. Fewer banks mean fewer bank failures.
A fairer comparison perhaps would be to see how many dollars of deposits (in some adjusted manner, like per capita, percentage of GDP, or percentage of circulating money) were imperiled as a result of bank failures back then versus now? A hundred banks failing in the 19th century each serving a few thousand customers each would be a much smaller impact than, for example, the hypothetical failure of Bank of America.
A fairer comparison perhaps would be to see how many dollars of deposits (in some adjusted manner, like per capita, percentage of GDP, or percentage of circulating money) were imperiled as a result of bank failures back then versus now? A hundred banks failing in the 19th century each serving a few thousand customers each would be a much smaller impact than, for example, the hypothetical failure of Bank of America.