Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-27
THE B NK OF PRUSSIA.
How il is Managerial Visit to ais
vaults.

From The @ lazy for Oetob4r.I cred
B In the "Tsegerstrasse, enc of Ii
busiest treets of Berlin, stands a sole
looking building, only one story higl
not distinguished either in architecture:
or other features from the houses adioir
ing. Atthe front there is a bronze plat.
dedicated to the memory of a grenade
who fell here at his post as the first vic
tim of the March Revolution in 184I
Entering the building, the same simplieit
strikes US. There is nothing that an
nouncest the high importance ofthe house
And yet within its walls a rich treasur
Is hidden-millions of coined silver an
gold, ireproof safes full Of shares, bond:
securities, etc, scrips enough to max
thousands rich, precious pawns Qom
bards), documents and bills of exchange
the latter representing, in the course O
a year, acapital of three hundred million
of thalers.
Here, indeed, we are in the magi
circle of Plutus, in n of the wonderful
palaces where a slip of paper is trans
formed into a heapof gold, and, rice rersa
a heap of gold into a slip of paper
where a stroke of the pen creates millions
where the word credit is the Sesame
which opens the mountain dazzling Will
gold and silver. We are at the COLDER
gate Of the great reservoir of wealth int,
which flow the thousands and thousand
Of drops, fountains, creeks and stream
Of the mOney-making community of Prus
STA. We are in the PraSsiaR Bank.
Awaited corridor leads us to the differ
ent departments Of the great institution
in which alone, including its one hundred
and thirty-eight Observation-Disclosures
more than four hundred officials are EN-.
ployed. At the head of these is the
bank-president, at present Herr vo-
Dechend under him are four bank.
directors, a justiciary, the kookkeepers
cashiers, and chiefs of the different de-
partments, the controllers, registers
clerks, and porters, forming altogether
quite a little army Of elite troupes. The
same military spirit of accuracy and dis
clpiIned performance of duty, evinced in
the whole administration of Prussia is to
be found here. Alderman f~naneier once
said "h Geldsachca hort die Gelnuth-
t5chkeit ant Gin money matters good
nature il at an end). Following this
principle, the bank president is most
rigid in selecting his employees. An ap-
pointmentis made only after . close secret
observation Of the person, some time be-
fore the %nomination takes place, and it
is only in extraordinary cases that a
change is made. Hence the bank has
the Oldest officials, of whose faithfulness
al idea can be formed from the fact that
L chief Of a department, during his
whole service Of twenty-five years, has
taken leave OF absence for only twenty
Eve days.
The anne c-autiousness and watchful-
ness is observed in all the operations of
the bank, and particularly in the count
ing Of the cash and in keeping of the
tresor. In a special room, to which no
outsider has admission, the money re-
ceived is carefully counted. one Official
checking and proving another, so that
errors are almost impossible. Counterfeits
or pieces of short weight are separated
with methodical precision, and retraced
to the place Of disbursement. The ex-
animation Of the suspicious co~insrequires
great sharp-sightedness. Perhaps no
money IS so often and well coun-
terfeited, o. so frequently deteriorated
in all possible manners as the Prussian
and Frederic-do rs. Ofthe bank
notes, the twenty-five and fifty thaler
notes were for a time so successfully imi-
by means of photography, that
even the bank itself was deceived on
several occasions, and cash paid for them
over the counter.
As soon as the bags, generally con-
FIVE hundred thalers each. are
counted and made ready, they are sealed,
each bag bearing the name of the con-
official, and delivered into the |
.reasury vaults Of the bank. These vaults !
built fre-proof, with impenetrable |
walls and four ponderous iron doors. ad-
mission through which is impossible only
the four long-tried officials entrusted
With the charge Of the treasury. The
,ags are placed in such order that they
an be counted easily, when the regular
revision takes place. Both gold and
liver bars are counted iu the same man
Ter, and packed in light transportable
'oxes. The quantity Of coin in the
reasury of course depends upon the
-uetuations of business. 1t averages
evenly millions of thalers (about fifty
Millions of dollars. A glance around
he vaults, however, in no way realizes
he picture the Imagination creates. In
tead of walls dazzling with gold and
liver, we see only an ordinary, white
cellar, stored with prosaic-looking
rey bags and wooden boxes.
10 learn the routine of business fthe
ank, we first direct our steps to the
iscouRtag department, where a numerous
ublic c~ongregates early in the forenoon.
lere drafts on Berlin or other CONNER
Ial cities are discounted before falling
ne, at the d~iscount-rate fixed by the
ank' provided that they be drawn on
good houses, and bear at least two
good signatures. About four hun
red thousand drafts, amounting to three {
undred millions and more, are dis
'unted annually. Z
All classes of society look for aud find I
hat they want-money-at the bank, !
hich fulfls, with rare hberality, its
SIX of aiding and fostering home indus E
y and commerce, and fayorabiy dis {
nguishes itself from the banks of {
ngland and France by discouuting the 4
ATTEST as we'll as the largest bills, and 9
? lending its aid in critical times even Z
the smallest manufacturer or merchant. $
I'd opening a credit to the farmer. i
e~vertheiess its losses are comparatively I
significant. This good fortune is the a
suit of the principles which guide the l
ceptance Of " personal security The Q