The morning call., 1890-07-20
La BANQUE
DE FRANCE.
Possible Changes in This Re.
nOwned Institution.
How the Bank Notes Are Prepared-Number
of Hands Note Has to Pass Through
Before Ready for Delivery.
Special Paris Letter to THE SUNDAY CALL.

HTARIS, July /. 1s90-The question of
10y renewing the privileges of the Bank
HS*S of France preoccupies the Govern
ment and the Board of Regents
NJ. Octave Noel, an authority on hnan-
cial questions, said to-day: "There are
| five important points under discussion.
| First, change in the composition OF the
| Board of Regents; second, the desirablllty
| of new offices and new branches, because
| of the growing needs of commerce and IN
dustry; third, the right of the State to par
ticipate in the income derived by the bank
from the use of its privileges; fourth, the
modification of the statutes with reference
to stockholders, and, fifth, the utility OF
continuing the privileges Of the bank"
AS to modification in the Board of Re-
gents the functions of Senator or Deputy
must be incompatible with those of Cover
| nor of great administration. This incom-
| patibility is regulated by law in Belgium,
and even in Austria, where the Emperor
can appoint Governor for the bank frog
the House of Lords. There, however, the
Governor is only figure head, while all
responsibility and power belong to the Sec
| retary-General.
The Bank of France has Governor, two
| Lieutenant Governors, three honorary
| Lieutenant Governors and fifteen Regents.
The title Of Regent might be an hereditary
one, for nearly all the Regents OF today
| have succeeded their fathers.
! New branches of the bank might. to
certain extent, be created, but care must
be taken not to interfere with bankers who
act as connections between
THE BANK OF FRANCE
AM rtain ind fha State
has allowed the Bank of France to monopol-
| ize the emission of bank notes certainly the
| State should share in the income thereof.
| But how and to what extent must be de-
cided; it is not generally known that tie
| State already receives from the bank an
| enormous compensation by means OF the
tax on the stamp of the bank notes and in
| various other ways.
AT the present time only 200 Stockhold-
| ers are allowed; this is absurd in demo-
cratic country. The number should be un-
| limited, and IN oruer to have voice IN the
| general assembly a stakeholder should be
| required to have only ten shares.
| But the question of continuation OF the
| banks privileges must soon be decided, as
| the time expires very shortly; the condl-
| tons to-day are not the same as III 1906
| date when the statutes were Incorporated.
| The conditions OF credit are modified and
| bank note does not have the same rate
| that formerly was its right. Now the bank
| is much less an instrument OF government
than an instrument OF commerce. and ill.,
| dustry.
But the Bank of France must not be an
| instrument of government; nothing could
| be more dangerous than such principle.
| Only in hours of trial has France III AIDE that
| sad experiment, and in Europe there now
exists only one State bank. That of Russia.
| Little by little even this adopts the prIncl-
| pies consecrated by our law Of 1906.
| The Hotel de la Nrilliere, occupied to-day
| by the Bank of France, was built in 1855,
after designs by Francois Mansard. The
building is bounded by the Rues Cr0ix des
Petits-Champs, de la Vrilliere, Bailiff and
RadZirvlll, anu Is generally known under
the name of
HOTEL DE TOULOUSE,
Because it was bought in 1713 by Louis
| Alexander de Bourbon, Count de Toulouse,
second son of Louis XIV, and Nine. de
| Montesparr. The Due de Penthievre,
son of Count de Toulouse. embellished the
| hotel and gave 1t name. When he died,
| in 1793, the building was declared national
| property, and there the national printing
| house was Installed. In 1908 the Emperor
made decree that the Hotel de Toulouse
| should become the property of the Bank OF
France, but only in 1911 did the corporation
remove from its first home, Hotel Massiac,
| Place DIES VICTORIES, at the corner of the
Rue des Posses, MoDtmartre.
Popular tradition gives the vaults, the
fabrication and destruction of billets in the
| bank a profoundly mysterious reputation.
| The vaults, locked, relocked and locked
again, are seldom seen except by the guard
ians, and the printing department is mar
velOusly organized and installed. Twenty
| or thirty machines roll, strike, twist and
cut very quietly. The result is something,
imitation of which Is simply impossible.
In the beginning bank notes were black,
but this color Is too easily photographed.
In 1862 blue was chosen and the celebrated
| Bohemian, Henry Murger. said: 1t seems
| new bank notes have been issued; on dit
that they are blue" And they were blue,
with the exception of the note of 5000
never more than 1000 cuttings OF this note
were made, and Of these only i've are in cir
| culatlOn at the present day.
The figures printed OH the notes are their
means of identification. Such
A NOTE BEARS A LETTER,
| Followed by figure twice repeated. and in
small characters third figure isolated from
the others. The letter belongs to the alpha
bet which represents each issue, and of
which each letter represents 1000 bank
notes, that is. $4,000 for the entire alphabet.
| The combinations vary as the letter is pre-
| coded or followed by another. The isolated
| figure is the number of notes in series,
and in this way each note has its own
| mark. From the time it is first engraved
until the signature of the first cashier is
! placed upon III, note goes through twenty
| three operations. So severe is the surveil-
lance that workmen cannot take even
clipping of paper. After each impression,
women are employed to count and re-
count the papers, and place them
| in packages of 1000. The color of
the blue ink is Interchangeable, and
its composition a secret. These notes
leave the bank crisp and bright, to return
in less than two years torn, soiled, often
| illegble. When condemned, they are de-
stroyed in the presence of the Regents.
Two enormous cylinders receive one ton Of
notes, water is poured upon the mass, the
ortice closed and sealed, aud the whole
| cooked forty-elght hours. A fine blue paste
is the result, and this is sold by weight for
the manufacture of paste board.
When, short time ago, | visited the
Bank of France, found the "gilded gal
lery" to be one of the most complete speci-
mems of art in the eighteenth century. In
the restoration of this gallery the corpora
ton has respected the work of the archi-
tect, Robert de CoSte, and the paintings of
| Veronese, Guido and Poussin that have em-
igrated from their panels are perfectly cop
led.
Soon we shall know what are to be the
notifications with reference to State and
| public treasury, or we shall know that the
| bank will no longer have the monopoly in
| the issue of bank-noteS
| AITHEA SALVADOR.