The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-08-05
4O,O36, ,24O
BANKING DEPARTMENT.

/
52,s6l.sI2
Cr.
Government seeurties............... IL ,20S, ,lOI
Other curitles.................... 25, 500, ,042
IA, ,427 800
1 Gold and silver coin................ I,722, sos
52,s6l ,3l2
From the foregoing it appears that the
private deposits amount to a sum equal TO
about s14O,OOO,OOO, and the public de-
posits to about S26 900, ,OOO making to-
tai of S166, 100000. As matter of com
parison it may be stated that the largest
total deposits now held by any one bank
in this country do not exceed S2S, ,0OO,0 900,
while the sum total of the deposits of the
GA associated banks (total capital $780,
422, ,000) represented in the New York
Clearing House on May l3, 1893, were
S434 ,865, 900. The deposits in the Bank
of France amount to about S113, 100000,
and in the Imperial Bank of Germany to
s1O6,71OOOO.
The Bank of England has sometimes
been in diflicultie 1t failed in 1896, and
in its earlier years it was subjected to many
runs, some organized by the jealous private
bankers, some the result of political causes.
The policy of the bank has been assailed
many times ON both sides. Pamphlets,
papers, and books have been written at
tacking it, covering many shelves in the
British Museum. OF course, many of
these papers areiust in their criticisms. and
many are unjust. The management has
not been without its faults. The volumes
of information collected together on bank
ing and currency by parliamentary com
mittees between the years 1897 and 1919
tend TO show the reckless conduct into
which the directors fell at that juncture of
the banks history In 1924 the amount
Of gold in the vaults amounted to 914,-
142, 900, the largest sum that had ever
been held up to that time. In the panic
of 1925, in which no less than 40 banks
in Great Britain failed, the demand for
gold was enormous. Every effort was
made to procure gold at any price. Mean
time the accumulations of the bank had
drifted away owing to the turn in foreign
exchanges, and in December the bank
(which at the beginning of the year had
over e14, ,0O0,0OO in gold) had but e.
O00,000 left A way out Of the difficult
ties caused by that panic was found in the
issue of some FL notes found in an old
chest which had been forgotten, but which
was discovered at the appropriate time.
The present Governor of the bank is
David Powell and the Deputy Governor Is
Clifford Wigram, each receiving a salary of
9t 900 a year. The chief cashier, Frank
May, is known the world over by reason Of
his familiar signature oa the bank notes.
The bank has "A directors, each Of which
must hold $4,000 of stock, and who re-
ceive $500 a year compensation. There
are in all 1850 persons employed ia the
various departments of the institution, and
their united salaries amount to about E1,-
H4OO,O 900 year.
Up to 1926 it was the only joint stock
bank in England, and until 1895 it re-
manned the. only joint stock bank in Lon
don. At that date the London and West
minister Bank was founded, and at the
same time forty other joint stock banks
were established in Great Britain. The
original charter gave the Bank of England
the exclusive privilege of issuing notes
payable on demand, but it did not give A
the exclusive privilege of receiving depos-
its. In the old days when the charter was
framed the term banking referred chiefly
to the issue of notes, deposit banking being
then hardly known. The Bank Of Eng
land is not only the banker Of the Govern
ment, but is also the bankers bank. All
other banks keep their bullion reverses at
the Bank Of England, and this is one fact
that gives the establishment its special i'm
potance as the centre Of England monetary
system. This reserve is seldom allowed to
fall below e1O,OOO,OOO, fair average
being from f1O, 900 900 to 914,O00,O00.
The daily transactions Of this institution
sometimes run as high as 96,0O0,000.
The number of persons receiving dividends
is nearly 2s4,000. Nearly 25,O0O,OO0
(s124, 900, ,OO01 are annually paid out by
the bank as dividends on stock annuities
reaching the enormous sum Of f775,00O,
O0O, or say s3,sT3, ,OO0,O0O.
During the year 1892 the stock Of the
hank sold as high as e344 per share, and
as low as f325. The present price is
about e340. The highest dividend ever
paid was in 1897, 279 per cent and the
lowest during the y.slfs 1853 '6s. ! per
cent. For twenty years The diside6d has