Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-12

Englishman takes the numbers of his bank
notes, and in many cases he makes the
man who pays them over to him fndorse
his name the back. The bank keeps
the numbers and after the notes come in
they keep record of the bank sending
them. and they can in moment pick out
any note that they have received during
the past five years.
When our greenbacks ard silver certifi-
Gates come into the treasury they are de-
stroyed by cutting them in quarters and
then grinding them into a pulp in boiling
hot water. They are redeemed by the is
suing of fresh notes. The Bank of Eng
land notes are usually redeemed with gold,
golden sovereigns being shoveied out in
scoops just like the little shovels our gro
GERS use for sugar. The gold is not counted,
but is weighed. the tellers knowing just
how many sovereigns go to the ounce or
pound. The notes are Cancelled by tearing
piece out of a corner of each. and are
then filed away in the bank-note catacombs
in boxes for period of five years. At the
end of this time they are burned.
In the Bullion Vaults.
1 went down into the bullion vaults.
These look much like those of the mint at
Philadelphia. In them are great piles of
gold bricks and gold pigs. which are sent
in from the mines of all parts of the world.
saw gold from Australia. South Africa,
India and the United States, and the man
told me that it was almost absolutely pure.
L saw also great vaults in which gold
sovereigns in bags. each holding several
quarts. The bags are piled up like so much
grain, and the means of protecting them
does not seem to be as good as those of the
treasury at Washington. 1 do not remem-
Der the exact amount of bullion on hand,
but 1t is probably less than we have in our
own Treasury Department, for the flood
of gold Is now coming our way.
A Private Bank.
1 have spoken of the Bank of England as
private bank. If you have the right kind
of an Introduction you can open an account
in 1t, but you have to keep enough money
on deposit to make it pay the bank to do
your business. The officials estimate that
each account must yield II cents to the
bank for every check cashed throughout
the year so if you issue thousand checks
the bank Will have to make at least S120
out of you or it will refuse to keep your ac-
count. There are now about 5000 private
accounts carried. and the private deposits
average over s10O,OO0,O0O.
large part of the business of the bank
is in handling the government debt. l saw
the clerk paying out dividends In the dvi-
dend room. Here are government securi-
ties of all kinds and the stockholders come
to cash their coupons. 1t is estimated that
there are 10000 persons who own such
stocks and a large number of them come
here in person for their money. The in
terest paid out amounts to more than
s., O1O,OOO,OOO a year, and good part Of 49, is
now going to Americans. as they have but
lately been investing in English government
securities.
Runs on the Bank.
And does the big Bank of England ever
have a run upon it?
Yes indeed. This has been the case in times
of panic, and there have been instances
when the bank has had to suspend specie
payments 1t did so during the first year
of its existence. The government had
called in the silver to have it recoined. and
the bank was hard up for currency. It's
stock went down from no to 50, and its d.
rectors issued call of % per cent on the
shareholders. The bank suspended specie
payments from 1897 to 1919, and when it
resumed it had about $4,000 900 worth of
gold and silver to begin with. There have
been times when it has paid out depositors
in shillings and siXpences in order to gain
time to get money to meet its obligations,
and once at least it had a line of it's own
men who accepted such silver payments
and deposited them again fast as they
were received, so that a continuous stream
of the So me silver flowed in and out of the
bank, while the depositors waited. At one
time a depoSitor demanded $1J0,OO0 in
gold coin, and at another the strain was so
great that some of the richest of the En-
glish nobility drove to the bank in coaches
filled with golden guineas, which they de-
posted to help the bank meet its demands.
How the Bank is Governed.
1 spent some time in the council room
where the directors meet and in the library
chatting with the secretary about the gov
eminent of the bank. 1t has i governor a
deputy governor and twenty-four directors
The governor receives $4,000 year and
each of the directors is paid $3.50. The
governor is usually chosen from one of the
directors. and on the average he is about
twenty years in the directorate before ne
is elevated to the Office of governor.
The capital of the bank is at present a
little less than $75,O0O.OO0. and its dividends
last year were about 10 per cent.
The notes now in circulation amount to