Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-13

LONDON, July ESPECIAL Corre-
spondence to The Bee.)-I was
- taken over the Bank of England
NRHHI today by its secretary and shown
- the enormous funds on hand In
bullion and notes. l had a letter from our
secretary Of the Treasury to the governor
and had called with the hope that l might
have an interview with him on the Amer
lean invasion and other matters relating
to the financial condition of this richest
empire Of Europe. The governor, however,
for obvious reasons, gives no interviews
to the newspapers. His opinions might
create a rise or fall Of stocks and, there
fore, he has to be careful of his utterances.
The Bank OF England is perhaps the chief
financial institution Of the world. 1t is a
private corporation but 1t has since its or
ganization been the depository of the gov
eminent funds. 1t has much to do with
financing the government debt and it might
be called the National Bank of Great Brit
ain. The bank is now 208 years old. 1t was
founded on the 9th of July 1894, by an
American. His name was William Pater-
son and he was born In Scotland, but he
got the foundation of his fortune on this
side of the Atlantic. He came from Bristol,
England. to the new world to seek his for
tune, settling in the province on Massacbu-
sets bay. He lived some time in Boston,
and was at one time q merchant and ship
owner there. From Boston he sent out pri-
vateers to prey upon the ships of countries
then at war with Great Britain, and also
had ships trading with the Bahamas. He
was married in Boston. and later on left
there and settled in London.
First American Invader.
Mr.. Paterson might be called the first
Anne lean invader, for he was the rrst to
take capital, made In America, and use 1t in
Great Britain. He had In his character
many OF the elements of Pierpont Morgan,
anu he saw his chance to make money out
Of the British government. which was then
financially crippled by its wars with France.
The government wanted money and Pater-
son saw that 1t could give exclusive bank
ing privileges to an institution which would
furnish a permanent loan at a reasonable
rate. He organized a combination Of some
of the chief British merchants, backed by a
capital Of 5000. 900, and offered TO loan this
amount 10 the government at the then low
rate OF 8 per cent per annum, on the condi-
tion that the government would give the
combination a charter to deal In bills OF ex'
change. bullion and bonds. and pay 1t 500.
0C0 a year for handling the government
debt. This offer was accepted, and the
o0nh vi hnAlanu u ~ ACoulNs AaAOlnOl
was one Of the original directors. and dur
ing his life the bank became firmly estab
lished.
The institution was a prosperous one fror
Its start The government steadily In
creased It's connections with II, and Today 1
owes the bank about ten times as much a
when II was founded, although the interes
rate has fallen from 8 per cent to IA pc
cent per annum.
bank of England Notes.
During my trip through the bank l spen
some time In the printing department
watching them make the Bank of Englani
notes. The scenes there are much the sam
as IN our bureau of engraving and printing
at Washington. save that the paper Is diff
ferent. Our bank note paper has a grayisl
tings, with silk threads Of different color
running through Il. The English bank not
paper is as white as the whitest parch
ment. II has a sort Of transparent white
ness. and 1t is exceedingly thin ana re
markedly strong. II Is made of pure line
rags by a secret process In nsper mill
which do nothing else. The paper is IN
same today as It has been for a hundre
years. and 1t Is almost impossible to I'M
tale Il
The notes are almost square. There
no lathe work upon them. They ar
printed in Jet black ink. and the printIn
machines are such that they number IN
notes from 1 to 100. 900. This numberin
is done automatically. so that the notes {
each bundle Of 10000 are In their naturI