Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-12
ENGLAND'S BIG BANK
Facts and Figures About
That Famous Institution.
PRIVATE CORPORATION
IT ACTS AS FISCAL AGENT FOR
THE GOVERNMENT.
a Look Into the Vau1ts-How Notes
Are Made and Issued-At-
tempted Frauds.
Copyright. 1892. by Frank C. Carpcnter.)

Copyright. 1892. by Frank c. Carpcnter.)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
LONDON, July .. 1902.
/ was taken over the Bank of England to-
day by its secretary and shown the enor-
nous funds on hand in bullion and notes 1
had letter from our Secretary of the
Treasury to the governor and had called
with the hope that L might have an inter
view with him on the American invasion
and other matters relating to the financial
condition of this richest empire of Europe.
The governor. however, for obvious reasons,
gives no interviews 10 the newspapers. His
opinions might create a rise or fall of
stocks and, therefore, 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 it 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 Rank of Great Brit
ain. The bank is now POS years old 1t was
founded the 9TH of July. 1854, 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 Massachu-
sets bay He lived some time in Boston,
and was at time a 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 ship trading with the Bahamas. He
was married in Boston. and later on left
there and settled in London.
The First American Invader.
Mr.. Pa -erson might be called the first
American invader. for he was the first to
~,rrz i
Great Britain. He had in his character
many of the elements of Pierpont Morgan
and 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 sa " that IL could give exclusive bank
ing privileges to an institution which would
furnish a permanent loan at a reasonable
rate He organized combination of some
OF the chief British merchants backed by a
capital OF SoWS.OD. and offered to loan this
amount To the government at the then low
rave OF per cent per annum. on the condi-
ton that the government would give the
combination a charter to deal in bills of
exchange. bullion ard bonds. and pay It
100000 a year for handling the govern
rnent - bt. This offer was accepted and
the Bank of England was the result Pat
erson was one of the original directors.
and during his life the bank became firmly
established
The institution was a prosperous one
from its start. The government steadily
increased its connections with it, and TODAY
IL owes the bank about ten times as much
as when it was founded, although the in
tereSt rate has fallen from s per cent to %,
per cent per annum.
Bank of England Notes.
During my trip through the bank 1 spent
some time in the printing department
watching them make the Bank of England
notes The scenes there are much the same
as in our bureau of engraving and print
ing at Washington. save that the paper is
different Our bank note paper has a gray
tSh tinge. with silk threads of different
colors running through It, The English
bank note paper is as white as the whitest
parchment 1t has sort of transparent