The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-07-18
GERMAN BANKING
LAWS D|GESTED
National Monetary commis-
sion Furnishes Interesting
TRANSACTIONS

| Washington, July 18.-Special in
terest is given to the translation of
the imperial German banking laws.
which has been prepared andsr tbs
authority of the National Monetary
commission, by the fact that it con-
tains an introduction written by Dr.
R. Koch. who only recently resigned
as governor of the Imperial bank. and
has long been considered the fore
most monetary authority In Ger
many. The laws themselves include
the original bank act Of March IA,
1875, which brought unity out of the
heterogeneous mass of notes and sys-
tens Of different types in Germany
and the subsequent laws by which
the charter of the Imperial bank has
been amended at intervals Of ten
years. Among the latter are included
the law Of June 1, 1909, which re-
suited from the special inquiry insti-
tuted by the German imperial gov
ernment during the year 1908. DR..
Koch In his Introductory review of
these laws declares that the condi-
tions which prevailed in Germany not
much more than a generation ago
with regard to circulation-coin, pa
per money. and bank notes-"afforded
a striking picture of our political con-
fusion" Efforts to secure a uniform
coinage system by cooperation among
the German states. including Austria,
has brought no satisfactory results.
Paper money had been issued by the
governments of several of the states.
which became known as wild bills.
which could he passed beyond the
limits of the states which issued them
only with difficulty and loss.
Paper which was more acceptable,
although not considerable in amount.
was issued also upon special conces-
sions by railroad companies, munich
palities, and other corporations. Prac-
tically in Prussia only. were condi-
tions tolerable where the Bank of
Prussia, which was vested with the
unlimited right of note issue in 1856.
had been able to render great services
to German commerce in the crises of
1857, 1866 and 1870, and had de-
veioped into a central note bank for
the greater part Of Germany. There
were still, however, nine private note
banks in the old provinces of Prus-
sia. and other German sovereigns
made very liberal use of their author
llS VI 81 dulIu6 JuC pIlSIlcSC vi lIOUc
issue. and often on scale quite ex-
ceeding the amount required by the
extent of their states. The effort of
Prussia to protect herself by for
bidding the circulation of these for
eign notes was unsuccessful. especial
ly in middle Germany, because of the
varied and changing business rela-
tions of the territories. The circula-
ton which was uncovered by bullion,
excluding Bavaria, increased. accord
ing to the monthly records, from
about 100000 marks ($3,575,0OO),
at the beginning of the fifties. to an
average of 2O2,296,0O0 marks in 1867,
and to 4O0,2S4,000 marks ($95 5,00O, ,OOO)
in 1873.
A National Necessity.
The men of far-reaching genius who
had brought about the political union
of Germany soon brought them to
realize that such conditions could not
be longer endured. Already the con-
stitution of the North German feder-
alton Of July 26, 1867, had provided
for subjecting such matters to the
supervision of the confederation. Fur
ther issues of notes by the states
were suspended. except with the au-
thority Of federal law. The coinage
reform was first taken up as pre-
ltminary to the unincation Of the