El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-13
FINANCIERS WRITE
OF FOREIGN BANKS
Russia,>Japan and the Meth
erlands Have Widely
Differing Systems.

Washington, D. c.. Feb. Blank
ing in Russia. Austro-Hungary, the
Netherlands, and Japan" is the title Of
the most recent volume which tn nation
al monetary commission has added TO its
series of publications on banking and
currency. The article. treating of the
banking systems of Russia by profess
sors 4delson and Lexis, the Netherlands
by R Van der Borght, and AustrO-
Hungary by professor Zuck erkandl are
translations from the third edition Of
Conrad's Handworterbuch der Stats
wissenscha ften. The banking system of
japan IS fully described by marquis
Katsura. finance minister of Japan;
baron Sakatani, exminister Of finance;
S. Naruse, a private financier; and pro-
lessor o. n W. Sprague, of Harvard
university.
The first banks in Russia were es-
tabIished by the government in 1854.
In this year two banks were organized
to loan money on the precious metals
and on precious stones, and to grant
credit on the security of mortgages on
estates cultivated by serfs." A third in
stitution was to be a commercial bank
for the merchants of St. Petersburg
All three banks were allowed to re-
eeive deposits of private individuals.
Their capital was supplied by the state.
By 1885 these banks had been closed
because of nismana cement From this
time until 1850, when the Imperial
bank was established, various state
banks were organized.
The imperial bank IS a purely state
institution directly under the control
Of the minister of finance. The cen
trail administration consists of a coun-
ell of the bank, a governor, and two
deputy governors" The capital of So
600, 600 rubles was supplied by the gov
eminent. There are a number of main
and secondary branches.
In 1908 the notes in circulation
amounted to 1851 million rubles the de-
posts to 606S million rubles, and the
gold reserve to 1,1615 million rubles.
making a good reserve of Sc percent,
against demand liabilities.
Banking accommodation is also pro-
vided in Russia by joint stock banks,
municipal banks, and mutual credit as
sociatiOns, Of which classes of institu-
tons the first is by far the most i'm
portanE
The bank of the Netherlands. cen
trail bank of issue, is a joint stock com
pany created by the royal decree OF
March %, 1914. The supervision over
the bank has been exercised since 1905
by royal commissary." The manage
ment of the institution is carried on by
five directors, elected by the sharehold-
ers, and the president and secretary
appointed by the sovereign The capital
of the bank is 20,0OO,000 florins- Al
I though the bank Of the Netherlands
was originally given a monopoly OF
notes issues, this express monopoly was
taken away in 1863. However, no other
bank has been granted the privilege OF
note issue.
The Austro- Hungarian bank was in
stituted in 1873 as the successor of the
chartered Austrian National bank. This
had been established in 1916, mainly
for the purpose of undertaking the
withdrawal from circulation Of the pa
per currency of the Austrian govern
ment.' Throughout its history the
bank has been intimately connected
with the government and with the re-
form of the currency.
At the end of 1907 the loans and dis
! counts Of the bank amounted to S79.s
million crowns. the note circulation was