Bankroll

“ The custom of keeping the spare cash reserved for immediate use or against contingent demands, in the hands of a banker, and making all payments, except small ones, by orders on bankers, is in this country spreading to a continually larger portion of the public. If the person making the payment, and the person receiving it, keep their money with the same banker, the payment takes place without any intervention of money, by the mere transfer of its amount in the banker's books from the credit of the payer to that of the receiver. ”

“ An average balance of $1,000.00 should entitle the depositor to loans of $10,000.00 and so on. Experience proves that if the banker does not keep this important point in mind, his machinery will be "out of gear."
Speaking generally, it will pay any concern to borrow money, if necessary, to show a fair balance to its credit. Bankers are only human, and all business is selfish. Every bank will be disposed to take care of its best paying customers first in times of financial storms. Every merchant looks out for his best customers first. ”

“ Bankers, like individuals, are the slaves of their environment, and in the Midlands and elsewhere, where it is usual to allow a rate on the daily balances, commission is also charged on the turn-over or sums debited. Interest upon the daily creditor balances is allowed at, say, 11⁄2 per cent. below bank rate, and a commission of 1⁄8 per cent. is charged on the cheques a customer draws. The lower the rate of interest and the higher the commission rate, the more profitable, of course, is the account to the banker. ”

“ Under these circumstances, Law confidently brought forward his scheme of a bank, that was to pay off the national debt, increase the revenue, and at the same time diminish the taxes. The following is stated as the theory by which he recommended his system to the regent. The credit enjoyed by a banker or a merchant, he observed, increases his capital tenfold; that is to say, he who has a capital of one thousand livres, may, if he possess sufficient credit, extend his operations to a million, and reap profits to that amount. ”

“ In fact, every banking association is assumed to be a corporation of money lenders. Under ordinary circumstances this corporation is able to loan to individuals whose credit is good all of its capital not otherwise employed in the machinery of the bank, a considerable portion of deposits from its customers, and to a certain extent its own credit in the commercial world. In the case of a national bank a portion of capital is loaned to the government in the purchase of bonds, which are the basis of its circulating notes. ”

“ Not much competition for Federal Reserve bankers there, is there? Peg that proposition and look at the next one.
Here it is. The loans of a bank are the life of a bank. From the interest upon them comes practically the sole earnings of a bank and upon their repayment depends the solvency of a bank. The credit department of a bank is its solar plexus. Loans must be successfully made to men engaged in every variety of industry, some secured, some unsecured and in amounts varying from a few hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. ”

“ First of all, let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit—bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money you put into the bank is kept in currency—an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. ”

“ Modern banks are banks of ‘deposit and discount,’ for though all loans made by banks are not in the form of discounts, the word is used in this connection to embrace all its loans. The advantage to society from banking operations consists in centralizing credits. The banker collects the money and wealth which would otherwise lie idle, and brings it into use. Through his agency, wealth which would lie idle and unproductive becomes useful and productive. ”

“ I said that the business of banking proper consisted in loaning money, discounting bills, facilitating exchanges of productions by the agency of commercial paper, and in receiving and disbursing the deposits of individuals. The issue of bank bills was an exclusive privilege conferred only on a few corporations. It was a privilege that an individual could not enjoy. No person could issue his bills in the form of paper money without a corporate franchise granted him and his associates, either by a general banking law, or by an act of incorporation. ”

“ The revenue from taxes and dividends was to go into the bank; the Governor to appoint three directors, each of whom was to give $100,000 bonds, and the cashier the same; to discount notes of two or more endorsers; debts not to exceed the capital; to last until 1840; all accommodation notes to be renewed every six months, six per cent. interest being paid in advance. The directors "shall loan as much money upon accommodation paper as the interest and safety of said bank will permit," and not call for more than 20 per cent. per annum on these loans unless the exigencies of the bank require it. ”

“ The study of a single section of the balance sheets, that of discounts and loans, has allowed us to follow the periods of prosperity, of panic, and of liquidation. When we next consider the other sections, we find the confirmation of our anticipations. Among these sections, in the order of importance, we notice first, public deposits in the form of running accounts; they constitute the reverse of the loans and discounts, whose total is immediately credited to the banks' clients, and the increase of paper on hand also follows. ”

“ If we sum up all the points made by the majority of the Committee, they appear to maintain that the Bank ought to lend the public deposits liberally, and draw them in promptly, when needed, in order to pay the public debt, yet refuse no accommodation (especially to any one who was embarrassed) , not sell its public stocks, not increase its circulation, not draw in its loans, not part with its specie, not draw on the debtor branches in the West, not press the debtor local banks, and not contract any temporary loan. ”

“ As we all know that a regular influx of wealth, from a majority to a minority, is a regular influx of power, the United States ought to estimate the quantity of each, they are pouring into a banking interest. If no new banks should be created after 1808, nor the acquisitions of the old increased, the five millions annually collected by the existing banks, at compound interest, carry from the publick to the corporations, in twenty years, above one hundred and eighty-four millions of dollars. ”

“ The banking department receives and disburses the funds of the government, manages the public debt, and serves as the government's agent in most of its other financial operations; receives on deposit from other financial institutions the money which comes into their possession, and supplies them with such money funds as they need from day to day in payment of checks drawn against their balances; discounts bills of exchange with a minimum maturity of four, and in exceptional cases six, months; and to a limited extent makes advances on and invests in high-grade public and other securities. ”

“ This discourse of banks, the reader is to understand, to have no relation to the present posture of affairs, with respect to the scarcity of current money, which seems to have put a stop to that part of a stock we call credit, which always is, and indeed must be, the most essential part of a bank, and without which no bank can pretend to subsist—at least, to advantage. ”

“ You cannot create the necessity of a bank, and then plead that necessity for its establishment. In the administration of the finances, the bank acts simply as a payer and receiver. The secretary of the treasury has money in New York, and wants it in Charleston; the bank will furnish him with a check, or bill, to make the remittance, which any merchant would do just as well. ”

“ The unique powers of commercial banks to accept demand deposits, provide checking account services, and lend against fractional reserves permit the banking system as a whole to create a supply of 'money,' a function which is indispensable to the maintenance of the structure of our national economy. ”

“ All stock of the United States, loan office bonds, bank shares, and credits belonging to the State are to be put in this bank, and the faith of the State is pledged to make good any deficiencies; public deposits to be placed in it; to lend on two-name paper and on real and personal property, the borrower giving power of attorney to confess judgment; no loan to run more than a year; no renewal to be granted unless the next year's interest is paid in advance; no loan to one person to exceed $2,000; one-tenth of each loan to be called in in each year ”

“ But if the money so disposed of, instead of being hoarded up in the coffers of the bank, in a duplicate ratio increased the circulating medium of the country, efficiently by the cash so issued from the strong chests of the bank, and virtually by the credit which it possessed from the imaginary treasure lodged in it, giving confidence and activity to commerce, and facilitating all the operations of trade, in a mercantile point of view, the conduct of the directors, in thus departing from the letter of their establishment, was to be applauded rather than condemned. ”

“ The majority declare that the Bank ought to use its capital as a permanent fund and loan the public deposits on time, so that they would be repaid near the time when they would be required by government for the debt payment. ”

“ An inquiry into the transactions of the institution, embracing the branches as well as the principal Bank, seems called for by the credit which is given throughout the country to many serious charges impeaching its character, and which, if true, may justly excite the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of the money of the people. ”

“ When no rate is fixed by the laws of the state, or territory, or district, the bank may take, receive, reserve, or charge a rate not exceeding seven per centum, and such interest may be taken in advance, reckoning the days for which the note, bill, or other evidence of debt has to run. ”

“ The introduction of banks, which perform the function of lenders and loan-brokers, with or without that of issuers of paper-money, produces some further anomalies in the rate of interest, which have not, so far as we are aware, been hitherto brought within the pale of exact science. ”

“ A large part of the credit given, in a civilised country, is given by bankers, who may be said to deal in credit, or which comes to the same thing, in debt. A banker usually carries on three or four different kinds of work, but his proper work is that of borrowing from persons who have ready money to lend, and lending it to those who want to buy goods. As a shopkeeper sells his stock of goods, he receives money for it. ”

“ That they designed to accomplish those objects by making some of the banks construct the roads, and all of them contributors to the school fund, as the price for their charters. A round sum, or an annual charge, with or without reference to capital stock, may be asked by a legislature for such a franchise. It may be more convenient to the banks to have such a consideration or bonus distributed through the years of their corporate existence, than to pay its equivalent in advance. ”

“ Every good banker finds out, that many of his customers wish always to leave a balance in his hands; that while some of them are constantly drawing cheques on him for cash, others of them are as constantly depositing with him in cash; and that consequently he can properly and safely use a large part of the money he has purchased with his credit to purchase other credits with. ”

“ Agricultural loans, and other mortgage loans are made in considerable volume by our State banks and trust companies. All classes of commercial banks make many non-liquid loans, as we shall later see. But all of them get as high a proportion of liquid loans as they can. Bills of exchange, running ten, thirty, sixty or ninety days, growing out of commercial transactions which automatically terminate themselves in the payment of cash or the promises of other bankers, constitute admirable assets. ”

“ They now not only keep people's money, but also collect their incomes for them. Many persons live entirely on the income of shares, or debentures, or foreign bonds, which is paid in coupons, and these are handed in for the bank to collect. Often enough the debenture, or the certificate, or the bond is in the custody of the banker, and he is expected to see when the coupon is due, and to cut it off and transmit it for payment. ”

“ When we seek a principle, we must of necessity disengage it from its consequences, however clear and direct they may be.
“The object of a bank composed of partners en commandite, like the caisse d’escompte, is to furnish assistance to commerce by bringing together336 funds to be applied to discounting good bills at a moderate rate of interest. When bills are presented for discount at this bank, the directors, provided they agree to give the accommodation, grant a bon, or order, to receive the cash at their treasury. ”