Chapters On The Theory And History Of Banking

Excerpt from The Theory and History of Banking Eight of the chapters were printed in 1885 for the use of classes in Harvard University, but were not then given to the public. To these have now been added an introductory chapter, a chapter on com bined reserves or the system of Clearing House loan certificates, and one on the Bank of Amster dam. The whole has been revised and the notices of current history brought down to the present date, and the book is now laid before students and readers with the hope that it may aid in the sys tematic study of a subject, the treatment of which by writers upon economics is generally either too summary or too diffuse for ordinary purposes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

An excerpt from a review in The Economic Review, Volume 11: THE late Professor Dunbar was engaged for some time before his death, in January of last year, in the preparation of a second edition of his valuable manual on banking. It was, unfortunately, left unfinished. The work, however, has been very satisfactorily carried out by Mr. Sprague. The book has been considerably enlarged, and its statistical information has been brought thoroughly up to date. Professor Dunbar's little manual is undoubtedly the best source to which any student of the subject can repair, who is not prepared to wade through the larger and more elaborate books on the subject; and, indeed, even those who have studied the works of Mr. McLeod and Mr. Gilbart will find their knowledge both supplemented and corrected on many important points by the study of this book of Mr. Dunbar. The first seven chapters are devoted to the discussion and elucidation of the general principles of the subject, the last four to a sketch of the constitution and history of five of the great banks or banking systems of the world-the Bank of Amsterdam, the Bank of France, the National Banks of the United States, the Bank of England, and the Reichsbank of Germany. In dealing with the general principles of the subject, Professor Dunbar does not make the mistake made by so many financial writers of assuming on the part of his readers a comprehension of matters which certainly no one can comprehend unexplained, but which bankers and accountants understand after a fashion, or, at any rate, seem to understand from the sheer force of habit. Why, for instance, should the capital and the undivided profits of a bank be reckoned among its liabilities? In ordinary parlance they seem, on the contrary, to be absolutely synonymous with the resources which it possesses to meet every conceivable liability. Professor Dunbar explains that they are liabilities of an entirely different character from deposits and notes outstanding. Some further explanation, however, might, with advantage, have been given of the causes which have led to a classification that appears at first sight so puzzling. It arose, no doubt, out of the same exigencies which gave birth to the whole system of book-keeping by double entry. If a farmer, say, wishes to know not only what his total profits or losses for the year amount to, but also what they are separately from his sheep, his cattle, and his grain crops, his only, or at any rate his most convenient method of ascertaining this is to create fictitious personages under the names of "sheep," "cattle," and "grain crops," and to debit these personages with the capital laid out in their several departments, and to credit them with the returns from it. It is thus comprehensible enough how the capital and undivided profits of a joint stock bank come to be looked on as the sum of its liabilities to those who have combined their resources for its establishment; and, as regards a private bank into which one individual may be supposed to have put all his resources, he must, for the purposes of book-keeping, regard himself in a double light, as at once his own debtor and his own creditor. Banking is so wide and so varied a subject that it is, of course, impossible to do more than touch upon one or two of the matters dealt with in a book like the present. The explanation of the manner in which the clearing-house certificates were used in New York to allay panic in 1860 and 1884, and, with somewhat less success, in 1873, will be one of the most interesting features of the book to English readers, to whom, for the most part, these certificates have been something of a mystery. Ch. vii. deals with the matter in a lucid manner....

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from The Theory and History of Banking This edition contains three new chapters, those on Foreign Exchange, Central Banks, and on the Federal Reserve Banking System. In order to avoid a very considerable increase in the size of the book, two chapters have been omitted, those on Combined Reserves and on the Bank of Amsterdam. With the establishment of the Federal Reserve banks the resort to Clearing House loan certificates, the subject matter of the chapter on Combined Reserves is now fortunately without practical significance. Economy of space has also led to the excission of many informational notes and of various historical passages, especially in the chapters on banking in France and in the United States. The chapter on Daily Redemption, which appeared first in the second edition, has been merged with the chapter on Bank-Notes. Emphasis on the interdependence of all the banks of a country in the regular conduct of the business of banking is the most fundamental difference between this and the earlier editions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.