1, 1903; 24 per cent more before February 1, 1904; and 5 per cent more, making the total of 10 per cent, before June 1, 1904. Such an increase of reserves could not be accomplished under the most favorable circumstances except at considerable cost, which would not fall upon the trust companies, but upon the public. The community would be deprived of the use of $50,000,000 of its working capital or be compelled to import that sum to make good the amount withdrawn from active use. It would amount practically to setting aside and locking up that much gold, to lie idle or to be used only in great emergencies, like those for which the war treasure of $30,000,000 is so sacredly guarded by the German Emperor in the fortress of Spandau.

If the privileges enjoyed by either the national banks or the trust companies involve danger or disadvantage to the community, or if they threaten to drive one class of institutions out of existence, they should be restricted. The national banks and the trust companies,

The

however, while they trench to some extent on each other's fields, each has functions to perform which differ from those of the other. It would be extremely harmful to chain either class of institutions upon a Procrustean bed of regulations or burdens, suited perhaps to one and not suited to the other. national banking law could probably be amended to advantage in a direction which would give greater scope to the national banks in doing business; but it would be a step in the wrong direction to extend the restrictions imposed upon them, if they have been found burdensome, to a class of institutions which have contributed so much as the trust companies to the industrial triumphs of America in recent years.

INDEX

Agriculture, Department of, crop figures, 57
Allen, Charles H., 213

America, opportunity for advancement in, 63
Anglo-Saxon peoples, their conservative tendencies, 41
Argentine Republic, railway equipment, 133

Austria, land mortgage bank, 20; postal statistics, 154

Bank of England, management of its metallic reserve,
31; issue of uncovered notes, 185; custodian of
British banking reserve, 231

Banking consolidation, how it has prevented panic, 34
Banking extension, 139

Banking power of Great Britain, 141; of United States,

142

Banks have avoided early blunders, 30

"Bears," their function in the stock market, 111

Belgium, draws food supplies from without, 119; postal
statistics, 154; telegraph service, 157

Betting on stocks does not occur on stock exchanges, 84
Bimetallism, benefits in maintaining par of exchange,

202

Bonds have a prior lien over preferred stock, 49
British-India, manner in which the gold standard is
maintained, 183

Brokers, how they protect consumer, 100

"Bucket shops," radically different from stock ex-
changes, 85

Business interests, their willingness to make sacrifices,
80; delicacy of experimenting with, 81

Call loans, method of making them in New York, 220
Capital, growth of the investment fund, 4; amount
employed in manufactures, 6; effect of an excess
supply, 7; effect in promoting consolidations, 21;
importance of directing in proper channels, 37;
movements determined by competition, 54; given
mobility by the stock exchanges, 89; how it is
directed in profitable channels, 93; total amount in
the United States, 158

Chase, Salmon P., ill-advised demand upon New York
banks, 80

Chicago, freight rates to New York, 136

China and the gold standard, 171; influence of railways
in creating demand for money, 173; absence of
national currency, 174; joins Mexico in appeal to the
United States, 177; defects of present standard, 178;
attitude of the foreign banks, 180; how the gold
standard can be established, 183; limitation of the
coinage, 184; acceptance of currency for public dues,
186; creation of an exchange fund, 188; presenta-
tion of plan to European powers, 190; adoption of a
common ratio, 194; effects of silver fluctuations on
commerce, 199; interest of the United States in a
stable standard for China, 203

China, railway extensions in, 173

Church property confiscated in France and Mexico, 61
Clearing; one of the aspects of future delivery, 104
Clearing house banks of New York, increase of de-
posits, 207

Clearing house statistics, 143

Coal, reduction of price, 137

Colonial products, increased consumption in Great
Britain, 166

Commerce, increase in the 19th century, 123; increased
by railway equipment, 131

Commercial loans protected by stock market, 106