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be deprived of the use of $50,000,000 of its working capital or be compelled to import that sum to make good the amount withdrawn from active use.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 America, opportunity for advancement in, 63 Austria, land mortgage bank, 20; postal statistics, 154 Bank of England, management of its metallic reserve, Banking consolidation, how it has prevented panic, 34 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 Betting on stocks does not occur on stock exchanges, 84 202 Bonds have a prior lien over preferred stock, 49 Brokers, how they protect consumer, 100 "Bucket shops," radically different from stock ex- Business interests, their willingness to make sacrifices, Call loans, method of making them in New York, 220 Chase, Salmon P., ill-advised demand upon New York Chicago, freight rates to New York, 136 China and the gold standard, 171; influence of railways China, railway extensions in, 173 Church property confiscated in France and Mexico, 61 Clearing house statistics, 143 Coal, reduction of price, 137 Colonial products, increased consumption in Great Commerce, increase in the 19th century, 123; increased Commercial loans protected by stock market, 106 |