A BOOK DESCRIBING THE METHODS, BY FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND, PḤ. D. WHARTON SCHOOL OF FINANCE AND ECONOMY PREFACE EXCEPT in its public aspects, the subject of finance has received little attention at the hands of writers. The necessity for funds with which to carry on King William's war with France gave rise to the Bank of England and, with this, to modern funding methods. Nearly all of the great banks and banking systems of the past have grown out of public rather than private needs. So constantly has attention been drawn to funding measures of Government, that the words "finance" and "funds" have come to be associated almost exclusively with public affairs. The fast increasing funds in private institutions, the magnitude of modern industrial and commercial undertakings, the large funding operations wholly private in their character that have gone along with private enterprise during the last decade, have awakened an interest in private finance far exceeding that which attaches to public revenues and expenditures. Recognizing the need for the collection and coordination of data in this branch of the subject, effort has been directed toward the development of a literature such as may bring the facts of financial life within the reach of the reading public. This larger work was undertaken some years ago in cooperation with Dr. Edward S. Meade, of the University of Pennsylvania. The present essay is the first of a series. Under the present title, Funds and Their |