Page:Lombard Street (1917).djvu/368

340 place under "deposits" only such amounts as are left with them upon call or for specific terms, usually three or six months. There is, however, another heading, "Creditors," under which is included amounts due to account holders on account current business, and apparently some other forms of liability. According to the Frankfurter Zeitung, the "deposits" of the eight largest Berlin banks (exclusive of the Reichsbank) amounted at the end of 1905 to £52,100,000, and their "creditors" to £98,463,000. And, in addition, the Reichsbank at that date owed its current account holders £24,105,000. The Frankfurter Zeitung also gives statistics of the forty leading banks of the Empire that is, banks having a capital of not less than £500,000 (but not including the Reichsbank). At the end of 1905 these held in "deposits" £73,736,000, and in "creditors" £144,223,000. Nor is it only that the resources of the German banks have greatly increased; these banks now play a much more important part in cosmopolitan finance. Berlin is now an important market for foreign loans, and through the instrumentality of the banks large amounts of German capital have been embarked in foreign industrial enterprises. The growth of these and other markets, however, has not operated to the relief of "Lombard Street." On the contrary, it has added to the delicacy of its position. It has increased the magnitude of the demands for gold that may be made upon us in times of pressure, and thus renders it more necessary than ever that the Bank of England should maintain an adequate reserve.

On December 31, 1891, the deposits of these four banks amounted to £70,000,000, but owing to amalgamations which have altered the identity of two out of the four, the further growth of the deposits since Mr. Bagehot wrote