lies low and says nothing, following the prevalent practice of its peers. "Very few of the British banks," says the Economist Banking Supplement of May 9, 1925, "published the figures of their gross profits. Barclays still sets a good example in this respect."
Perhaps this dignified reticence on the part of the banks is necessitated by their peculiar position; living and trading, as they must, on a reputation which is beyond a breath or whisper of suspicion, they have to be not only above reproach but above the possibility of misunderstanding by some irresponsible person with a pen in his hand who might make misleading and damaging comments if he saw that a bank, or several banks, had been obliged, for example, to make a considerable amount of provision for bad debts. And in pursuing a policy of reticence the banks can plead the example of the Bank of England, which never publishes a Profit and Loss Account at all, or anything else besides a weekly account which is largely incomprehensible. An official of the Bank, who had a keen eye for the absurdities of life, once told me that he had two weekly treats, one on Wednesday when he enjoyed his Punch, the other on Friday when he read the attempts of
