Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/496

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BANGOR
404
BANK

by means of a dam near the water works. The city has direct connection with the Canadian Pacific railway, and also by steamers with New York, Boston, and important points on the New England coast. Water for domestic, fire, and small manufacturing purposes is also obtained from the Penobscot river by the Holly system. Bangor is one of the most important lumber centers in the country, and, besides its many saw, planing, and molding mills, has several wood-pulp mills, iron foundries, carriage factories, ship-building yards, agricultural implement works, boot, shoe and moccasin factories, pork packing establishments, etc. It is a trade center for five counties, and is connected by electric railway with their principal cities and towns. There are several National banks; daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals; and various educational and charitable institutions, the most important of which is the Bangor Theological Seminary (q. v.). The site of the city, called by the Indians Kenduskeag, was visited by the French, who erected a fort here, called Norombega, in 1656. The place was permanently settled in 1769; was incorporated as a town in 1791, and became a city in 1834. Pop. (1910) 24,803; (1920) 25,978.

BANGOR, a borough of Pennsylvania, in Northampton co. It is on the Lackawanna, and Lehigh and New England railroads, and has important slate quarrying interests, silk mills, machine shops, and other industries. Pop. (1910) 5,369; (1920) 5,404.

BANGOR, a city and seaport of Wales in Carnarvonshire. It is on the S. E. bank of the Menai Strait. The beauty of the surrounding scenery has made Bangor a much-sought-for place of resort. It is the seat of the oldest bishopric in Wales and has a cathedral begun in 1496. The city has several important educational institutions, including the University College of North Wales and other colleges. The chief industry is slate quarrying. Pop. about 15,000.

BANGOR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, an educational institution in Bangor, Me.; chartered by the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1814; opened in Hampden in 1816; and removed to Bangor in 1819; under the direction of the Congregational Church, but open to all Christian young men. It has a three years' course; grounds and buildings valued at over $400,000; a library of about 30,000 volumes; and, in 1919, 5 professors and instructors; and 18 students.

BANGS, JOHN KENDRICK, an American humorist and editor, born in Yonkers, N. Y., May 27, 1862. He graduated from Columbia College and was one of the founders of "Life," and has long been known for his light verse and humorous stories, among which may be mentioned "Coffee and Repartee" (New York, 1886); "Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica" (1895); "Water Ghost and Other Stories" (1896); "The Bicyclers and Other Farces" (1896); "A Houseboat on the Styx" (1896); "The Pursuit of the Houseboat" (1897); "Foothills of Parnassus" (1914). He was at various times editor of "Harper's Weekly" (1900); "Metropolitan" (1903); "Puck" (1904).

BANK, primarily an establishment for the deposit, custody and repayment on demand, of money; and obtaining the bulk of its profits from the investment of sums thus derived and not in immediate demand. The term is a derivative of the banco or bench of the early Italian money dealers.

Divisions.—In respect of constitution there is a broad division of banks into public and private; public banks including such establishments as are under any special state or municipal control or patronage, or whose capital is in the form of stock or shares which are bought and sold in the open market; private banks embracing those which are carried on by one or more individuals without special authority or charter and under the laws regulating ordinary trading companies. In respect of function three kinds of banks may be discriminated: (1) banks of deposit merely, receiving and returning money at the convenience of depositors; (2) banks of discount or loan, borrowing money on deposit and lending it in the discount of promissory notes, bills of exchange, and negotiable securities; (3) banks of circulation or issue, which give currency to promissory notes of their own, payable to bearer and serving as a medium of exchange within the sphere of their banking operations. The more highly organized banks discharge all three functions, but all modern banks unite the two first. For the successful working of a banking establishment certain resources other than the deposits are, of course, necessary, and the subscribed capital, that is, the money paid up by shareholders on their shares and forming the substantial portion of their claim to public credit, is held upon a different footing to the sums received from depositors. It is usually considered that for sound banking this capital should not be traded for the purpose of making gain in the same