APPENDIX I
By Walter Bagehot
NOTE A
LIABILITIES AND CASH RESERVE OF THE CHIEF BANKING SYSTEMS
The following is a comparison of the liabilities to the public, and of the cash reserve, of the banking systems of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States. For the United Kingdom the figures are the most defective, as they only include the deposits of the Bank of England, and of the London joint stock banks, and the banking reserve of the Bank of England, which is the only cash available against these liabilities, is also the only cash reserve against the similar liabilities of the London private banks, the provincial English banks, and the Scotch and Irish banks. In the case of England, therefore, the method of comparison exhibits a larger proportion of cash to liabilities than what really exists.
(1) English Banking.
Liabilities. | £ |
Deposits of Bank of England, less estimated Joint Stock Bank balances, at December 31, 1872 | 29,000,000 |
Deposits of London Joint Stock Banks at December 31, 1872 (see Economist, February 8, 1873) | 91,000,000 |
Total liabilities | 120,000,000 |