The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface
• Chapter I: Barter
• Want of Coincidence In Barter.
• Want of a Measure of Value.
• Want of Means of Subdivision.
• Chapter II: Exchange
• Utility and Value Are Not Intrinsic.
• Value Expresses Patio of Exchange.
• Chapter III: The Functions of Money
• A Standard of Value.
• A Store of Value.
• Separation of Functions.
• Chapter IV: Early History of Money
• Currency In the Hunting State.
• Currency In the Pastoral State.
• Articles of Ornament As Currency.
• Currency In the Agricultural State.
• Manufactured and Miscellaneous Articles As Currency.
• Chapter V: Qualities of the Material of Money
• 1. Utility and Value.
• 2. Portability.
• 3. Indestructibility.
• 4. Homogeneity.
• 5. Divisibility.
• 6. Stability of Value.
• 7. Cognizability.
• Chapter VI: The Metals As Money
• Iron.
• Lead.
• Tin.
• Copper.
• Silver.
• Gold.
• Platinum.
• Nickel.
• Other Metals.
• Alloys of Metals.
• Chapter VII: Coins
• The Invention of Coining.
• What Is a Coin?
• Various Forms of Coins.
• The Best Form For Coins.
• Coins As Works of Art.
• Historical Coins.
• The Royal Attribute of Coining.
• Chapter VIII: The Principles of Circulation
• The Standard Unit of Value.
• Coin, Money of Account, and Unit of Value.
• Standard and Token Money.
• Metallic and Nominal Values of Coins.
• Legal Tender.
• The Force of Habit In the Circulation of Money.
• Gresham's Law.
• Extension of Gresham's Law.
• Chapter IX: Systems of Metallic Money
• Currency By Weight.
• Unrestricted Currency By Tale.
• Single Legal Tender System.
• Multiple Legal Tender System.
• Composite Legal Tender.
• Chapter X: The English System of Metallic Currency
• English Gold Coin.
• English Silver Coin.
• English Bronze Coinage.
• Deficiency of Weight of the English Gold Coin.
• Withdrawal of Light Gold Coin.
• Supply of Gold Coin.
• Supply of Silver Coin.
• The Royal Mint.
• Chapter XI: Fractional Currency
• Billon Coin.
• Composite Coin.
• Bronze Coin.
• English Bronze Coin.
• Weight of the Currency.
• Nickel, Manganese, Aluminium, and Other Metals and Alloys.
• Chapter XII: The Battle of the Standards
• The Double Standard.
• Compensatory Action.
• The Demonetization of Silver.
• Disadvantages of the Double Standard.
• The Monetary Systems of the World.
• Chapter XIII: Technical Matters Relating to Coinage
• The Alloys In Coin.
• The Size of Coins.
• The Wear of Coin.
• Methods of Counting Coins.
• Cost of the Metallic Currency.
• Chapter XIV: International Money
• Advantages of International Money.
• Disadvantages of International Money.
• Conflict of Monetary Systems.
• International Monetary Negotiations.
• Decimalization of English Money.
• The Future American Dollar.
• German Monetary Reform.
• Systems of Fractional Money.
• Final Selection of the Unit of International Money.
• Chapter XV: The Mechanism of Exchange
• Progressive Development of the Methods of Exchange.
• Representative Money.
• Cheque and Clearing System.
• Chapter XVI: Representative Money
• Early History of Representative Money.
• Reasons For the Use of Representative Money.
• Inconvenience of Metallic Money.
• The Weight of Currency.
• Saving of Interest.
• Chapter XVII: The Nature and Varieties of Promissory Notes
• Specific Deposit Warrant.
• General Deposit Warrant.
• Difference Between a Special and a General Promise.
• Pecuniary Promissory Notes.
• Principles of the Circulation of Representative Money.
• Chapter XVIII: Methods of Regulating a Paper Currency
• 1. Simple Deposit.
• 2. Partial Deposit.
• 3. Minimum Reserve.
• 4. Proportional Reserve.
• 5. Maximum Issue.
• 6. Elastic Limit.
• 7. Documentary Reserve.
• 8. Real Property Reserve.
• 9. Regulation By the Foreign Exchanges.
• 10. Free Issue System.
• 11. The Gold Par Method.
• 12. Convertibility By Revenue Payments.
• 13. Deferred Convertibility.
• 14. Inconvertible Paper Money.
• Over Issue of Paper Money.
• Want of Elasticity of Paper Money.
• Chapter XIX: Credit Documents
• Measurement of Credit.
• Bank-notes.
• Cheques.
• Bills of Exchange.
• Interest-bearing Documents.
• Definition of Money.
• Chapter XX: Book Credit and the Banking System
• Single Bank System.
• System of Two Banks.
• Complex Bank System.
• Branch Bank System.
• Bank Agency System.
• London Agency System.
• Country Clearing System.
• Chapter XXI: The Clearing-house System
• Transaction of Business At the London Clearing House.
• Manchester Clearing House.
• New York Clearing House.
• Extension of the Clearing System.
• Advantages of the Cheque and Clearing System.
• Proportion of Cash Payments.
• Cases to Which the Clearing System Is Inapplicable.
• Chapter XXII: The Cheque Bank
• Relation of the Cheque Bank to Other Banks.
• The Cheque Bank As a Monetary Agent.
• Payment of Wages By Cheques.
• The Cheque Bank As a Savings Bank.
• Results of the Cheque Bank System.
• Chapter XXIII: Foreign Bills of Exchange
• Origin and Nature of Bills of Exchange.
• Trade In Foreign Bills.
• The World's Clearing House.
• Centralization of Financial Transactions In London.
• Representation of Foreign Bankers In London.
• Chapter XXIV: The Bank of England and the Money Market
• Expansion of Trade.
• Competition of Bankers.
• The Bank Charter Act of 1844.
• The Free-banking School.
• Possibility of Over-issue.
• The Right of Coining Bank Notes.
• Scotch and English Banking.
• Cash Reserves of Bankers.
• Remedy For the Sensitiveness of the Money Market.
• Chapter XXV: A Tabular Standard of Value
• Corn Rents.
• A Multiple Legal Tender.
• Lowe's Proposed Table of Reference.
• Poulett Scrope's Tabular Standard of Value.
• Difficulties of the Scheme.
• Chapter XXVI: The Quantity of Money Needed By a Nation
• Quantity of Work to Be Done By Money.
• Efficiency of the Currency.
• Effects of the Cheque and Clearing System.
• Conclusion.

Manchester Clearing House.

Though the London Clearing House is entirely the birthplace of the system, and the spot where the work has been organized on the largest scale, it does not follow that it is in every respect the most suitable for imitation in commercial towns of less magnitude. At least two English provincial towns, Manchester and Newcastle, have established local clearing horses. The bankers of Liverpool, also, I am told, have recently arranged a private system of clearing among themselves; and it is possible that the bankers of other towns may have taken a similar step without the fact becoming generally known. Through the kindness of some members of the committee, I have received full information as to the working of the Manchester Clearing House. The business seems to have been arranged, chiefly, I believe, by Mr. E. W. Nix, with great success, and it may be useful to describe the arrangements in detail as they would be very suitable for adoption in many English, foreign, or colonial towns, which will doubtless before long establish clearing houses.

In the Manchester Clearing House the work is performed entirely upon loose forms, and not in account-books, as in London. Though these forms may seem rather numerous and elaborate, they greatly assist in the accurate and orderly settlement of the balance. The clearing clerk, before leaving his bank, sorts out the drafts, which he has to deliver, into thirteen parcels, one for each of the thirteen other banks, and then fills up thirteen lists, one for each parcel, in the Form No. 1 shown below, each cheque being represented only by the amount of money expressed in it. A copy of the list is entered in one of the books of the bank provided for the purpose.

Adding up each such list, he inserts the totals in one of the left-hand columns of the Form No. 2. He thus obtains a complete abstract of all the claims he holds upon other banks, and adding up the columns ascertains the aggregate "Out-clearing."

On reaching the Clearing House, the clerk walks round the room and lays on the desk belonging to each other bank the parcel of cheques and the corresponding list already described. In the course of a little time thirteen similar parcels and lists will be laid on his own desk by the clerks of other banks, and as they come in he compares the list with the cheques, verifies the addition, and if all be correct, enters the amount in one of the right-hand columns of the second form, against the name of the bank presenting the drafts. These parcels are called the "In-clearing," and represent all the claims of other banks upon the one in question, so that when all the thirteen amounts are entered, and the columns added up, the clerk learns the aggregate which his bank will have to pay.

At Manchester two clearings are held each day. The first at 11.15 a.m. is a preliminary one only, and no payment of balances is made. As soon as the columns for the first clearing are filled up, the clerk returns to his bank with the in-clearing parcel of cheques and drafts presented upon the bank. These documents are immediately examined by the proper officials in order to detect any which may be irregular, fraudulent, or, for want of funds, or other reasons, must be dishonoured. At the Clearing House the clerk has already made a first rough inspection, and returned any documents which were obviously irregular, but no draft is considered to be finally accepted until one hour after the clearing is over. The returned drafts are comparatively few, and, as soon as detected, are forwarded direct to the bank presenting them.

The second clearing takes place at 2.15 p.m, and is conducted just as in the morning. The second columns of the out- and in-clearing, in Form 2, having been filled and summed up, the totals of the first columns are added in, and the clerk learns the sum that has to be paid, and at the same time to be received, by his bank. The difference is the balance which he has either to receive or pay. These totals and the balance he copies into the following brief form, No. 3, which he hands to the inspector of the Clearing House.

The inspector now proceeds to verify the balances by inserting the amounts in Form No. 7, given on the next page, in an abbreviated form, only four of the names of the banks being inserted, to save space. In these forms the names of the banks are given in the briefest manner, and the Branch Bank of England is called simply "Bank."

It is evident that the total which some of the banks have to receive on balance must equal what the others have to pay, because every cheque has been added in twice, once in favour of, and once against, some bank. If the debtor and creditor columns of the seventh form, being added up, fail to balance, some error of account must have been committed, and all the work is submitted to careful re-examination until the error is detected. When all is correct, it remains only to effect the payments, which is done by means of credit and debit notes, directing transfers in the books of the Branch Bank of England, to or from the accounts of the clearing bankers. The payments are made, indeed, to and from the Clearing House, as a kind of fictitious entity; but as its payments and receipts each day exactly balance, the Clearing House requires no separate ledger account, except for small current expenses, or inconsiderable errors.

To effect the transfer the clerk of each paying bank fills up the double form, No. 4, as follows:—

The coupon on the left-hand side is a draft to be signed by the clerk, if he has authority for the purpose, or else to be carried by him to his principals to be signed, and then paid into the Bank of England. It directs the cashier to credit the Clearing House with the balance, and debit the sum to the paying bank in question. The authorized official of the Bank of England signs the corresponding form on the right hand, when the payment is made, as a receipt for the sum on behalf of the Clearing House.

When, on the other hand, the balance is in favour of a bank, Form No. 5, printed on green paper for the sake of easy discrimination, comes into use. It sufficiently explains itself.

There remains then only the question of the returned cheques. Even these do not require cash payment. The balance at the close of the day is paid only provisionally, and those cheques which have to be dishonoured are returned within an hour to the bank presenting them. Unless the irregularities be explained away, or removed, the presenting cashier then signs the allowing form, No. 6, which is an acknowledgment that so much money too much was received by him at the last clearing. This form is included by the bank dishonouring the cheques, in its out-clearing parcel, and the matter is rectified in the balance of the next clearing.

The settlement in the Manchester Clearing House is often effected in less time than it would take to read this account of the method, and the work goes on with noiseless ease, strongly contrasting with the turmoil of the London House. No doubt, the amounts cleared are comparatively insignificant in Manchester, the average daily sums being, in the years 1872, 1873, and 1874, respectively £226,160, £237,150, and £247,930, or little more than one-hundredth part of the daily transactions in the Lombard Street House.

The Manchester Clearing House is managed by a committee of bankers, of which the chief agent of the Bank of England in Manchester is the chairman, and the superintendence of the clearing work is conducted by an official of the Bank of England. Thus the Bank, while naturally taking precedence, harmoniously co-operates with the local bankers.