Excerpt from The Canadian Banking System: 1817-1890 If any were required, a reason - perhaps a suffi cient reason - for the present investigation might be offered in the circumstance that an essay to present in a systematic and fairly thorough manner the facts with which I have attempted to deal, has never yet appeared in print. The growth and improvement of the banking system are parts of the commercial and legislative history of Canada even less cultivated than the broader field of its economic history. Yet the course of the development ought by no means to be devoid of interest; the results in some respects are unique; and where it is now carried on the Cana dian system of banking is believed to be productive of the highest possible advantages. A second reason could well be found in relation with the banking situation of the United States. Observers in all quarters have noticed the growing necessity for reform in the currency and banking system Of this country, and have remarked the demonstration of the necessity in the frightful crisis precipitated by distrust in the value of the currency commonly used. They have noticed also, especially among those who are most deeply interested in the organization of credit, the growing conviction of this necessity - a conviction of which the last and most Significant expressions are the resolutions adopted on the 11th October, 1894, by the American Bankers' Association, in convention assembled at Baltimore. It is possible, at least, that from some account Of the Canadian banking system an American will Obtain instructive contrasts, as well in history, as in present organization and methods of operation, to the system of banking and bank legislation which has Obtained in the United States. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.