motives to hold long to a detrimental policy. Even though the accountant did not report against him, the directors, the moment their suspicions were aroused, would call into consultation the managers of some of the larger branches and other experienced officers in whose judgment they had confidence. The entire system of managment is so correlated that it is practically impossible for one man to be the bank. Some of the smaller institutions are doubtless dominated by single individuals, but as a rule a Canadian bank has connected with it in responsible positions, all having access to the board of directors, so many men of long experience in the banking business that no one man, however high his position, can use the institution to gratify personal ambition or cupidity.

MANAGEMENT OF BRANCHES.

The responsible head of a branch is called the manager. He is selected by the general manager and must conduct his branch in harmony with the views of his chief. His duties are analogous to those of a bank president in the United States. His chief assistant, called the accountant, has charge of all the details, and in the manager's absence is the ranking officer in the branch. He is responsible to the manager and is expected to keep fully informed as to the manager's policy in all its details and to be familiar with all correspondence that passes between the manager and the general manager. He is, in fact, the manager's understudy. In the United States the duties of the so-called Canadian bank accountant are assumed in the smaller banks by the cashier, and in the larger banks are divided between the vice-president and the cashier.

A large branch is in daily communication either by wire or letter with the general manager. The head office allots to each a certain quantity of the bank's notes, a certain amount of "legals," as the Dominion notes are called, and a certain credit balance in New York and London and other foreign cities. A limit is also placed upon the amount which a branch may loan without consultation with the head office. This limit, of course, varies with the different branches, according to the magnitude of their business. In some respects each branch is treated as an independent institution. For example, a man having an account in one branch of an institution can not draw checks on another branch. His checks upon the branch with which he has an account, if presented at the counters of other branches of the same bank, will be treated as if they were checks upon some other institution, exchange being charged. A customer, however, can easily arrange to have his account transferred from one branch to another of the same bank.

a "Our branch managers,” said a Montreal banker, “have the authority to make loans up to a certain size on their own responsibility. Then each Province has its own supervisor or inspector. In case there is an application for a loan too large for the branch manager to pass on, he makes his recommendation and sends it on to his district supervisor. Up to a certain figure these supervisors have authority to grant loans. If the size of the loan comes within this figure and the branch manager's recommendation is O. K., and it has the approval of his best judgment, the supervisor will grant the loan. With us he can loan up to $10,000 on his own judgment, backed by the branch manager's. If the loan is for a greater amount than this, the supervisor makes his recommendation and forwards the application with his and the branch manager's opinion to the head office. The head office usually follows the advice of the supervisor and branch manager. If this should come at a time when it is necessary to restrict loans, we can refuse these big loans or have the customer get along with less."

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Managers of branches are required to make weekly returns to the head office of all loans and discounts. They are required to make quarterly reports of profits earned. Every six months they credit earnings to head office. At the end of every month they must submit a balance sheet, a detailed statement of current accounts and liabilities, and a description of all collateral security which they hold. Every quarter they report the amount of profits earned, and twice a year they credit earnings to "head office."

The manager of a branch is allowed, as a rule, to select the members of his staff, but this privilege gives him little patronage, for custom prescribes that vacancies shall be filled by promotion. Boys are engaged as "juniors" at about the age of 14 and are paid a salary of $150 or $200 a year. Rarely does a bank take into its service a youth who is over 16 years of age, or a man who has been trained up in another bank. Practically no university men are in the banking business. Bankers believe that the best results are obtained by taking on boys at 15 or 16 and training them up through the various subordinate positions, gradually increasing their salaries and adding to their responsibilities. When a boy applies for a position in a bank he is given an application blank containing nearly a hundred questions with regard to his parents, schooling, favorite studies, use of tobacco and intoxicants, attendance at church, his present salary and employment if he is at work, etc., and is required to give the names of at least three or more persons, reputable householders, who have known him for five years. If he is hired, he must then take an oath of secrecy, solemnly binding

himself not to reveal to any person any information whatever with regard to the operations of the bank.

These precautions in the employment of juniors are deemed necessary because the bank expects during the coming generations to select its branch managers and general managers from these juniors. After a boy is admitted to a bank he is expected not only to do his work well, but also to conduct himself in the community in an orderly and becoming fashion. If he contracts bad habits, gets into debt, or keeps fast company, he is likely to lose his place in the bank, and he must beware of too early marriage, for his general manager will disapprove if he marries on a salary of less than $1,000. This means that the average bank clerk in Canada can not marry much before the age of 25. The managers of the banks want the members of their staffs to be well dressed and well fed. Marriage on a small salary, they fear, would give their clerks a worried aspect detrimental to the interests of the bank.

Employees are obliged to furnish a bond, which may be supplied either by private persons or by a guaranty company. Some of the banks have formed mutual guaranty funds, to which all employees, from the general manager down, make regular contribution. The bank itself usually contributes at the outset a sum of money out of profits as a nucleus for the fund. Employees are allowed interest on the money they contribute to the fund, and the entire contribution is returned to the employee when he retires from the service of the bank.

Some of the larger banks have instituted pension schemes for the benefit of employees, the directors setting

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aside each year a certain percentage of the profits for this purpose and deducting from each employee's salary a certain percentage. The mutual insurance plan has been found more economical than the older methods, and the pension scheme is said to be exerting a most beneficent effect upon the morale of the banks' staff.