able to bearer, a privilege which was extended in 1848 to cover the whole of France. It has numerous branches in the larger towns. The government appoints the governor and two deputy governors, who are all required to be stockholders. There is also a body of 15 directors and 3 censors, nominated by the shareholders. The capital of the Bank of France is fixed at 182,500,000 francs. The value of its note circulation in 1920 was 38,355,755,000 francs.
Detailed information regarding banks in other countries will be found in the separate articles on the respective countries. For banks in the United States see Banks, Federal Reserve; Banks in the United States.
Banks for Savings.—Savings banks are banks established for the reception of small sums so as to be taken advantage of by the poorer classes, and they are carried on entirely for behoof of the depositors. One of the earliest was an institution in which small sums were received and interest allowed on them, established by Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield, at Tottenham, near London, in 1803. The first savings bank in Scotland was formed in 1810 by the Rev. Henry Duncan, of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. In 1814 the Edinburgh Savings Bank was established on the same principles, and the system soon spread over the kingdom. The first act relating to savings banks was passed in 1817. By it all deposits in savings banks, as soon as they reached £50, were placed in the hands of the National Debt Commissioners, who allowed interest on them. In 1824 it was enacted that the deposits for the first year should not exceed £50, nor those in subsequent years £30, the total deposits being limited to £150; also, that no more interest should be paid when the deposits, with compound interest accruing on them, standing in the name of one individual, should amount to £200, This enactment is still in force. Postoffice savings banks were established in Great Britain in connection with the money order department of the postoffice, by an act of Parliament passed in 1861. Any sum not less than a shilling is received, so as not to exceed £30 in one year, or more than £150 in all; and when the principal amounts to £200, the payment of interest is to cease. Interest is paid on every complete pound at the rate of 2½ per cent. For the deposits the government is responsible, and they may be drawn from any postoffice savings bank in the kingdom. By an act that came into operation in 1880, any person desiring to invest in Government stock any sum of from £10 to £100, can do so through the postoffice banks at a trifling cost, and obtain the dividend free of charge. In the United States postal savings banks were established in 1911. Savings banks are now well known in all civilized countries, and the good they have done is incalculable. In the United States there is an enormous amount of money deposited in them. School savings banks are the most recent institutions of this kind, and have had a marked effect for good. See Savings Banks.
BANKHEAD, JOHN HOLLIS, United States Senator from Alabama, born in Marion co., Ala., in 1842. He was educated in the common schools and served in the Civil War, rising to the rank of captain. He was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives from 1865 to 1867, and again in 1880 and 1881. In 1876 and 1877 he was a member of the State Senate. He was elected to the National Congress in 1877, serving until 1907. In 1906 he was elected alternate United States Senator, and in 1897 was elected Senator to succeed Senator Morgan. He was re-elected in 1911 and 1918. During his service he was a member of many important committees in the Senate, including the Commission on Public Buildings, Commission on Rivers and Harbors, and the Inland Waterways Commission. He was the author of several important books relating to post roads.
BANK NOTE, an engraved certificate representing its face value in specie. In the production of bank notes, the principal purpose is to render their forgery impossible, or at least easy of detection. This is sought to be effected by peculiarity of paper, design, and printing. Bank of England notes are printed in one of the blackest and most indelible of inks, on paper expressly made for the purpose by one firm only. It is a handmade paper, remarkable for its strength, lightness and difficulty of imitation. Its peculiar water mark constitutes one of the chief safeguards of the notes against forgery. No Bank of England notes are issued twice, so that this mark is rarely indistinct, and the paper does not lose its peculiar crispness.
In the United States, the bank notes at present in circulation are manufactured by the Government Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the paper being made by a private concern, under a patented process, the chief ingredients being a mixture of linen and cotton fiber, into which are introduced threads of silk, so arranged as to be perceptible after the notes are printed. This style of
