CHAPTER II
a general view of lombard street
I
The objects which you see in Lombard Street, and in that money world which is grouped about it, the Bank of England, the Private Banks, the Joint Stock Banks, and the bill brokers. But before describing each of these separately we must look at what all have in common, and at the relation of each to the others.
"The distinctive function of the banker,"—says Ricardo, "begins as soon as he uses the money of others"; as long as he uses his own money he is only a capitalist. Accordingly all the banks in Lombard Street (and the bill brokers are for this purpose only a kind of bankers) hold much money belonging to other people on running account and on deposit. In continental language, Lombard Street is an organisation of credit, and we are to see if it is a good or bad organisation in its kind, or if, as is most likely, it turn out to be mixed, what are its merits, and what are its defects?
