Ohio History Journal

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OHIO BANKING INSTITUTIONS, 1803 TO 1866

OHIO BANKING INSTITUTIONS, 1803 TO 1866.

 

 

BY A. B. COOVER.

A bank, as we understand and use the word, is simply a plan

of organizing capital, by which the full benefits of the latter are

secured. The separate means of individuals are united together,

and a large sum thus constituted is hired out at interest to those

who need it. This combination, and the manner of its use, may

be compared to a dam across a valley, and the accumulation in

one body the water of separate springs, which otherwise would

be of little service; but being united, they form a propelling

power for extensive machinery.

Without organization of capital in some form, a community

must remain in comparative barbarism. The few who possess

wealth above their immediate wants must either send it away

for investment where it would enrich other places, or it would

for the most part lie dead, while the poor would continue in

ignorance and drudgery.

After it is organized, a bank gathers more capital by saving.

It presents the first practical idea of economy and increase to

thousands of people.

For several centuries past, banks have been the successful

medium through which credit has not only been preserved, but

great wealth acquired.

The first bank of which we have any authentic history was

established in Genoa, Italy, in 1407-five hundred years ago.

The Bank of Amsterdam was established in 1609, and shortly

after, those of Hamburg and Rotterdam. The Bank of Eng-

land was established in 1694; the Royal Bank of Paris in 1718;

the Bank of North America in 1781, and the Bank of the United

States in 1791.

Under laws passed in 1837 a banking system known as the

"Wild Cat" system was formed in the United States; under this

law about all that was needed to start a bank was an unlimited

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