BANKS 



585 



BANNS OF MARRIAGE 



per cent of its stock; if its capital is $1,000,000, 

 he must invest $30,000. The par value of all 

 bank shares is $100. As in the United States, 

 stockholders have a "double liability" ; in other 

 words, if the bank fails and its assets are not 

 enough to pay its debts, a stockholder is liable 

 for an added $100 for every $100 share he owns. 



In the United States, national banks, as 

 explained above, are required to keep a fixed 

 percentage of their deposits as reserve. In 

 Canada there is no fixed reserve, the only 

 requirement being that forty per cent of what- 

 reserve a bank does keep must be in legal 

 tender. A restraining influence on reckless 

 financiering is exerted by the Canadian Bank- 

 ers' Association and by the fact that a detailed 

 statement of the bank's accounts must be sent 

 to the government each month. This state- 

 ment is published in the Canada Gazette. 



The large capital required before a Dominion 

 charter may be issued makes it impossible to 

 establish independent banks in all the cities 

 which need banking facilities. Canadian char- 

 tered banks, however, establish branches 

 throughout the Dominion, and there is no 

 town of consequence without one or more 

 brmches. Each branch has its own local man- 

 ager, its own depositors and its own accounts, 

 but the manager is responsible to the home 

 office. There are now about twenty-two char- 

 tered banks in the Dominion, and over 3,000 

 branch banks. The authorized capital of these 

 chartered banks amounts to nearly $189,000,000, 

 and the reserve fund is over $113,000,000. H.W. 



Consult Muhleman's Government Supervision 

 of Banking Throughout the World; Dunbar's 

 Theory and History of Banking. 



BANK, SAVINGS. See SAVINGS BANK. 



BANKS, STATE. See STATE BANKS. 



BANKS, \\TII \MI:I. I'KKNTISS (1816-1894), 

 an American soldier, born at Waltham, Mass., 

 and popularly known as "the bobbin boy," be- 

 cause as a child he worked in a factory. He 

 studied law, was admitted to the bar, and after 

 serving in the state legislature was elected in 

 1853 to Congress, was made Speaker 



of the House of Representatives. In 1857 he 

 became governor of Massachusetts, and on tl..- 

 breaking out of the War of Secession joined tin- 

 Union army. His first achievement of note was 

 tin defeat of "Stonewall" Jackson at Win- 

 chester in 186LV I ; in the year, after hold- 

 ing the command of the defenses at Washing- 

 ton, he was placed in charge of an expedition 

 to New Orleans, and on his arrival in that city 

 succeeded Butler as commander of the Depart- 



ment of the Gulf. He was successful in com- 

 pelling the surrender of Port Hudson, but 

 failed, in 1864, in an expedition up the Red 

 River and was relieved of his command. Re- 

 signing his commission, he returned to Massa- 

 chusetts and was again elected to Congress, 

 where he served for five terms, much of that 

 time as chairman of the committee on foreign 

 relations. In 1888 he was again elected to Con- 

 gress but two years later retired from public 

 life. 



BANNOCKBURN, ban' uk burn, a village in 

 Scotland where Robert Bruce, in 1314, won 

 independence for his country by his victory 

 over Edward II of England, and secured for 

 himself the throne of Scotland. The English 

 had the advantage in numbers, the Scotch in 

 position, and the latter further aided their 

 cause by digging a number of military pits 

 along the line of the enemy's advance. The 

 English were totally routed, losing 10,000 foot 

 soldiers and 200 knights out of their army of 

 60,000. The Scotch army, 40,000 in number, 

 suffered a loss of 4,000. The ringing lines of 

 Burns's Bannockburn, the first stanza of which 

 follows, contain the words that the poet fancied 

 Bruce addressed to his soldiers just before the 

 fight: 



Scots, wha hae wt' Wallace bled ; 

 Scots, wham Bruce has aften led ; 

 Welcome to your gory bed, 

 Or to victorle ! 



The village of Bannockburn is about three 

 miles southeast of Stirling, on the Bannock 

 rivulet. Though its population is less than 

 3,000, it has important manufactures of tweeds, 

 carpets, tartans and leather. An object of 

 interest in the town is the stone in which 

 Bruce set his flagstaff before tin* famous battle. 



BANNS OF MARRIAGE, the public an- 

 nouncement, usually read in a church, of the 

 intention of a man and a woman to be join. -I 

 in marriage. The custom of publishing mar- 

 riage banns originated in the desire of th< 

 Church to protect its children from harmful 

 or unsuitable unions, for anyone who hears the 

 banns read is privileged to object to the 

 approaching marriage if In- knows of any reason 

 why it should not take place. The great Cath- 

 olic Council <>f I.ateran. held in 1215, ordered 

 banns to be published before the marriage 

 ceremony in every Christian country. The 

 custom is still generally practiced in Roman 

 Catholic countries and in England, and also 

 prevails among the Roman Catholics of Canada 

 and the United States. 



