EXCHEQUER 



2112 



EXETER 



era in the two cities can cancel each other's 



487,152 

 debts. New Yorkers will gladly pay 486665 



of their obligations, or $4.87 for each pound 

 bill of exchange, for it would cost them several 

 cents to ship a pound of gold. On the other 



. 486,665 

 hand London bankers can sell bills at ^ ^ 



of the face value, accepting 1 for every $4.87. 

 But if the difference between London's pros- 

 pective payments and New York's is so great 

 that $4.89% is charged in New York for 1, 

 some, as a rule, will find it cheaper to ship 

 gold than to buy bills of exchange, while if 

 the situation is reversed by London's debt 

 becoming so much the greater that 1 will buy 

 only $4.84, gold in normal times is shipped 

 from England to America. 



Exchange between two cities in one country 

 is regulated by the same principles as foreign 

 exchange. Thus, a check on New York will 

 be accepted at par almost anywhere in the 

 Eastern United States, but one drawn on a 

 country bank will be discounted. The articles 

 BANKS AND BANKING; CHECK, and BILL or 

 EXCHANGE contain further information about 

 exchange. 



EXCHEQUER, ekschek'er, CHANCELLOR or 

 THE, an officer who is in fact though not in 

 name the treasurer of the British government. 

 The law provides for a Lord High Treasurer 

 and two junior lords of. the treasury, but their 

 positions are political rather than financial. It 

 is the Chancellor who prepares the budget of 

 expenses for the coming year and devises 

 means of raising money for the government 

 (see BUDGET). He must be a member of the 

 House of Commons, and by virtue of his office 

 holds a place in the Cabinet. His salary is 

 5,000 a year. The most famous of recent 

 chancellors is David Lloyd George, who was 

 succeeded by A. Bonar Law upon the elevation 

 of the former to the post of Premier. 



The word exchequer really means chess- 

 board, and came to be applied to the Treasury 

 Department because in earlier days accounts 

 were figured and money counted on a check- 

 ered table, which was used like an abacus. 



EXECUTIVE , eg zek ' u tiv, or exsek'u tiv, 

 that governmental power of a country which 

 is charged with the duty of enforcing the laws. 

 The term includes the chief, or supreme, magis- 

 trate, to whom the sole governing power is con- 

 fided, and is to be distinguished from the terms 

 legislative and judicial. Under the United 

 States government, the President is vested with 



this authority, and the governor of each state 

 of the Union has in his hands the executive 

 power of the state. The Governor-General is 

 Canada's chief magistrate, while the emperor, 

 king, queen or czar represents the executive 

 authority, in theory, at least, in monarchies. 



EXECUTOR, cgzek'uter, or eksek'uter, in 

 law, one appointed to carry out the provisions 

 of a person's last will, and to act, after the 

 testator's death, as his representative in all 

 matters pertaining to his personal estate. Any 

 person of twenty-one years, under no disability, 

 such as unsound mind, may be an executor. 

 One so named in a will may decline to serve, 

 but once having undertaken the duty he can- 

 not abandon it. An executor's duties are to 

 probate the will, after qualifying for the posi- 

 tion; to pay all bequests named in the will; 

 to make an inventory of the personal estate 

 and by sale to turn the surplus into money. 

 He must keep separately all moneys of various 

 funds, and where investments are made not 

 directly specified in the will they are at the 

 risk of the executor, and he must answer for 

 any loss, unless he can show that he used due 

 discretion. An executor must file an account 

 with the probate court at the end of each year, 

 should the administration be of long duration. 

 His compensation is fixed by the court, and 

 he is usually required by statute to give a bond 

 for careful performance of duty; however, 

 often by the terms of the will a bond is not 

 required. Reasonable expenses are always 

 allowed, and he is subject at all times to the 

 direction of the court. 



EXERCISE. See ATHLETICS; PHYSICAL 

 CULTURE. 



EX'ETER, the oldest continuously inhabited 

 city in England, the county town of Devon, 

 173 miles southwest of London. It is a city 

 of considerable beauty and is full of historic 

 interest, but like all English cathedral cities, 

 is quiet and lacking in enterprise. In the 

 heart of a rich agricultural district, it has an 

 important market but has no manufactures of 

 importance. A canal connects it with the River 

 Exe at Topsham, once one of the most im- 

 portant ports in England. Vessels of 400 tons 

 come to the Exeter docks, alongside of which 

 are large storehouses and caves cut in the 

 cliffs for the storage of oils. Iron founding, the 

 making of agricultural implements and the 

 manufacture of paper are the most important 

 industries. 



The cathedral is a magnificent building with 

 a finely decorated west front. Remains of the 





