THE FIRST CORNER IN CURRENCY 123 



borrow it all, yes, more than there was, for the 

 nominal reserve of the banks was small and its 

 available reserve almost nothing. They counted 

 as reserve the gold in their vaults which belonged 

 to customers or was held on special deposit, and 

 besides was worth a large premium, making it 

 no more available as a reserve than were the 

 buildings the banks were housed in. The old de- 

 mand notes which were available for the pay- 

 ment of customs were in the same category and 

 were also counted as reserve. 



I would borrow ten million dollars, perhaps 

 twenty. The interest would amount to from 

 two to four thousand dollars a day, but I could 

 make that up easily, for the money tightness 

 would knock spots out of the stock market and 

 I would sell a few thousand shares before I be- 

 gan the squeeze. I would select for sale the 

 stocks that the pool were holding. It would be 

 fine to collect the cost of the campaign from the 

 enemy. There would be no trouble about secur- 

 ity for the loans. I had often borrowed on our 

 own certified checks when providing cash for a 



