Page 67 - Industries_of_San_Antonio

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COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.

THE TEXAS NATIONAL BANK OF SAN ANTONIO-258 Commerce.
Street, (Old Bennett Bank Corner.)
A bank is an institution authorized to receive deposits, loan money,
etc. The lending of money with the taking of interest is a custom which
dates from the earliest antiquity. In Ancient Greece and Rome the bus-
iness of banking reached a high state of development, the bankers ex-
ercised nearly the same
functions as those of the
present day. The State
Bank of Ilium, in the
second century before
Christ, borrowed money
for the State, and paid
10 per cent. for its use.
Banking became corrupt
and fell into disuse, but
reappeared in Italy upon
the revival of civiliza-
tion. The Bank of Ven-
ice is reputed to be the
first in the history of
modern Europe. Foun-
ded about 1171, it con-
tinued business until the
overthrow of the repub-
lic in 1797, and it was
for many years the ad-
miration of all Europe,
the chief instrument of
Venetian finance, the
chief facility of a com-
merce unequalled by any
European nation. Bank-
ing was introduced into England in the seventeenth century. The Bank
of England was organized in 1694—the Bank of Paris in 1716. May 17th,
1781, a plan for a National Bank was submitted to congress by Robert
Morris of Pennsylvania, and the bill passed May 26th. The Capital was
to be $400,000, in shares of $400.00 each, and it was to be managed by
twelve directors. On 31st December, same year, Congress incorporated the
stock-holders. The old Bank of the United States came into existence in
1791 and was wound up in 1811. The second Bank of the United States
organized by act of Congress in 1810, was wound up in 1840. Subsequent
to this date and prior to the act of 1864, all banking institutions were
chartered by the states, and they were known as state banks. Banks fa-