f control through the chancellor of
the empire. The influence of the Imperial Bank now permeates, by means of
its branches, all the separate kingdoms of the empire--the uniformity of
coinage introduced through the laws of 1871-1873 rendering this possible.
The Imperial Bank assists business principally in two ways--first, through
the clearing system (_Giro-Verkehr_), which it has greatly developed, and
secondly, through the facilities given to business by its note circulation.
The Imperial Bank also receives deposits, and cheques are drawn against
these, but in Germany notes are principally used in payments for ordinary
business.

Before the Reichsbank was established, Hamburg was the first, and for a
long time the only, example of a clearing in Germany. This was taken up by
the Reichsbank when it established its office in Hamburg in the
time-honoured building which had belonged to the Hamburg Clearing House.
Similar business had long been undertaken by the Bank of Prussia. This was
absorbed and developed by the Reichsbank in 1876. Through the "clearing
system" money can be remitted from any of the 443 places in which there is
an office of the Reichsbank, to any of these places, without charge either
to the sender or the receiver. It is sufficient that the person to whom the
money is to be remitted should have an account at the bank. Any person
owing him money in the remotest parts of the empire may go to the office of
the bank which is most convenient to him and pay in the amount of his debt,
which is credited on the following day at the office of the bank, without
charge, to the account of his creditor wherever he may reside. The person
who makes the payment need not have any account with the bank. The impetus
given to business by this arrangement has been very considerable. It
practically amounts to a money-order system without charge or risk of loss
in transmission. From Hamburg and Bremen to the frontiers of Russia, from
the shores of the Baltic to the frontiers of Switzerland, the whole of the
empire of Germany has thus become for monetary purposes one country only.
The amount of these transfers for the year 1906 exceeded L1,860,000,000.

The note circulation is also a powerful factor of the business of the
Reichsbank. It is governed by the law of 1875 and the amending law of 1899,
corresponding in some degree to Peel's act of 1844, which regulates the
note circulation of the Bank of England. An uncovered limit, or