GIPE-PUNE-OIIOI2 - DSpace@GIPE

THE BANK CAPJT ALISM OF YOUNG B~NGAL
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the Banca Nazionale nel Regno was established as the
result of union of two banks in Genoa and Turin.
The story of this bank, which by the bye is a note.;
bank, is but a cumulative record of loans granted to the
government and of the government's appreciation of its
services by allowing it to ignore the law in regard to the
relati~n between notes and metallic reserve as well as the
obligation to redeem its notes in specie. The privilege of
having its notes declared by the government as forced
currency was perpetually enjoyed by the Banca Nazionale
as well as its predecessors, e.g.tin 1848,1859,1866, and
1868-all through the period of Italy's political travail
towards independence and unification. This sort of banking
may be described as patriotic, political or war-banking
and can hardly belong to the category of normal economic
bank transactions such as are based on the proper calculation
of risks and judicious administration of invest.,.
ments.
During this entire period of risorgimien~o ( 1848-
1870), memorable in the history of nationalism on
account of the exploits of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour 'and
others, there were altogether half-a-dozen note-banks in
Italy. Each of these was pursuing an extra-legal, uneconomic,
politically privileged, in one word, abnormal
banking career such as can furnish no example to any
people that intends to embark upon a course of lawful
and constitutional bank evolution.
. Soon after the formation of modem Italy a law was
passed in 1874 to bring some sort of order out of the chaos
in the banking world. But down to 1893 when the
13anca d'Italia was established and the foundations o(
contemporary Italian banking were laid, the law was