GIPE-PUNE-OIIOI2 - DSpace@GIPE

THE BANK CAPITALISM OF YOUNG BENGAL 125
of Europe and America also were not more glorious and
reassuring than what we find in Bengal to~day.
In England, for instance, it took 50 years (1836~ 1886)
to· raise the combined capital of banks from £ 10 millions
to £40 millions. About 1840 there used to be bank
failures in England at the rate of 24 or 25 per year. In
,1879 there were not more than 970 bank offices owned
by 133 joint~stock concerns. Besides, it was so late as
1858 that ,. limited liability ., principle was admitted by
England in banking business.
-I~ France modern joint~stock banking cannot be
traced back further than 1848, when the Comptoir
d' Escompte was established. So late as 1870 there were
only 19 departements or districts in which France possess~
ed banking institutions as branches or main offices. In
other words, 74 departements or districts did not possess
any bank at that time. And there were not more than 5 or
6 cities which possessed more than one bank. The banking
mentality of France about 1870 may be gauged from the
fact, that as soon as the Franco~Prussian War broke out,
the panic led to a run of 70 per -cent .on the accounts of
the Credit Lyonnais and 85 per cent on those of the
Societe Generale.
In Germany between 1851 and 1870 the total capital
of all joint~stock banks did not go beyond 100 million
Marks (1 Mark = 12 annas approximately). About 1870
the combined capital of- great banks newly established
was somewhat near 100 million Marks. These are high
figures indeed, but yet not- inconceivably high for the
Bengali banking imagination and experience of to~day.
Altogether then it ~ll appear that the work that
Young Bengal as well as the ~hole of Young India have