GIPE-PUNE-OIIOI2 - DSpace@GIPE

AND THE BANQUE DE FRANCE 73
of 1924 has not introduced any specially notewo!lhy
changes in this regard.
The president of the old Reichsbank was, as has
been noted above, an officer of the Imperial government.
The governor of the Banque de France is likewise
appointed by the French government. But the governor
of the Bank of England is not a state official. He is
elected by the board of directors, who, again, are elected
by the share-holders. The French institution is closer
to the government than is the Bank of England. It is
indeed almost a state-institution even after the reorganization
of 1928. The new Reichsbank is a thoroughly
private institution.
A$ an ordinary banking institution and as a bankers'
bank (or reserve bank) the Reichsbank gets its services
paid for by its clients in the usual way.
But as the bank for the Imperial government, the
new Reichsbank like the old discharges its functions
gratis. It may be said to get paid in the following, indirect
manner. First, it has the exclusive privilege of
circulating the legal tender bank-notes for the Empire;
This is a profitable business in itself. In the seco~d
place, it is the sole depositary of government funds and
thus possesses command over enormous liquid capital.
Thirdly, for a long time it obtained % th of the profits
beyond the dividend which was fixed at 3 ~ p.c.
The advantages accruing to the Imperial government
are no less solid.· First, the Reichsbank acts as its fiscal
•
agent and renders all the services required for the
&Gnomic Deoelopment (Madras, 1926).
Crisis in Germany:·
See the chapter, "The Cunen