Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

338 HISTORY OF THE BANKThe volume of the bank's business had now become solarge that it was obviously impossible to rely on memory aloneto determine the extent to which customers borrowing fromthe bank were interconnected. To assist the directors inmaintaining a proper supervision of the extent to which creditwas granted, and to ensure that this feature of the situationshould not be overlooked, it was decided in October thatall credits to individuals or concerns, directly or indirectlyconnected with each other, should be presented to the Boardat the one time so that the directors might have positiveknowledge of the aggregate advances to any particularinterest.As the war progressed, the situation which had prevailedin the sterling exchange market at the outset was entirelyreversed. Reference has already been made in this chapter 1to the sudden and abnormal risein sterling exchange at theoutbreak of the war, to its cause and to some of the measurestaken to cope with the situation. On September 1, 1915, thequotation in New York for sterling cable transfers droppedmomentarily to 450^, after a steady decline from the highfigure of $7 reached in the first week of the war. The warexpenditures of Great Britain and her Allies were on such anenormous scale that all the funds that could be made availablein the United States had speedily been exhausted, and yettheir need for the food products and raw materials of theUnited States was on an ever-increasing scale. Efforts weremade to steady and support sterling exchange, and thesethe bank aided to the best of its ability. In November itauthorized credits in favour of three large English banks forsums ranging from $500,000 to $1,250,000 for the purpose ofsupporting the sterling exchange market. Under these creditsbills were to be drawn by the English banks on the NewYork Agents of The Canadian Bank of Commerce, and afteracceptance, to be discounted on the New York market. Thebills were issued at 90 days sight, were covered by a deposit of'See page 316.