Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

368 HISTORY OF THE BANKevidence of the /manner in which the Canadian people hadbecome steeled to the horrors of war, that during theseextraordinary months they showed a steadiness in completecontrast to the fever and panic of 1914. The firm policies ofthe great banking institutions of the country undoubtedlycontributed in a large degree to this demonstration of nationalstability.As in the previous years of the conflict, the immensityof the cost of the war was reflected in the transactions ofThe Canadian Bank of Commerce, the financial assistancerendered to the Governments of Great Britain and of theDominion being continued on the same generous scale. InJuly the bank joined with the other Canadian banks in anadvance to the Dominion Government against four monthstreasury bills. It also renewed advances made the previousyear to the Dominion Government and the Imperial MunitionsBoard, as well as the "Second Wheat Loan" to the BritishGovernment. The total of these transactions ran into manymillions. Purchases were also made from time to time ofFrench Government treasury bills offered in London. Otherissues in which the bank invested were:of Great Britain and Ireland, 5%United KingdomNational War Bonds due 1922.United States Government, Fourth Liberty Loan,$60,000,000 15-20 year 4^% Gold Bonds.Dominion of Canada, Second Victory Loan,$300,000,000 5^% Bonds due 1922-23.French Republic, Loan of Liberation, 1918, 4% PerpetualRentes.All told, the assistance rendered by The Canadian Bank ofCommerce to the finances of the various Allied Governmentsto which reference has been made in this chapter reached theenormous total of over $130,000,000, of which over $33,000,000was renewed for a further period. This does not, of course,mean that advances of this amount were current at any onetime, but on the other hand neither does it include the very