I am by no means an alarmist. I believe that our system, though
curious and peculiar, may be worked safely; but if we wish so to
work it, we must study it. We must not think we have an easy task
when we have a difficult task, or that we are living in a natural
state when we are really living in an artificial one. Money will not
manage itself, and Lombard street has a great deal of money to
manage.






CHAPTER II.

A General View of Lombard Street.

I.






The objects which you see in Lombard Street, and in that money world
which is grouped about it, are the Bank of England, the Private
Banks, the Joint Stock Banks, and the bill brokers. But before
describing each of these separately we must look at what all have in
common, and at the relation of each to the others.