The Use of Credit Instruments English banks would not show as large a proportion of small checks as the deposits of our own banks. This was certainly true at the time the English investigations referred to were made, for it was not until 1854 that it was legal to issue drafts for a less sum than 20s., and “long after that time great uncertainty appears to have existed on the subject.”“ Moreover, we know from these inquiries that when they were made wages were paid and retail trade carried on more largely with coin, which forms so large a proportion of the English circulation.
   Another defect of the English statistics is their comparatively non-representative character. With the exception possibly of those gathered by Mr. Pownall, the statistics presented by the various writers are, so to speak, “sample cases,” and it may be doubted whether they were representative. They certainly represent fairly the practice of merchants and the wealthy classes in England with reference to the use of bank accounts and the issue of checks. Can we be sure that they represent the method of making payments used by the larger proportion of the English people, or that used in settling the larger proportion of British trade? Finally, there is no doubt that the returns given by most of the writers include such items as “bills paid in for collection and discount, loans on security,” and other items which should not be included if what we are trying to determine is the volume of business payments made from day to day by credit paper.
   aR. W. Barnett, “Effect of the Development of Banking Facilities Upon the Circulation of the Country,” Jour. Inst. Bankers, 2:78.

19