Long-established custom has made the rate of interest paid on deposits in London and other parts of England vary with the discount rate of the Bank, and on this account the market rate of discount also varies in the same manner. The Bank of England is thus ordinarily able to regulate the market for commercial paper. Since paper payable in London is a favorite form of investment for continental bankers, by raising its rate of discount and with it the market rate above the level of the rates of some or all of the continental centers, the Bank of England is able to induce these bankers to send money to London for investment and thereby to increase her reserves, and by lowering its rate below the level of the rates in these continental centers, she is able to induce them to sell some of the paper they already hold, and thus to furnish a market for her surplus funds and diminish her reserves. On account of the readiness with which the international gold movement responds to variations in the discount rate of the Bank of England, the need for an elastic system of bank note issues is not felt in England to the same extent as in other countries. It is this fact, doubtless, which explains the retention to the present day of the essentially inelastic bank note system created by the act of 1844. _3. The French System_ In France, the Bank of France is the central institution. It is the oldest of the important French banks of the present day, having been established in 1800 by Napoleon the First. Its capital, amounting at the present time to 182,500,000 francs, or approximately $36,500,000, is supplied by about 30,000 private stockholders, about 10,000 of whom own only one share each. The two hundred largest stockholders appoint a General Council, consisting of fifteen regents and three censors. Five regents and all the censors must be chosen from the commercial and industrial classes, and three of the remaining ten regents must be selected from the _tresoriers payeurs genereaux_, an important group of representatives of the public treasury scattered throughout the country. The General Council as well as the stockholders' assembly is presided over by a governor, who, together with two sub-governors, is appointed by the President of the Republic upon the nomination of the Minister of Finance. The governor is the chief executive officer of the bank and the final source of authority in most matters of vital importance. He is responsible to the government rather than to the stockholders, and is subject to removal only by the power which appointed him.