For instance, suppose a man who possesses a good list of marketable stocks and shares wishes to borrow £5,000 from his banker, and calls upon the branch-manager, who at once expresses the opinion that his directors will have no hesitation in granting his request. They next discuss terms. The manager, who is a humble servant of the company, and who, moreover is anxious to pass the rest of his days in that honourable capacity, looks at his customer, thinking hard the while, and then, trusting his man lacks business experience, suggests 5 per cent. per annum on the overdraft and ⅛ per cent. on the turn-over. The turn-over of an account consists of the cheques, bills, etc., debited during the quarter or half-year, and the customer, therefore, is asked to pay a commission of 2s. 6d. upon each £100 debited in his pass-book. There is nothing very remarkable in this request on the part of a dealer in cash and credit who is selling his wares, and to express surprise is to display a lack of knowledge of business procedure, but to agree to his proposals would betoken a lamentable ignorance of the market. Should the Bank rate be at 4 per cent. the customer would endeavour not to pay more, for his securities do not give him that return, and he has the option of selling them. And as to paying a rate on his turn-over, he knows that if he make application elsewhere he can probably find a banker who will forego that charge, so he either refuses to entertain it or else agrees to pay a merely nominal sum. With a higher Bank rate than 4, he will try to obtain his advance at ½ below the official minimum; and if the Bank rate be low, and loanable capital therefore cheap at the moment, he can suggest “½ per cent. below Bank rate with a minimum of 3½.” Here, again, reference may be made to the previous chapter. Of course, if there are only two banks in his town, and consequently but little competition, he will not find the manager so ready to listen to him, but he certainly should not pay more than Bank rate when it is above 3½, while he will remember that the manager’s advice, if he be so rash as to express an opinion, is not disinterested.