_Such acceptances are absolute agreements to pay a specific sum of money upon a specific day, and therefore are just as much a liability as a deposit subject to check, with this disadvantage, that the property is not within the control of the bank, as the deposits are, against which a check is drawn, and therefore every bank should carry precisely the same reserve against its acceptances that it carries against its deposits._ Acceptances of the approved sort will not necessarily, if at all, greatly increase production; but they will create a new form of investment, that is, a guaranteed commercial paper of which billions of the single name sort are being sold today. Of course, two-name paper with the acceptance of a bank of high standing will soon bring into being here, just as it has in London and other financial centres of Europe, new capital. That is, capital will be attracted to the business of buying and selling such high-class paper. It will be a profitable investment for the idle funds of merchants and manufacturers at those seasons of the year when all of their capital is not occupied in their business, and also for the banks of the country at those times of the year when the local demands are not equal to their supply of funds. It is undoubtedly true that such paper would also soon find a market abroad, as well as at home, and to that extent would facilitate American manufacture and commerce. But we must not deceive ourselves about the fact that the banks will just to that extent increase their liabilities while they have not increased their actual capital to the extent of a single cent. MR. MANUFACTURER: I must confess that I have misapprehended the effect of an acceptance, but you are certainly right with regard to it, and unless we should keep the business of the country in a sound condition, the acceptance business might prove a two-edged sword, and this emphasizes the fact that we must keep a close watch upon what our commercial fund is all the time, and prevent it from being transferred and absorbed in fixed investments, which is always a bane to the commerce of a country. We must not forget these three important factors which are always present here in the United States: first, the vast, undeveloped resources of our country, and the ever-inviting opportunities; second, the intelligence, the ambition, the impulsiveness and the optimism of our people; third, the peculiar, local relations of our twenty-five thousand, individual, independent banks, which are always in close sympathy with and affected by the growth and development of their locality and the varied interests, and the enthusiasm of the people. The vision of our local banker is largely confined to his immediate vicinity.