Merchants, therefore, unless their credit be exceptionally good, or unless they possess first-rate stocks and shares, cannot speculate to the same extent as was possible forty years ago and, of course, those persons who possess marketable securities, which bring them in incomes, are the last people in the world to risk an assured position for possible great future gain. They are accustomed to the good things of this earth, and though they may earnestly desire a large accretion to their wealth, the thought that, in the event of failure, they may lose what they already possess, checks the impulse to finance a scheme, which, while holding out promises of great success, is also not without possibilities of grave disaster. As a rule, only small men will take such risks, and the banks will not finance them at any price. By refusing to accommodate weak speculators, the banks have kept business in a healthy channel, and have largely confined speculation to those people who can afford to pay their losses--always a cautious class. The rank speculator, therefore, has been driven to outside houses, and such houses, we know, are constantly failing; but Lombard Street, having weeded this dangerous element out of its system, is now more stable. Recognising that their system of credit is always exposed to possible disaster, and having had the fact brought forcibly home to them upon so many occasions, the banks, since 1866, have gradually accumulated larger and larger cash reserves in order to be better prepared to deal immediately and effectively with those cataclysms which from time to time are certain to assail them; and though it is an open question whether their reserves are even now sufficient, the most casual observer must acknowledge that, with a few exceptions, our banking companies are in a better state of preparedness at the moment than perhaps during any other period of their history. By compelling the schemers to deposit securities against their loans and advances the banks secure themselves against large bad debts; and by accumulating fair cash reserves they insure their business against suspension during panics. Having taken these precautions, it is not surprising that their path has been rendered comparatively smooth during recent years; and, further, the more prudent manner in which the business of a banker is now conducted makes the shares of the large banking companies less speculative holdings, and greatly reduces the risks of shareholders in connection with their liabilities on the uncalled portion of their shares, though that liability should by no means be forgotten or accepted in any other light than that of serious responsibility.