So long as money may be obtained, let the price paid for it be what it may, a sense of security pervades the community; but were it whispered during a period of temporary tightness that the Bank refused to discount good bills at any price, our credit system would be in imminent danger, for the trade of the country would be at a standstill. Further, did such a state of affairs continue for many days, the crash would come, and the Bank of England would then be swept away with the rest of the market. Our present system is so delicately poised that the Bank simply dare not refuse to take good trade bills from the brokers. We next come to the other side of the picture. The broker, when he goes his rounds, sometimes finds that the surplus resources of the banks are abundant, and that they are ready to let him have even more than he requires. When he makes this discovery, he begins to higgle, to try to ascertain the lowest rate certain banks are prepared to accept; for the difference between the rate at which he discounts bills for his own customers and the rate at which he re-discounts or borrows, is his margin of profit, and he is naturally anxious to make it as wide as possible. (The poor man, be it remembered, does not visit Lombard Street simply because he finds the air pure and the society of bank officials congenial.) He therefore does his best to discover those banks which are in funds, and, having found them, to induce them to lend as cheaply as possible. This he can do when loanable capital is cheap and abundant, and the Bank of England probably doing but little business. Possibly, though the Bank rate is at two and a half, bills are being taken by the brokers at one and a half. Then the Bank, in order to get business, either lowers its rate of discount or else, by selling stock, endeavours to lessen the resources of Lombard Street. If the Bank adopt the latter expedient, it usually sells Consols for cash, and buys them back for the account, thereby temporarily reducing "bankers' balances," and attracting business to itself. The banks, having less to lend, raise their rates, which then approximate more closely to the Bank rate. The brokers often complain bitterly of this interference by the Bank of England with the market's supply of loanable capital, asserting that this artificial enhancement of rates by the reduction of bankers' balances through the sale of stock affects their business injuriously, and benefits the Bank but little; and it certainly is difficult to see how the Bank of England can make a profit out of the transaction. On the other hand, when the market rate is appreciably below the Bank rate, it is impossible to attract foreign gold to London; and the Bank, by borrowing on Consols, and making its rate representative, is acting in the public interest, should it be desirable either to attract gold to this country or to prevent its leaving these shores.