None of them gets so much before the others that the others voluntarily place their reserves in its keeping.

A republic with many competitors of a size or sizes suitable to the business, is the constitution of every trade if left to itself, and of banking as much as any other.

A monarchy in any trade is a sign of some anomalous advantage, and of some intervention from without.
I shall be at once asked--Do you propose a revolution?
Do you propose to abandon the one-reserve system, and create anew a many-reserve system?
My plain answer is that I do not propose it.

I know it would be childish.

Credit in business is like loyalty in Government.