Of its management Mr.Sherman was able to say in his report of December 1, 1879, "The organization of the several bureaus is such, and the system of accounting so perfect, that the financial transactions of the government during the past two years, aggregating $3,354,345,040, have been adjusted without question with the exception of a few small balances, now in the process of collection, of which it is believed that the government will eventually lose less than $13,000, or less than four mills for each $1000 of the amount involved;" and in 1880 he said with entire truth, "The department is a well organized and well conducted business office, depending mainly for its success upon the integrity and fidelity of the heads of bureaus and chiefs of divisions." _Banking_ There is no more instructive chapter in the history of finance than that upon the banking system of the United States.

It has its distinct eras of radical change, each of which presents a series of tentative experiments.

The outcome, by a process of development, in which political expediency has been as effective an agency as financial necessity, is the present national banking system.

Though the term "government," or "national," bank is constantly used in reference to the great banking institutions of England, France, and the United States, no one of these is in the true sense of the word a national bank.

The Bank of England is a chartered corporation, the Bank of France an association instituted by law.