Many Americans hesitate to accept Canadian money, usually for the reason that they have difficulty in passing it and partly from ignorance of its security. The Canadian silver coins are in reality of greater value than the corresponding coins of the United States, for the reason that they contain more silver.

The Canadian one-dollar-bill, two-dollar-bill, and four-dollar-bill are equal in value to the very best securities offered in the United States, for the reason that they are issued by the Canadian government and are covered by actual gold and silver in the treasury.

The notes issued by the Canadian banks are almost equally good, for the reason that the banks are very large institutions, and fully equal to the largest banks in the United States.

The Bank of Montreal is one of the largest and strongest financial institutions in the world. It has about 150 branches in the large cities and towns of the Dominion. The Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Merchants' Bank of Canada are also institutions of splendid strength.

No bank is chartered that has not a capital of at least $500,000. There are in all about 35 banks with numerous branches. These banks issue notes of denominations of $5 and upward, but the government regulations are so exacting that if a bank should fail the holders of its notes would be almost sure to receive their full value. These banks always pay out over the counter their own bills.

Under the United States system, which leaves each bank so largely dependent upon the fortunes of its locality, and the business of each locality so entirely dependent upon its local banks, it is a common thing to see mutual ruin of banks and business in numerous widely scattered localities, while the business of the country as a whole is sound.

A Letter of Credit, First Page.

A Letter of Credit, First Page.

Such results are impossible in Canada. The widely extended system of each of the great banks, with its branches in every part of the country, constitutes a sort of financial insurance, by which each helps to guarantee the soundness of all; while the Canadian branch systems, interlocking at every town, leave it simply impossible that any local point of the least importance should for a moment be lacking in the most complete discount, currency, and other banking facilities, so long as the whole business of the Dominion is not involved in common ruin. The currency system is elastic and always meets the demands. Panics for fear of stringency are unknown. A run on a bank, as it is understood in the United States, is practically impossible.