CIRCULAR LETTER OF CREDIT.

First National Bank & Chicago

This letter must be returned with the last draft

Ha1213
Gentlemen:

Chicago Mery 25 1896

This letter will be presented to you by

Henry & Jone

in whose

favor we beg to open a credit with you collectively for the sum Fur Hundred un

n of

Pounds Sterling, to which extent be pleased to furnish payments in sums as required, inscribing the amount so paid on the back of this letter. In reimbursement you will take. Lus draft on the City Bank of London, inserting therein the date and number of this credit, which we engage

shall meet with due honor.

Your charges are to be paid by the bearer hereof
Requesting for how your best attention, we have the

*371.25 grains of pure silver are contained in a silver dollar.

and addressed to a number of banks and bankers in all parts of the world, whose names will appear on the back of the letter.

The Bank here then immediately notifies the London Bank that such a letter has been issued, and for the issue of the letter the Banks usually charge a small fee.

Armed with this document, he proceeds to London, and there finding his funds becoming short, he goes to the City Bank, or to any other Bank, as well, and draws a draft on the City Bank of London, payable to himself and signed by himself, for whatever sum he may need, just as a depositor draws a check. The Bank compares the handwriting and signature of the draft with the signature at the bottom of the Letter of Credit, and if genuine the amount is indorsed on the back of the Letter of Credit, and the money is paid over, after deducting a commission of 2 %. In Paris, Rome, Constantinople, India or Australia, whenever the tourist needs funds, he repeats the above operation, of drawing on the City Bank of London, and the money is paid over to him, less the commission and 5 % interest for the time required in collecting the draft in London.

The drafts as they are drawn, are sent at once to the City Bank of London for collection, and are then charged to the First National Bank of Chicago. When the last draft is drawn by the tourist, wherever he may then be, the Letter of Credit is returned with it. Should the traveler complete his journey and return home without drawing the entire amount of the Letter of Credit, he may present it at the Bank where it was purchased and receive the unpaid remainder.

Circular Notes.-These are drafts drawn by an American Bank on a London Bank and issued to the tourist in amounts of £5 or £10 for convenience. They will be cashed in any part of the world by Banks and also by merchants, and are hence coming to be extensively used by travelers instead of Letters of Credit, and by many preferred. Having secured the requisite number of these small drafts, the tourist carries them with him as he would money, and whenever he desires to dispose of one, he simply indorses his name on the back of it, and produces from his pocket a small certificate from the American Bank bearing his signature, to show that the indorsement is good,

In the following paragraphs will be found a brief summary of the generally accepted rules of law which, at this time, govern and control in the ordinary commercial transactions of the civilized world. A knowledge of these elementary rules is, or should be, a part of the education of every one who assumes to engage in business of any kind under existing conditions.

Business Law.-The entire field of legal proceedure, except, possibly, that which is designed for the preservation of life and property and the punishment of violations thereof, is, properly speaking, "Business Law." There are, however, certain rules which have been developed by the custom of merchants, to which the phrase is now applied in a restricted sense, and it is with special reference to these rules that this compilation has been prepared.