the paper by delivery, as owners, or even as agents, unless that agency, with the name of the principal, be distinctly stated at the time of the transfer.

Indorsers are also released from liability, if they are not duly notified of non-acceptance or non-payment, the paper having been duly presented.

If a man lends his name and credit by making a note or accepting a bill of exchange for the accommodation of another party, it is called an accommodation paper. He thereby becomes liable to any bona fide holder, to the same extent as if he had received a full consideration, except to the person for whose accommodation the credit was given. But for his indemnity for payment he has a valid claim on the party accommodated.

PRESENTMENT, PROTEST, AND NOTICE.

ART. 130. The limits of this work will not allow the detail of all the particulars necessary to be observed by the holder of a bill or note, in making a proper demand for payment, and, in case of non-payment, in properly notifying the indorsers, so that they may not be released from liability. The importance of the subject demands the careful study of those who deal in negotiable paper, or who undertake the collection of it for others. Business men, unless thoroughly posted, had better intrust their collections with some responsible banker. A few brief rules only will be given.

There should be no unnecessary delay in presenting for payment any paper payable on presentation, and for acceptance all time drafts (unless drawn "acceptance waived”), especially if the time of maturity is to be determined by the time of sight or presentment.

When the time is definitely fixed by the date of the instrument or of the acceptance, it must be presented for payment on the exact day of maturity, as regulated by the law of

the State where it is made payable. A protest on any other day would be of no avail.

The paper itself must be presented by the holder personally to the acceptor or maker, or their authorized agent, at the place where it is made payable, during reasonable business hours. If no such person or agent is found with funds to meet it, the paper may be treated as dishonored. In case of nonacceptance or non-payment the paper should be protested, and the drawer and indorsers notified.

"A protest is a solemn declaration on behalf of the holder, drawn up by an official person, against any loss to be sustained by the non-acceptance or non-payment of a bill." This protest should be made by a notary public, who should also personally make due presentment or demand, and should on the same day, or, at furthest, the next day, send written notices of protest to the parties to be notified. If the residence of all the indorsers be not known, and all the notices be sent under one cover to the last indorser, he is allowed only one day to forward the notices to antecedent indorsers. So also for each of the others. Sundays and legally recognized holidays are excepted. Notices to parties residing in the same town must be delivered in person or by a messenger. Notices to all others must be sent by mail. If an indorser writes over his name "waiving demand and notice," a protest is not necessary to retain his liability.

DAYS OF GRACE AND TIME OF MATURITY.

ART. 131. It may be observed here that each of the United States makes its own laws in regard to negotiable paper, and probably the laws of no two States agree in all respects. The laws of that State are applied in which the paper is made payable, though it be drawn in another. For a valuable compend upon this whole subject the student is referred to a "Manual for Notaries Public," published by J. Smith Homans, New York.

As a general law in the United States the day of maturity for all negotiable time-paper does not come till three days. after the expiration of the time mentioned in the instrument, except when the time is limited by the expression "without grace." These days are called days of grace, but they give the maker no special advantage, for interest is allowed on those days the same as others, and no presentment need be made till the last day of grace.

If the last day of grace falls on Sunday, or any legally recognized holiday, the paper is payable on the preceding day.

Bills drawn at sight are sometimes allowed grace and sometimes not. The statutes of different States, so far as they exist, do not agree, and in the absence of special statutes the custom is not uniform. In New York, commercial bills, drawn at sight, are payable without grace, and all paper in which either the maker, drawer, or drawee is a bank or banker, is 'also payable without grace.

If the time be expressed in months, calendar months are always to be understood. For example, three months from January 31, without grace, would be April 30; including grace, May 3.

If the time be expressed in days, the time of maturity may be found by taking the remaining number of days in the month of the date, and as many days of the following months separately as will equal the given number of days plus three. The number of days in the last month will be the date of the month on which the paper matures.

For example, a note dated August 20, 1858, payable ninety days from date, would mature November 21, 1858.

Solution.-11+30+31+21=93.

Or, to the day of the date add the time of the note plus three, from which subtract consecutively the number of days of each following month, beginning with the month of the date, until the remainder be smaller than the number of days in the next month. The remainder will be the date of maturity.

Solution.-20+93=113, and 113-31-30-31-21.

Or, if the time be 30, 60, or 90 days, call each 30 days a calendar month, and correct by subtracting 1 for each month passed over containing 31 days, and adding 1 or 2, according as it is a leap year or not, if the last day of February be included.

Thus, 90 days from January 10, 1856, would be, counting three calendar months, April 13, including grace.

Now, from 13 subtract 1 for January and 1 for March, and add 1 for February, and we have April 12, for the result. The last rule is convenient for bank paper, which usually runs 30, 60, or 90 days.

It is evident from the above rules that the day of the date should be excluded from the calculation.

The following fact may be worth remembering by those who get "accommodations" at bank.

A paper having 60 days to run will mature on the same day of the week as that on which it was made. Having 30 days to run, it

PROOF. 33 7 x 5-2. 637 x 9

=

93 = 7 x 13 + 2

will mature 2 days earlier in the week, and having 90 days to run will mature 2 days later in the week.

DISCOUNTING NOTES.

ART. 132. In negotiating promissory notes and time-bills of exchange their estimated value depends upon three considerations, viz.

1st. The responsibility and promptness of the maker.

2d. The relative value of the currency, used in the purchase, compared with that of the payment of the obligation at maturity.

3d. The market rate of interest.

The range of the first consideration is from A No. 1 to worthless.

The range of the second, in the United States, is generally within 2%.

The range of the third may be said to be between 3 and 20% per annum.

In view of the first, a man may make a bad bargain in buying a note having sixty days to run, if he pay for it but 10 cents on a dollar. The United States may perhaps borrow money at 4% per annum, when individual States would have to pay 5 or 6%, and railroad companies 10 or 15%. A corresponding difference is found in promissory notes made by individuals and business firms.

The purchase of a draft on New York, payable in coin, with Illinois paper currency, which is convertible into coin at a cost, say, of 1%, will illustrate the force of the second consideration.

In regard to the third, the market, or ruling rate of interest, depends mainly upon the rate of profit with which capital can otherwise be employed. New countries, rapidly developing, furnish profitable investments, and therefore sustain a high rate of interest. Sudden expansions and contractions of currency temporarily affect the rate, causing it to fall with the expansion and rise with the contraction, but a continued increase in the supply of money stimulates prices, awakens enterprise, and increases the profits in business and speculation, thereby raising the rate of interest proportionably.

The rate of interest does not express the value of money, but only the value of the use of it for a limited time, or rather, it expresses the value of the use of the capital or credit measured by money. Money, from its nature, is always cheap when prices are dear, and vice versa; for as money measures the value of other commodities, so the comparative price of the standard articles of commerce measures the relative value of money. Generally, when money is cheap, interest is high. For many years money has been cheaper in the United States than in England, but during the whole time the rate of interest has ruled higher. In the early history of California money was exceedingly cheap, but the rate of interest remarkably high. The current rate of interest is also made higher from the effect of unwise usury laws, and laws under which