Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Illustrated monographs and map of Sweden
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
"THE SWEDISH BANK
OF COMMERCE’’
Stone Age ceased at last to be merely woods and wilderness; they became an economic
opportunity, and the opportunity was eagerly grasped.
Spontaneously here and there throughout the immense forest regions, and especially
along the water-eourses, sprang up the beginnings of an industry. Naturally the need
for financing these scattered enterprises soon made itself felt, and this want was met
by the founding of local banks in the various towns along the coast.
The Head Office of Svenska Handelsbanken, Stockholm, as seen from the Royal Palace.
From the original etching by Torsten Schonberg.
Timber and timber-products, and their shipment, gave birth to these banks. The
banks, in their turn, soon gathering strength, enabled the industry to push along more
vigorously than before. Branch-feelers were extended up the rivers, gradually converting
the energy expended on what were mostly local enterprises into more concerted efforts.
So, step by step, the banks and the industry grew up together, infusing into the
surrounding communities the quickening pulse of economic life and of a general
commercial intercourse hitherto undreamt of. By and by the day arrived when the
various organisations began to demand credit and business facilities of more than local
or even provincial scope. In this way their ever-widening circles came to meet and
overlap the sphere of activity of another banking Institution — the Stockholms Han-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
