how banks developed out of goldsmith establishments (1)

all these facts are so much taken granted by every modern banker that he is hardly aware of them . But it was not always so. According to superficial but useful history, commercial banking with the ancient goldsmiths , who develop the practice of storing people is gold and valuable for safekeeping . At first such establishments were simply like parcel checkrooms or warehouses . the depositor left his gold for safekeeping , was given a receipt , a later presented that receipt , paid a small fee for the safekeeping , and got back his gold .
Quite obviously , however ,money is wanted only for what it will buy ,not for its own sake .Money has an anonymous quality ,making one dollar just as good as another , and one piece of pure gold as good as another . the goldsmiths soon found it more convenient not to have to tag the gold belonging to any one individual so as to be able to give to him upon request exactly the same piece of gold that he had left .Instead ,the customer was quite willing to accept a receipt for an amount of gold or money of given value , even though it was not the identical particle of matter that he actually left . this " anonymity" is important . therein lies a significant difference between today is bank and a checkroom or warehouse . if I check my bag at Kennedy Airport and later see someone walking down the street with that same suitcase , I call my lawyer and sue the airline . if I mark my initials on a ten-dollar bill , deposit it in my bank account , and later notice it in the hands of a stranger , I have no grievance against the bank management . they have only agreed to pay me on demand any old $10 . but let us return to the goldsmith establishments ,which are supposed to typify the first embryonic commercial banks . what would balance sheets of atypical establishment look like ?