CHICAGO BANKER.
A Weekly Paper Devoted to the Banking and Financial Interests of the Middle West
10 CENTS A COPY
Entered as Second-Class Matter January 15, 1903, at the Post Office at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879
J U LY 4, 1908
The North Dakota Convention
prior to the time the contract with him was made. Mr. Sundberg is closing out his business in Fargo but will transfer his contract to parties entirely satisfactory to the association and Mr. Hey, who has been doing the work, will no doubt continue to do it for Mr. Sund-berg’s successor.
Burglary Insurance and Fidelity and Depository Bonds
There has been a steady growth in the volume of business in this department. Our registers now show the following amount of business on the books of the association :
Burglary insurance.................$374,500.00
Fidelity and depository bonds...... 472,000.00
As against:
Burglary insurance.................. 84,000.00
Fidelity and depository bonds...... 209,000.00
As shown by last year's report.
This increase in the volume of business has materially added to our resources and enabled us to offer better rewards for the apprehension and conviction of criminals in which we are interested and to be active and persistent in the pursuit of offenders. I can only call your attention again to the fact that you can assist in adding to the usefulness of the association by patronizing this department liberally. All profits go right back into means of preventing crimes against our members and assist us in obtaining low rates for burglary insurance and bonds.
Since the financial troubles of last fall and winter it has been very difficult to obtain depository bonds and I would recommend that this matter be considered at this convention and an effort made to arrive at some solution of this difficulty.
Protective Department
Numerous warnings have been given members during the year of fraudulent checks, forgeries, etc., and good work has been done along the line of warning known criminals that we are organized now in a manner that makes it unhealthy for them to operate against our members.
Under our rules the work of the apprehension and prosecution of criminals in which we are interested falls upon a protective committee, whose names are not made public, and it would be unwise to make public all the details of their work. Plans are at the present time under way for the co-operation of the associations of the Northwestern states, with some of the companies writing burglary insurance which will give us an aggressive organization with ample funds behind it to get quick and effective action, as cases demanding united effort arise. The bank burglar or “Yeggman” is the chief cause of the need of a more effective organization than can be furnished by an individual association, and it is hoped the plan now contemplated will furnish more effective means of coping with him than we have had. Banks in towns with insufficient police protection should see to it that night watchmen are on duty during the fall months when the bank burglar is most active. Banks pay heavy taxes (Continued on page 15)
Persistent efforts are made by the companies doing this work to take the work away form Mr. Sundberg. 1 can only call your attention to the saving effected by making the contract we have. The companies doing the work before the contract was made with Mr.
F. w. c A T H R о
Bottineau, N. D.
Sundberg declined to give us any reduction in the price. They now offer to do the work at greatly reduced prices to get it away from Mr. Sundberg, provided we will sign five year con-
W. C. MACFADDEN Fargo, N. D.
tracts with them. We should stand by our contract with Mr. Sundberg. He is doing better work on our locks than we ever had done before and we are better protected by the bond given the association by hint than we were
Bismarck, N. D.. July 2.—The sixth annual convention of the North Dakota Bankers Association, held in this city yesterday and to-day, was a record-breaker in point of attendance and the importance of the subjects discussed. The convention was held in the Commercial Club building, and many bankers from Duluth, Superior, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago and other Eastern cities took this opportunity to meet the bankers of North Dakota. Members of the Bismarck bankers reception committee met all incoming trains, and looked after the comfort of the visiting delegates.
After a meeting of the executive council the convention was called to order yesterday at 10 a. m. by President C. E. Batcheller, of Fingal. Plon. F. R. Smyth, mayor of Bismarck, welcomed the visitors and Hon. AI. B. Cassell, of Hope responded for the association. After President Batcheller’s splendid address :secretary Macfadden gave his report for the year. Mr. Macfadden said:
The records of the association show a very gratifying increase in membership for the year closing with the sixth annual convention. One year ago we had 520 banking institutions in the state with 342 enrolled as members of the association. Wê have at this time 561 banking institutions divided as follows : 128 national banks, 423 state banks and 1 trust company, and our membership register shows a total of 398. This is a fairly gratifying increase for the year, but in checking over the books in order to furnish the membership committee with the names of the banks not members, it was found that 22 banks who were members last year had dropped out this year. Correspondence with these banks has failed to disclose the reason for this as in nearly all cases letters from the secretary’s office on the subject are not answered.
The membership committee has rendered valuable assistance in the effort to reach the banks who do not seem to care to receive the benefits of membership in the association. In this connection the secretary desires to especially acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Arnegard of the Hillsboro National. The united efforts of a half dozen energetic members such as Mr. Arnegard would soon place our association in the front rank with associations having high percentages of membership.
The importance of co-operation on the ]!art of individual members in this matter of bringing our membership up to a higher percentage cannot be too strongly urged.
An occasional word of advice to the secre-retary may help him in• reaching an outsider or a good word for the association at the right time may accomplish more than a dozen letters from the secretary’s office.
Care and Cleaning of Time Locks
Our contract with E. P. Sundberg & Co. for the care of time locks has been very satisfactory during the past year and Mr. Sundberg now reports 207 banks in the state giving him this work under our contract, with additions to the list reported on every trip made by his expert,