THE CHICAGO BANKER
18
[Volume XXV
grand old New England city, in true Yankee hospitality.
We realize now that all that was said is true, the city beautiful, rich in history, model buildings, modern in equipment, a great architectural and banking center, fine parks, seat of learning with its famous Brown University, and the greatest natural harbor in New England.
In conclusion let me say I am thoroughly in sympathy with the work of the Institute and its chapters, and I stand ready and willing at any and all times to further your interests, and in your work I believe you have the hearty support of the officers and members of the executive council and the entire American Bankers Association.
when you visit New \ ork to call at your own offices, and also be welcome at the offices and reading rooms of the parent organization, and take advantage of all the privileges accorded to our membership, and which is cordially extended to our Institute membership, as a part of our great association.
I congratulate you on this auspicious meeting, the best in your history, your business sessions, your fine program, and your many excellent addresses by men of renown in the banking, mercantile, and professional world.
The promises made in Detroit by the enthusiastic members of the famous Providence Chapter, when extending the invitation, have been more than fulfilled in the elaborate entertainment provided by the bankers of this
for more enthusiastic and better work and encourages the chapters.
It is important that our two organizations keep close together, and I was glad to see the concerted action taken at the Atlantic City convention.
At the spring meeting of the executive council of the American Bankers Association I recommended that our various sections and the Institute be provided with offices, connected as nearly as possible with the general offices of the association, the proposition was unanimously approved and we are now fitting up offices for the Institute adjacent to our general offices. In this work I have had the assistance and co-operation of your able secretary, George E. Allen. This will enable you
Instructive Address on “Assets” at the Providence Banquet, by 0. H. Cheney, Deputy Superintendent of Banks of New York
will anyone say that a shorter period suffices to prepare the modern banker for his profession? Your aim should be to master the technique of your business and add to that knowledge a conception of the part your work plays in the financial balance sheets of the world.
\Vith your permission I should like at this point to briefly call attention to what seems to me a great defect in the educational system of our high schools and colleges. I refer to the fact that no provision is made for education along• the lines of our relations one with another. Many of the elements of all professions but one are taught, such as literature, science, theology, music, art, chemistry, physi-ologv, and hygiene. Why should not some of the fundamental principles of law be studied? Is it right to send any young man out into the world with an education it has taken years to acquire, but knowing nothing of that rule of action which measures and sanctions the relations of one individual with another? Must he assume responsibilities of which, as they stand in the eyes of the law, he knows nothing t Of course there need be no intention of making every man his own lawyer, but short courses in high school and college on contracts, agency, real property, and commercial paper would be of untold practical value. It is with satisfaction that I can refer to the excellent work this Institute h s done along these lines. Indeed, the American Institute of Banking has become a very valuable asset in the financial world in the short period of its history. Combining as it does the two great principles of human advancement, education and fellowship, it has built a broad foundation upon which its future may securely rest.
There is no royal road to learning, nor can education be absorbed from an expensive leather-covered Homer, or obtained by means of a cheap hypodermic. It cannot be coerced or humored unless there is present a willingness and a capacity to learn. There is the college brand of education and there is the school of life in which every man who desires to, educates himself. The former is not complete until it has had a post-graduate course in the latter and certainly no system of self-education can be a success that does not use as tools some of the text-books of the college.
This Institute is working between the two extremes. It recognizes that the truly educated man is he who gathers and absorbs knowledge of some kind every day he lives through observation, reading, study, and intercourse with his fellow men. No man can know too much—no man ever yet knew it all.
Nothing is so good that we should not look for something better. Be always ready to take advantage of the exceptional that offers. One should always look about him as well as be-
duties of their clerical, or official position, so as to merely escape actual criticism. They come in and go out on time. Yes, gentlemen, and they go out in time. They accomplish their various tasks and are fairly active during
O. H. CHENEY New York City
all their working hours. But at its best it is only a negative sort of service.
There is another and better kind that begins ahead of time, performs its work promptly and thoroughly, and then looks for other things to do. If you are in the service of an individual, a corporation, or the state you should give the best in you and give it regardless of mere custom, supervision, or the ways of your fellow-workers. The test you should go by is not what you must do, but what you can do. That is active loyalty.
The business world demands well educated men and there is a reason for that demand. The well educated man knows his business, and to know one’s business is no less a virtue than to mind one’s business. There is a false impression that one can learn all there is to know about banking in six months. The business of banking is a profession, and should be so regarded. It not only requires certain traits and characteristics to make a successful banker, but long and severe training in the active duties of the work. If to practice law or medicine it takes four years of a college course, and three years more of special study,
We are all familiar with the usual list of stocks and bonds, mortgages, cash, and other items which go to make up the asset side of a financial institution. We do not, however, always examine with proper care certain assets which can not be expressed in dollars and cents but which, nevertheless, in times of financial stress are often of more value than actual cash. The institution having a force of clean, loyal, thinking men, from president to messenger, is the place to safely bank your funds. The experience of the last eight months has shown that trustworthiness in the official and clerical staff, as well as in the board, gives an institution a strength well nigh impregnable. What the financial world expects to-day in its workers is an appreciation of their responsibilities. Not merely a willingness to work, but a realization of what is due the institution and what goes w׳ith the position.
It will not be necessary here to talk about the men who watch the clock, dodge their duties or are wilfully dishonest. Such types, whether clerks, or officials, have no representation in the American Institute of Banking.
A man is not necessarily a slave because he receives a salary. He is one of the component parts of a business institution, and that institution should be able to depend upon his loyalty and service. If you cannot say a good word for the institution which provides you with a home, then keep silent. The man who decries the business which butters his bread is a criminal whose crime is almost as great as though he robbed the cash drawer. If you must be a growler you should first get out into the open.
Another thing that we need to-day is to realize that the acceptance of a position carries with it an obligation and a contract to meet the requirements of that position. There is a good demand for good men, a better demand for better men, and the best demand for the best men. For those men who are still improving on the best, the demand is unlimited and far exceeds the supply.
One generation’s best men is the next generation's good men ; and the best do not long remain best, unless they not only keep up, but go ahead. Those who are left are the ones who do not march as fast as the world. There is no demand whatever for men who stand still and the supply of those who lag behind is already too great. The world always wants better men, rather than more men.
There are two kinds of loyalty—passive loyalty and active loyalty—but it is only the latter that is valuable as an asset to the progressive banker. Let your loyalty then be of the active kind. Some men think they are good enough workers because they perform the