17
BANKER
THE CHICAGO
August 22, Iço8\
( Department of Chicago Banker )
An Open Forum Dedicated to the Associated Chapters A. I. of B. in Which to Advance the Great Movement for Independent Action and Universal Membership
Twin City Bank Clerks Represented by G. W. Ekstrand and J. L. Lewis at the Minnesota Convention
It has been our experience in St. Paul that the success of a city chapter depends a great deal upon the president of the chapter. If he is a good organizer and worker and appoints good men on the different committees to help him, the work has always been a success, but if he does not take the initiative and if he lacks enthusiasm the work drags, and a lack of interest on the part of the chapter is very soon apparent.
To these difficulties is added the fact that the Institute is just in its infancy, just learning to walk, so to speak, and its work has been necessarily largely experimental.
When you take into consideration the fact that the Institute was organized just as much for the benefit of the 15 or 16-year-old messenger as it was for the middle-aged teller, you will readily see that subjects of interest to the messenger, may be and usually are, of little or no interest to the teller and vice versa.
It has been our experience that as a rule the younger boys will turn out in force, whenever there is to be some entertainment provided, or refreshments served, so we try and provide two or three meetings each year when there is no real work done. Then all the boys get out and have a good social time. In that way they become better acquainted with each other and they also get in the habit of attending meetings.
During the first year of our existence we had men prominent in their professions to address us on different subjects. I will mention just a few of these, so you can see along what lines we are working.
One evening was devoted to the Torrens system of registering titles, another to taxation of bank moneys and credits, letters of credit, life insurance receivership, stocks and bonds, notes and bills, etc. At the close of these lectures we would devote about half an hour to open discussion or quiz, at which time different members would ask questions not quite clear to them and the lecturer would explain more fully.
The following year Prof. Page, of the University of Minnesota, gave us a course of lectures on commercial paper.
The members having provided themselves with text-books were expected to study the lesson and be able to answer questions whenever they were asked.
This, of course was feasible only in the cities and left unsolved the problem of giving to the bank clerk in the smaller towns an opportunity for similar, if not equal, advantages. This we believe, has been accomplished in the extension to the science of banking of a correspondence course of instruction along lines similar to those familiar in other branches of modern business.
The correspondence course in banking provided by the Institute is conducted by the International Correspondence School of Scranton, Pa. It covers subjects of banking history, the organization of national and state banks, national bank supervision, trust companies,
various topics relating to our work, or listened to talks on them by bank officials or lawyers. For the most part of the second year we carried a series of lectures on Commercial Law, Professor Roe, of Duluth Central High School, very ably conducting same. During the past year our work has been more varied. \\ e have had lectures, debates, parliamentary drill, adding machine contests, etc. Not all the time was given up to seriousness, however, as sometimes we would “blow the smoke away. ’ We also had one social dance. Our “boys'’ or men, if you please, have become better acquainted with different methods and in many ways have increased their usefulness to the banks that employ them. There have been four promotions from the ranks, and in each case we think that they are “making good.”
Our aim for the future is high. We expect to get the best out of our men and hope and trust it will reflect credit to themselves and their employers. Our motto, “Always Room at the Top, Advance.” Then, too, we believe with the poet,
In works of labor or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still,
For idle hands to do.
In conclusion, on behalf of our chapter, I wish to thank the Minnesota State Bankers Association for the privilege of attending this, their nineteenth annual convention. I think we bank men all agree with what Carson Hildreth, president of Group Number Four, Nebraska Bankers Association, said at a recent convention.
“It pays to send our bank clerks to the convention. They see the banking business from a wider angle. They get an inspiration that assures to our banks their deeper interest. They learn many things of value to themselves and to our banks. It pays in dollars and cents. It makes more capable bank clerks. It makes a high grade of bank clerks. If possible to do so, send one or more of your bank clerks and junior officers to the meetings—and your bank will reap the benefits during the coming year, in their more intelligent, more energetic and more faithful service.”
The paper read b};־ Mr. Ekstrand was as follows: The object of the Institute is to educate bank clerks in banking, giving them an opportunity for intelligent study of the his-torv and development of banking and the principles that underlie sound banking, and to present to them the fundamentals of business and banking law with a thoroughness and system not available to the individual bank clerk whatever his desk, or however earnest his ambition.
This has been no small problem for the trustees of the Institute, because the difference in the conditions which surround the bank clerk in the country, and those which surround the bank clerk in the city, are so different that the results of any system of institute work must have vastly different results in the one field and in the other.
The bank clerks of the Twin Cities were represented by G. W. Ekstrand of the Merchants National of St. Paul, and J. L. Lewis of the First National of Superior, spoke for the head of the lakes district. The paper read by Mr. Lewis was as follows:
*It is with a feeling of considerable pleasure that I respond from our chapter to this great organization, among־ whose honored members may be found the original chapter man, the father of our institute work, Joseph Chapman, Jr., now vice-president of the Northwestern National of Minneapolis.
The founding of the Institute by the great oiganization of which you are a part, has been a noble work and one whose far-reaching influence will continue to grow as time goes on. Those in our organization who have had the time and inclination to use the advantages offered have broadened themselves, have considerably enlarged their list of acquaintances, and have gained an experience which will increase as time goes on. We believe that the bank clerk who neglects to become a member of the Institute is certainly neglecting a means of personal improvement which might have been used to advantage.
Recently an assistant superintendent of banking was appointed in New York, the lucky man was an institute member. Ten new state commissioners of banking were appointed in the same state, and of the number seven were members of the American Institute of Banking. Not all of us may hope for such good promotion but we can be ready in case we are called. In the meanwhile we will have benefited ourselves in the increase of knowledge acquired, and the bank employing us by reason of our larger understanding of our work. The pursuit of knowledge brings a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of power which, alone, more than repays the effort.
Just now our country is trying to solve some very important questions. It is well that we should study them carefully that we may the more intelligently help in their solution. A great responsibility rests upon us if we are to be the banker of “to-morrow.”
Representatives of the associated chapters in convention assembled have been trying to determine whether we are to be independent of the American Bankers Association. I do not know what action may be taken but wish to go on record as against any separation. We can best go on under 3x3111־ direction and guidance.
The Head of the Lakes Chapter, American Institute of Banking, was organized in Feb-ruar)r of 1906, and has progressed from the first. G. H. Richards, of Minneapolis, was largely responsible in forming our chapter, and we" acknowledge our indebtedness to him. Most of the Duluth and Superior bank officers have given us their moral and financial support but we are especially indebted to W. I. Prince of the City National, of Duluth, for his personal interest in us.
During the first vear we held discussions of