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THE CHICAGO BANKER
September 5, ipo£]
they are organized, to make statements to each other once every month.
A clearing house is comparatively a new institution. One of the first was organized in London in 1775. The New York Clearing House was organized in 1853; Boston, 1856; Philadelphia, 1838; Chicago, 1865, and Des Moines Clearing House was organized in 1887.
Some one has said that the American banking system 1'is a vital current of the activity of the people. It is strong with the brain and brawn of 85,000,000 citizens, with the varied resources of mine and soil and forest and running waters; with the sheep and horses on many ranches and the cattle on a thousand hills; with coal and iron and all their products ; with wheat and corn and sugar and cotton; with the inventive minds and skillful fingers of efficient artisans; with forge and factory and dynamo and not the least, with school and college, with university and church. Financial strength is in wealth of every kind, but not less in the purest morality and the worthiest character.”
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The Merchants State Bank of Fingal, N. D., has increased its capital stock from $10,000 to $15,000.
banks of any other state. The banks of Des Moines have always been regarded as especially safe. In Des Moines we have twenty banking institutions that are either under state or federal supervision, with deposits amounting to nearly thirty millions, capital and surplus about five millions, and cash available about eight millions.
Fourteen of the Des Moines banks have formed what is called a clearing house. This association meets every business day for the purpose of exchanging checks among its members. It will readily be understood how this is done. Each bank in the usual course of business receives checks drawn on all the other banks in the city. These checks they take to the clearing house and receive credit. Checks brought to the clearing house are charged to the bank upon which they are drawn and a balance taken, and a clearing house debit or credit, as the case may be, given to each bank. The greatest advantage of a clearing house is the great saving of time, in that it condenses the many balances into one, and does away with the necessity of collectors making settlements with all the banks by going from bank to bank, as would be necessary in case there was no clearing house. Besides the regular statements required by law, the clearing house banks are required, by the rules under which
to do business with a bank, than it is to make that same child believe that it is manly to spend freely, and little boys do love to appear manly. I believe that if more attention was given to the inculcation of frugality and thrift in our public schools, it would have a wholesome effect. It must be admitted that frugality and thrift are powerful in the building of character, and that reckless spending is equally as powerful a negative quantity in character building. It is the mission of the banker in America to teach economy to all.
The growth of the banking business in the last twenty years has been phenomenal. The amount of deposits in the state and savings banks of the state of Iowa is to-day nearly six times as much as it was in 1S91, while the capital invested in these banks is to-day nearly two and one-half times as much as it was in 1891. There are not many people who are able to comprehend an amount of money so large as two hundred millions of dollars. This is the amount on deposit in state and savings banks in Iowa alone, while the capital (not including surplus and profits) is nearly thirty millions of dollars. The financial flurry of last fall proved to the people of our state that the banks of Iowa are in a first class financial condition. It is safe to say, that Iowa banks will take front position when compared with the
New York Dominates the Gold Movement
Europe will be called upon, notwithstanding our low money rates, to ship a large quantity of gold to New York this fall, according to such experts as Frank A. Vanderlip, now the active head of the National City Bank; L. A. Heinshimer, of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.; President A. Barton Hepburn, of the Chase National, and others, although, on the other hand, Max May, of the Guaranty Trust Company, who has built up a foreign exchange business, second only to that done for Standard Oil interests, is inclined to think that little gold will be taken until it is needed, our bankers contenting themselves with accumulating credits abroad this year.
C. E. Littlefield Appointed Receiver
Judge P. J. Holt, of the United States district court in New York, Saturday announced from his summer home at Woodstock, that he has appointed Charles E. Littlefield, Congressman front Maine, as receiver for A. O. Brown & Co., of New York, the large brokerage firm which went under last week. Bonds were fixed at $250,000.
The Battery Park National
Officials of the Battery Park National announce that the bank will occupy its new quarters in the Produce Exchange Building, on or about September 8th. The capital, surplus and undivided profits of the bank are $340,000. The officers are: E. A. De Lima, president; Calvin Tompkins, vice-president, and Edwin B. Day, cashier.
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Will Probably Start a Bank
G. W. Willis and Mr. Klinke of Bridgeport, Neb., have been visiting at Dalton, Neb., with a view of opening a new bank.
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The Dunning State Bank
It is reported that the Dunning (Neb.,) State Bank, owned by L. E. Southwick, of Friend, has been sold to Mr. Foote, of Sioux City, Iowa.
be a thing of the past, and material benefit is likely to accrue to legitimate brokerage concerns through the increase in their business because of the wiping out of the bucket shops. The new law provides that upon conviction, a guilty corporation shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 for each offense, and if the guilty party be an individual, he shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
A Sign of Good Times
The high-class restaurants in the Wall Street district, which are patronized by brokers and bankers, report a decided improvement in business in the last month. In the panic, and post-panic period there was a marked failing off in the number of customers who patronized the restaurants and cafes of the better class in the financial section, but with the return of prosperity trade picked up rapidly.
The Lafayette Trust Company
The stockholders of the Lafayette Trust Company, of Brooklyn, formerly the Jenkins Company, have voted unanimously to increase the capital stock of the institution from $500,-000 to $800,000. The new stock is to be sold at par, each stockholder having the right to subscribe for three shares for every five shares now held.
The Trust Company of America, of New York City, upon which a sensational run was precipitated during the financial panic of 1907, has managed its business so successfully as to enable it to pay off a loan of $25,000,000, which it then effected, in its entirety. The company, in point of assets and liabilities, is the second largest in the country, and the run, which it successfully sustained, exceeded any ever known in the history of America.
Uniform Checks
The American Association of Public Accountants at New York City has been consulted by the American Bankers Association wdth a view to the securing of a uniform voucher, or check, on banks in the United States. The board of trustees of the former association voted to confer with counsel for the bankers association, and Expert Accountant Guy Kennedy has received notice that he has been appointed member of the conference committee. The other members of the committees are: E. L. Suffern, New Jersey, chairman; A. R. Smart, Illinois; J. E. Sterrett, Pennsylvania, and PI. A. Dunn, of New York.
“The uniform voucher check,” said Mr. Kennedy, “will be welcomed by bankers and accountants all over the country as a much needed proposition. It will save a great deal of time to bank clerks, and in fact, all who have to handle checks, and rid the business of much confusion. The voucher check will be of uniform size, printing and arrangement of words.”
Normal Business Condition Assured
James Stillman, president of the National City Bank, of New York, sailed for Europe Wednesday. Mr. Stillman believes that with the country’s large crops this year and easy money, a gradual return to normal business conditions is assured.
To Wipe Out New York Bucket Shops
After next Tuesday it will be a felony to conduct a bucket shop in this state, and if the law is not circumvented, the bucket shop will