27
THE CHICAGO BANKER
October 24, 190S]
Mt. Ayr, was married to Miss Pearl Good of Hamburg at St. Joe. They are taking a tour through the South.
B. M. Talbott, of the First National at Brooklyn, was a Des Moines visitor on business last week. His bank is to occupy handsome new quarters.
The Commercial National at Charles City will put a new front of latest style in its building, cutting out the old column effect and making a single plate glass window instead.
Bank clearings in Des Moines show a decrease of $200,000 for the week ending October 17th as compared with the corresponding week last year.
Julius Kunz, vice-president of the First National at Wesley, was looking over Des Moines and visiting Des Moines bankers last week.
Hon. John Russell, who was for two terms auditor of the state and was well known among Iowa bankers, is dead at his home in Jones county at the age of 87.
from Twin Falls, Idaho, where they will make their future home.
L. R. Hough, the commission man who was forced into bankruptcy and upon whose account the Century Savings here has become involved in litigation, has been discharged as a bankrupt by Judge McPherson in federal court.
Heirs of John Elliott tried for the third time in district court in Des Moines to collect some $2,900 from the Capital City State Bank on a certificate of deposit which was found in Elliott’s pocket fifteen years after his death. The jury disagreed after deliberating 55 hours.
The Union County Savings at Kent has changed its name to the Kent State Savings. The board of directors was increased to seven men, Dr. O. S. Barber and Joseph Elliott being added to make up that number. It was announced that C. H. Bullard of the First National at Creston has purchased H. N. Line-barger’s interest in the Kent institution.
J. H. Allyn, a well known young banker at
ings of Des Moines attended the home coming celebration at Chariton last week.
G. D. Ellyson of the Marquardt Savings was at Winterset as an expert to testify on handwriting in a forgery case. Mr. Ellyson has a reputation as being one of the best posted handwriting men in Iowa.
The Edgewood State Bank was a heavy loser in a fire which did damage of several thousand dollars at Edgewood but the loss was mostly covered by insurance.
The Sioux City police are keeping a sharp watchout, particularly in the Swedish corner of the city for Israel Jansson, who is alleged to have wrecked a savings bank at Lindesberg, Sweden, and escaped with $40,000. He is said to have relatives at Sioux City.
L. S. Critchfield, cashier of the First National at Sioux City, was in Des Moines on business. Banking conditions there are first class, Mr. Critchfield says.
Miss Ethel .M anker, of Bedford, was married to Loren A. Warner, a popular young banker
000,000 than California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Texas, and Spokane was 28th in the list of 99 cities, while Seattle was 24th and Tacoma 33d. Spokane headed Savannah, Providence, Columbus and Richmond, while Seattle was ahead of Los Angeles, Portland and Indianapolis. The three cities in Washington were headed only by New York, Buffalo and Albany, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus in the showing by states.
First National to Build
Plans have been completed for a building for the new First National to be erected this fall at Kennewick, which, when completed, will be one of the finest bank buildings between Seattle and Spokane. The first floor is devoted to banking purposes, having a large money vault, with a commodious sate deposit vault, which will contain lockers of an up-to-date design. The vaults are to be two stories, the upper story to be devoted to the storage of papers. The lobbies will have tile floors and a four-foot marble wainscoting. There will also be a private room for customers having safety deposit boxes. The fixtures are to be of birchwood, mahogany finish, with a metal grille. A room is to be fitted up in front of the banking department for the manager’s private office, and a spacious directors’ room is situated in the rear of the banking department. Five office rooms will be put in the second story. The basement will be the full size of the building, extending under the sidewalks.
Admitted to Clearing House
Scandinavian-American Bank has been admitted as a member of the Spokane Clearing House Association. For the last two months the bank, which was organized July 13th, has been clearing through the Old National but now will clear direct and be on the same basis as all the other banks in the city. S. A. Anderson, cashier, announces that the bank will move into its new quarters in the Peyton building, Sprague and Post Street, early in November. The new quarters are fitted with fireproof, burglar-proof concrete vaults.
Will be Nationalized Soon
L. J. and Captain A. M. Simpson, owners of the Bank of Oregon, at North Bend, Ore., have taken several capitalists into the institution, and it will be nationalized soon.
less because of the financial stringency than any group of states in the Union.
Banks “Bulging” with Cash
Farmers in Whitman County, immediately south of Spokane, harvested this season between 7,300,000 and 8,000,000 bushels of wheat for which they received $6,000,000. They also produced $1,000,000 worth of barley and oats, in addition to $1,000,000 worth of other farm products, including dairy and live stock. The banks are bulging with cash, much of which will be expended for improvements and investments within the next ten months.
Express Satisfaction
Bankers in Spokane generally express gratification at having the Standard Oil interests invest heavily in Spokane, particularly in establishing a financial institution like the Traders-Exchange National, which will be one of the strongest in the West and be able to finance some of the big projects that are needed for the development of the Inland Empire.
Controlled by Local Stockholders
Mr. Coman announces that the majority of the stock will be owned by Spokane capitalists and that the consolidated institution will be controlled by local stockholders. The bank will have quarters in the Traders’ National Bank, which will be enlarged. C. E. McBroom, cashier of the Exchange will occupy a similar position with the new bank.
Three Washington Cities
One of the remarkable things in connection with the clearings of the banks in Spokane, Seattle, and Tacoma for the week ended October 1st, is that the three cities in Washington are exceeded only by three cities in New York and three in Ohio, thus placing this state third. This applies to cities reporting clearances of $3,000,000 or more. There were 99 cities in the list. The clearings in Spokane were $6,141,000, while for the week ended October 2d, they were $6,644,-368 as against $6,362,808, a gain of 4.4 per cent. For the six days ended October 1st, the clearings in Spokane were $990,000 more than the aggregate of seven cities in Illinois:	Peoria, $2,267,-
000; Springfield, $866,000; Rockford, $492,000 ; Bloomington, $444,000; Quincy, $482,000; Decatur, $334,000 and Jacksonville, $266,000. Washington had more cities reporting over $5,-
Spokane securities are greatly favored by the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, vhich has already placed through the Spokane and Eastern Trust Company more loans on first-class business property during the last two yerrs than any other Eastern financial house. It may be added that since the company has placed more money in Spokane for mortgage loans since 1906 than in any other city in the Pacific Northwest, R. G. Holt, Western financial representative, invested $83,000 in mortgages while in the city recently, when he made arrangements also to place $250,000 more. This |vas Mr. Holt’s tenth visit to Spokane, and, to quote his words, “every time I come to Spokane the city and its bright future look better to me. We have not had a single foreclosure or a single lapse of interest on our business here. Our business is large and it is growing and we expect to extend it whenever possible. Naturally, I have noticed the rapid advance in real estate, which has doubled its value in a large part of the city in the last two years.”
“Kiting Checks”
Henry A. House, formerly a resident of Spokane, was convicted at Nome, Alaska, recently on the charge of bank fraud and will be sent to McNeil’s Island. One of the witnesses for the government was W. F. Meier, receiver of the Inland Bank of Spokane, until its sale. House w7as accused of obtaining $2,300 from the Nome Bank and Trust Company by “kiting” checks. He had established a temporary credit at the Nome bank, by wdring money to the Inland Bank of Spokane in time to cancel checks cashed at Nome. His credit established he cashed checks for $2,300 and failed to make good his deposit at the Spokane bank.
Financial Solidity Shown
Showing the financial solidity of business houses and manufacturing concerns in Washington is the statement that there were only 283 failures in the state during the first nine months of 1908. This means there were fewer business lapses than in any other state in the Union of similar population and wealth. It is also shown in reports by commercial agencies that the Pacific coast states, including Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, California, and the territory of Alaska suffered