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:THE CHICAGO BANKER
August 14, 1909]
FOURTH STREET NATIONAL RANK
OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.
$3,000,000.00
6,000,000.00
Capital
Surplus and Profits
UNEXCELLED COLLECTION FACILITIES CORRESPONDENCE INVITED
R. H. RUSHTON, President	E. F. SHANBACKER, 1st Vice-President
B. M. FAIRES, 2nd Vice-President
R. J. CLARK, Cashier	W. A. BULKLEY, Assistant Cashier
W. K. HARDT, Assistant Cashier FRANK G. ROGERS, Manager Foreign Exchange Department
SHORT, STANTON & CO.
DEALERS IN D H TYT TY Q HIGH GRADE IJIN U O
MUNICIPAI— RAILROAD-CORPORATION AND MUNICIPAL IRRIGATION
Suitable for Banks, Individuals, Trust Funds and Estates Principal Secured; Income Assured Circulars describing offerings furnished on request
CHICAGO	CINCINNATI
533 First National Bank Building	1005 Fourth National Bank Building
Telephone Central 6047	Telephone Main 1280
The Foursome
Handicap and other events on the Golf Club Calendar necessitate prizes of varying importance. There is always an added zest to the contest if the trophies be especially attractive. Our stock affords a large selection of desirable and appropriate goods at prices ranging from $5 to $50.
Signet Rings Collar Pins Watches Travel Bags Umbrellas Canes
SUGGESTIONS
Belt Buckles Belt Pins Hat Pins
Photograph Frames Lockets
Automobile Novelties
Cigarette Cases Cuff Links Card Cases Match Boxes Scarf Pins Purses
Loving Cups instock at all times from $5 to $500. Special designs prepared when desired.
Spaulding & Company
Jackson Boulevard and State Street CHICAGO
Bankers upon Vacation
Ton! Randolph, senior vice-president of the National Bank of Commerce of St. Louis, returned to St. Louis with a rubicund countenance enwreathed with smiles. He enjoyed his vacation automobiling through the New England states and got enough fresh air and sunshine to last until he gets homesick for Texas and rushes down to the Lone Star State.
Mr. Randolph met Thomas H. West, D. R. Francis, L. D. Dozier and other St. Louis men of affairs in Massachusetts. He ran across Mr. West at Rye Beach. The head of the St. Louis Union Trust Company is trying his fortunes at short automobile rides, called “ideal tours.” Mr. West alredy has covered 500 miles.
William H. Lee, president of the Merchants-Laclede National Bank, and H. P. Hilliard, president of the Central National Bank, spent their rest season in Europe. They arrived home ahead of the scheduled date. They enjoyed their trip immensely, but, like Mr. Randolph, they are glad to be back in St. Louis.
Breckenridge Jones, president of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company, is now in Europe. An important business matter took him abroad, but he manages to find time for recreation and sightseeing.
Charles H. Huttig, president of the Third National Bank, is spending his vacation at Little Moose Lake, in the Adirondacks. John H. Mc-Cluney, president of the State National Bank,, is resting in the vicinity of Boston.
B. F. Edwards, president of the National Bank of Commerce, divides his time between St. Louis and Charlevoix, where his family is spending the summer. ^
It is reported that a new bank will soon be organized at Jenkins, Minn.
The answer to this question is not difficult to give. Assuming that the whole matter is handled in cautious and common sense fashion there is nothing in the situation which suggests any undue curtailment of banking facilities, either at home cr abroad. The nation which has the most perfect and sound banking and monetary system cannot in the long run be handicapped in the struggle for commercial and financial supremacy, even though a more lax system elsewhere may for a certain time appear to give temporary advantage. No one will deny that much of our past prosperity has been due to the excellence of our banking and monetary system, and those who study the gold reserve problem aright aim not at an alteration or even an important change in our present system, but rather a strengthening at certain points which events of the past decade have shown to be in need of certain improvements.
First National of Wyoming
The new First National of Wyoming, Del., has opened for business. Its officers are: C. E. Wetzel, president; F. C. Bancroft, vice-president; S. H. Chambers, cashier; directors are; C'. E. Wetzel, Isaac R. Jackson, R. C. Lindale, F. M. Gooding, W. C. Jenkins, F. C. Bancroft, J. B. Lindale, J. A. Barnard, G. P. Scotten.
V
Brand Banking Company
The stockholders of the Brand Banking Co., Lawrenceville, Ga., have elected officers as follows :	E. M. Brand, president; T. R. Powell,
vice-president, and L. M. Brand, cashier. This bank now has a capital of $50,000 and $23,000 undivided profits.
Bank, in a letter to the Statist, although in Mr. Phillips’ opinion the suggestion does not go far enough, as “it is equally necessary that the liabilities to the public should also be shown on the other side, for the very essence of a reserve is the ratio which one bears to the other.” Mr. Phillips is also very emphatic in reiterating his belief that “every bank in the Kingdom should publish monthly balance-sheets, consisting of the averages of the four preceding weeks.” Here, then, we have two very practical suggestions, and both from practical bankers. Moreover, it is impossible not to recognize two points of merit in both of the suggestions. One is what we should term the proper amount of concession to public opinion in the gold reserves controversy, and the other is the belief that, if details were furnished by the banks in the manner described, we might fairly expect to see the whole question of gold reserves regulated by the force of an intelligent public opinion in preference to any hard-and-fast line drawn by act of parliament requiring that a certain fixed amount of gold or of cash should be held in reserve.
Now, the really practical question which has to be decided is this: Do we run any risk in our desire for aiming at greater supplies of gold, through the furnishing of statistics in the manner just described, of in any way hampering our ability to finance the legitimate trade of this country, or do we in any way risk our capacity also to freely finance in the future as we have done in the past the activities of other countries? That there may be some trifling and temporary sacrifice of banking dividends is probable enough, but that, though a not unimportant matter, is a small affair compared with the other considerations affecting the industrial prosperity of the country and its position as the leading monetary center.