[:Volume XXVII
THE CHICAGO BANKER
14
Editorial Comment
diverted somewhat from the work of the commission and its work which has been largely in abeyance during the past few months owing to the overshadowing character of the tariff struggle, is rapidly increasing and is expected shortly to assume first place. A strong current of opposition to the Aldrich schemes is observable. Mr. Aldrich has been somewhat restive at the necessity of spending so much time in passing the tariff bill, and this is asserted by his friends to be due not merely to the long drawn character of the struggle, but also to the fact that he was very desirous of devoting more time to the currency question. Rumors relative to the plans that are said to have been made by the commission prove upon inquiry to be largely without foundation, as no such definite program as has been indicated in some quarters has been laid out. The present plans are merely to have some hearings in various parts of the country during the coming fall in connection with which addresses will probably be made. These hearings will not be for the purpose of gathering information, but for the sake of converting business and commercial interests to the central bank plan.
The bankers of the country look upon Mr. Reynolds as likely to be in a sense the spokesman of the commission, and that the plan which he will present at the Chicago meeting is likely to be one which has had consideration and approval, at least, in an informal way. This expectation and the appearance of Mr. Hill and Mr. Forgan on the speaking program will make the Chicago convention a notable event.
V*
Mobile Has Million Dollar Bank
Mobile now has its first million-dollar bank. To its capital of $500,000 the progressive City Bank and Trust Company, one of the leading financial institutions of Louisiana, has added a surplus of $500,000, and after providing for the payment of a regular semiannual dividend of 5 per cent and an extra dividend of 1 per cent, the institution has left over undivided profits amounting to $5,193.04. This puts the capital, surplus and undivided profits of the bank at $1,005,-193.94. Total resources of the institution are $3,485,368.78 and its deposits are $2,450,174.84. One of the particularly gratifying features of the statement is the fact that the bank has not a single liability in the shape of bills payable. Officers of the progressive institution are: E. J. Buck, president; Pat J. Lyons, vice-president; George A. Tonsmeire, cashier; A. C. Tonsmeire. assistant cashier; J. F. Jossen, assistant cashier.
Financial Genius
“Pa, will you please tell me what a financial genius is?”
“A financial genius, my child, is a man who can spend money that he has never had and which the people who think they are getting it will never see.”
Frank A. Bosworth and Henry R. Williams have been elected directors of the First National of Utica, N. Y.
I5he
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rates to 4 and 4j4 per cent has brought many mercantile borrowers into the market, nor has the final passage of the tariff bill as yet helped the demand for commercial money. It is thought this demand will develop gradually as general business gradually expands, and leading mercantile bankers express the opinion that it will be some time before merchants and manufacturers will come into the market for money on a greatly increased scale. The advance in the commercial paper rates was brought about largely by the “jacking-up” process, partly in sympathy with the increase in the rates on collateral loans and partly because we are entering a season of natural firmness in the money rates.
One banker suggested that the mercantile demand for money was even smaller immediately following the passage of the tariff bill than it had been immediately preceding that event. This observation was based on the fact that the passage of the bill terminated the rush to take imported goods out of bond in anticipation of the higher rates of duty going into effect. This effort to evade duties had been the source of quite a little borrowing demand from mercantile concerns who took the money from the banks in order to pay off the duties on the goods taken from bond. Such operations undoubtedly were a considerable factor in bringing about the heavy cash loss of the New York and Chicago banks to the subtreasury. Generally the business and banking outlook hasn't been better in years.
Mr. Reynolds on the Currency
While making a short address to his old friends and fellow bankers in Iowa recently Mr. Reynolds proposed a tentative plan for banking and currency reform far out of the ordinary, and the opposite in the extreme from the theoretical plans of the dreaming college professor and the professional economist. His utterances attracted attention from their merit and were given weight by his high position in the banking world, and as president of the American Bankers Association. Much that he said at Waterloo was the result of his trip abroad as consulting expert to the monetary commission, sent abroad by congress to study the whole banking and currency question in the capitals of Europe. It is to be hoped that he will give his plan in detail full publicity in his annual address as president of the association at the Chicago convention. The public’s attention has been
The Postoffice Depositors
Those who believe not in postal banks have never been deceived as to the convictions of those who do. Both proponent and opponent are sincere. The viewpoints are wide apart. For instance, there are several hundred people in Kansas City who prefer to have Uncle Sam as their banker and are willing to pay for it. These are the persons who deposit their money in the postoffice by by buying money orders made payable to themselves. It costs at the rate of thirty cents for $100 to place money in the keeping of the government.
When money orders expire at the end of a year, the holders may exchange them for treasury certificates without extra cost. The certificates may be held without the necessity of renewal. About $250,000 has been deposited at the Kansas City postoffice by this method in the last )׳ear. On the other hand, the state of Oklahoma, the John the Baptist of the guaranty craze, keeps its working balance, not at home in its guaranteed banks, but in a Kansas City bank. The postoffice department under Mr. Meyer was strongly for postal savings and made it as easy for the would be depositor as was possible. It is said that a further “regulation” is in contemplation making receipts for money paid for stamps, the stamps not being delivered, negotiable. It would be a sort of free-of-cost, government-backed postal money order and wou’d put both the express companies and the A. B. A. money order up against an unbeatable rival. These things, like straws, show the tendency of present-day wind.
Financing the Crops
The garnering of money to finance the crops is on in the Western banks just as the garnering of the crops is on in her fields. The crops are record breakers and the seasonal prosperity will be in keeping. This year is no different from any other, except that the demands are greater. The laying up of funds has been going on quietly in the West, and New York will be called upon to a less degree than in former years. While it is true that the banks at western centers have a good deal of money on hand, it is true also that they anticipate greater needs for crop moving purposes than have developed in past years. The banks of St. Paul and Minneapolis for instance, are rich in cash, but the head of one of these institutions in discussing the situation, called attention to the wonderful crop being harvested in the Northwest and the great prices for which it will sell, and intimated that whatever assurance might be given to the contrary, help from other centers would have to be extended for the financing of the crop moving.
These demands are firming up rates and will influence, ultimately, the whole money market, which in turn will be felt by the bond and commercial paper houses. It cannot be said that the advance of J4 per cent in commercial paper