[Volume XXVII
THE CHICAGO BANKER
22
W. J. Thom: Wyoming Convention
(Continued from page 19) to protect the stockholders against an impairment, and to tax this fund is to force the banks to distribute it amongst the stockholders to whom it belongs. Such action, aside from the legality of it, is certainly poor business, and against the interest of the banking public.
My judgment, in view of all the facts of the case, is that the banks should cheerfully pay a tax on their capital at par, regardless of the fact that they cannot be compelled to do so under the law, but that they should strenuously resist any arbitrary effort to tax their surplus.
What, gentlemen, is yours ?
John R. Walsh
John R. Walsh has recovered sufficiently from the injuries he received recently to be down at his office.
V*
Albany Trust Company
The Albany Trust Company of Albany, Ga., elected the following officers and directors:	J.
S. Davis, president; S. B. Brown, vice-president;
R.	H. Warren, secretary and treasurer; J. S. Davis, S. B. Brown, F. F. Putney, J. D. Pope,
S.	W. Smith, T. W. Ventulett, R. H. Warren, Samuel Farkas, A. P. Vason, J. A. Davis, C. W. Tift, A. F. Churchwell, C. M. Schackelford, S. R. de Jarnette and W. W. Pace.
V*
Resigns Presidency
Peter R. Ruth has resigned as vice-president of the Chino (Cal.) State Bank and removed to Dolgeville, where he has purchased a controlling interest in the Bank of Dolgeville. Edwin Rhodes has become vice-president of the Chino
Willimantic Savings Institute
The trustees of the Willimantic, Conn., Sav-ings Institute have elected the following officers: H. C. Murray, president; Frank F. Webb, vice-president; directors, Samuel L. Burlingham. Frank Larrabee, Charles A. Capen, J. O’Sullivan, H. Dion; secretary and treasurer, N. D. Webster. Oscar D. Baker, of Warrenville, was elected a trustee to succeed James Morgan, deceased.
V*
The Bank of Norden, Neb., has been chartered, with a capital of $10,000.
is to put the house in order and be prepared for any disturbances, however violent.
However, Mr. Chairman, after all the above has been said, put me down as an optimist : I am. I believe in the general progress of world trade conditions ; I believe in the advancement and glory of the American nation; I believe in the apotheosis of the Northwest; I believe in the increasing wealth, the happiness and the content of the people who make up the citizenship of Wyoming and Montana ; and I trust you will indulge me for this quarter-hour touch upon the sonorous chords of warning which to my reading of the signs, are sounding a low word of reminder that all of the days of our business life cannot be those of sunshine and roses, but that we must look forward with some discretion and caution to the cloudy hours of the storm time.
WANTED -A BANK]
Algoa, Texas, a new town, will be formally-opened Nov. 6. There is a splendid opportunity for a bank to get all the business of Algoa and the surrounding country. There will be no competition. Only one bank site will be granted.
Hundreds of families will bring their savings to Algoa. The new town is head, heart and center of the richest fruit and agricultural area in Texas.
It is destined to be the largest fruit and truck ship-ping point in the United States. Algoa presents a splendid opportunity for a bank.
Algoa is midway between Houston and Galveston—an ideal business point—and is certain to be one of the best cities in the south. Its population will be business people. Its bank will draw deposits from the surrounding rich fruit belt.
Under Texas laws $10,000 capitalization secures a charter. Part of the bank’s capital will be subscribed right here. This bank will be a money maker from the day it opens. We want it ready for business Saturday, November 6. Time is short. Write at once or come in person to
Kent Realty Development Co.
HOUSTON, TEXAS
as most people; but as I have been ever since 1894 referring to "the panic of 1911,” I cannot do other than to say that I do believe the world is on the eve of an approaching panic. I have got it marked down for 1911, I appreciate that it may sound bombastic and foolish to predict an impending calamity for a date certain, but I am so thoroughly convinced . that we are going to have a panic in 1911 which will be far worse than any previous panic in the history of the country, that I am willing, gentlemen, to be either the prophet or the clown, as developments may determine.
Let it be said that the disturbances at the close of 1907 can in no sense be called a panic—panics are accompanied by a large number of disastrous failures—there was nothing of that sort in the 1907 flurry and the incident can be called by no more dignified term than a crisis. In my judgment, the troubles of 1907 were merely the hanging out of a red lantern. I am suggesting to my business associates the possibilities of a panic, for whatever little influence it may have in causing them to tighten up a little and become a trifle more conservative, to the end that should there be a panic, we will have the comfort of good reserves and reasonably liquid loans.
If there is to be a practical side to my argument, it is the suggestion that from now on, bankers should be careful of long time loan engagements; that we should scan more carefully the application for a $10,000 loan on a band of yearling sheep; the loan for a purchase of two year old cattle; the application of a man just starting a mercantile business for a large loan with which to carry on business for three or four )־ears, by which time he hopes to pay off the obligation ; and other loans of like nature. Every bank in the West takes on loans on which, although the note is made for six months, there is an implied understanding that the loan will run for two or three years for the purpose of giving the live stock man or merchant time to make a large share of the loan out of the business carried on. In my judgment such loans will certainly be hazardous after this year and it is the duty of the banker to look over his loans carefully to the end that the funds of the bank may be kept in as liquid a condition as possible.
The panics of the past have occurred in periods of about 18 years, thus showing some relation to the astronomical record of eclipses, but like the coming or going of a season, they have varied somewhat from the arbitrary length, and if history is to teach us anything, I believe the hint to the farmer, merchant, manufacturer and banker