55
THE CHICAGO BANKER
September !8, 1909]
El!	1 gin Nai	ГЬе donai Ba	nk
	Elgin	, Texas	
Capital, $50,000		Deposits, . $250,000	
Surplus, 40,000		Cash on hand, 60,000	
	T N 1906 the Bank of Elgin, whose founder 1 and proprietor for fifteen years was the late W. H. Rivers, merged into the Elgin National. The surplus of $40,000 has been accumulated in the three years as a national. At Mr. Rivers' death, James Keeble became the president		
JAMES KEEBLE, President			
	W. H. RIVERS, JR., Vice-President		
		J. C. ORGAIN, Cashier	
Lincoln National Bank
of the City of New York
Organized 1882
Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits
$2,312,500.00
JUNE 23, 1909
$ 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 312,500.00 18,641,900 00 - 22,226,700.00
Capital ... Surplus (Earned) Undivided Profits -Deposits Total Resources
OFFICERS
THOMAS L, JAMES, President	E. V. W. ROSSITER, Vice President
WM. A. SIMONSON, Vice President DAVID C. GRANT, Asst. Cashier CHARLES ELLIOT WARREN, Cashier
Charles C. Clarke Harry J. Luce W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr. Wm. Brewster
DIRECTORS
Matthew C. D. Borden James Stillman Eben E. Olcott M. Hartley Dodge Henry C. Phipps
Thomas L. James E. V. W. Rossiter William G. Rockefeller Joseph P. Grace
Depositary of the United States, State of New York, City of New York. Accounts of Banks, Bankers, Trust Companies, Corporations and Individuals Invited.
them into noble old John Sherman's lap, and he followed Horace Greeley’s advice (that the way to "resume is to resume”) and resumed specie payment on January I, 1879. And no more ever after, until the end; may we see the American dollar discounted to 36 per cent of par with gold at 280 in New York! Uncle Sam's 2 per cent bonds now sell at a premium. Smile if you will, said the gentleman, at Mexico’s “dobe dollar,” but ours dwarfed to the same point in 1864 that theirs did in November, 1902, when exchange on New York reached 282 in Mexico City; and I personally received 2,750 Mexican pesos, for one thousand dollars in New York exchange. By tenacity of purpose, and honesty towards its creditors, Mexico’s “grand old man” General Porfirio Diaz, president: through his great financial secretary of treasury, Don Jose Yves Liman-tour, on July 1, 1905. put a fixed value of 50 per cent gold on their Mexican pesos; and will continue the same upward value until an American eagle and Mexican eagle stamped on 412 and 420 grains respectively of silver in a coined dollar, will pay for the same purchase north and south of the International Bridge over which at El Paso and Juarez on October 16, 1909, two great presidents, of two great nations, will pass to cement the friendly relations now fully enjoyed between the peoples of the two countries. Our informant while not in direct banking connections now, still enjoys the large acquaintance with financiers that he wrought out of various experiences in years agone: and so that he may continue in close touch with these interests he has only changed his business from originating good investment securities to furnishing the best securities, for the protection and convenience of safeguarding of all classes of valuable papers, notes, mortgages etc., usually found in
JAMES D. COOK Chicago
deavor and loyalty of purpose the secretaries of treasury, Salmon P. Chase, Hugh McCullough and others carried the burdens to, and dumped
( THE MARKET CHART COMPANY j
/	INVESTMENT SPECIALISTS	/
j	259 LA SALLE STREET, CHICAGO	1
\ We Invite correspondence with Bankers. Our j ! Facts and Forecasts on Finance and Business will { prove valuable.	j
The Experiences in Two Nations with Fiat Money
A member of our staff recently called upon a concern located inside the ‘ Loop” district, to present our claims as an advertising medium for reaching financial institutions, bond houses, brokers and investors; and our representative was so well received1 and found his auditor so thoroughly versed in that which pertains to banking, loans, bond issues, stocks and general financial affairs, that he quite forgot himself as to the "time limit” usually accorded for visits of this nature. Not every one, not a considerable per cent of men of finance to-day, can recall the personal experience of the “wildcat״ money days of 1857 to 1861 : when in an ordinary day’s transaction in a country store, state bank notes would range in value from par down to naught. The subject of this sketch told of taking in bank bills, in payment for merchandise, say at 85 per cent of par (“latest Bank Note Detector” quotations) say on Monday, and by the following Tuesday, (directors day at the bank) having the same bills credited at 55 per cent, and frequently the cashier (a good old Quaker) world say, “I am sorry to say the latest report is that this bank has suspended payment": and the deposit ticket was footed minus the amount of that particular issue. Our informant said his father stood by the cash drawer with the bank note detector and would sort the accumulated currency in three piles: par, discount, doubtful. A coin detector weighed the silver and gold and decided its value.״ In that school, said he, I learned the valuable lesson that has enabled me to “turn a deaf ear” to all 16 to 1 fallacies or their kindred substitutes for sound money. During the time from 1861 to 1879 our country passed through many trials; war experiences, and temporary “make shifts” to make “both ends meet;” but by strenuous en-