[Volume XXVII
THE CHICAGO BANKER
24
Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Milwaukee, Wis.
ESTABLISHED 1847
Capital $500,000 Surplus $370,000
Oldest Bank in the Northwest Conservative Progressive
We take pleasure in placing our facilities at your disposal and should be pleased to have you write us if you are contemplating opening either an active or a reserve account in Milwaukee.
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
JAMES K. ILSLEY, President
JOHN CAMPBELL, Vice-President HARRY J. PAINE, Asst. Cashier JOHN H. PUELICHER, Cashier	G. A. REUSS, Mgr. South Side Branch
SAMUEL H. MARSHALL	J. II. TWEEDY, Jr.
ROBERT N. McMYNN	C. C. YAWREY
GUSTAV REUSS
The Audit Company of Illinois
1439-42 First National Bank Building, Chicago
Specialists £s& AtadlatiimfC and System^ atigingl Public Service Cogpogatloas
C. W. KNISELY, C. P. A.
President—Manager REFERENCES:
Leading Bond Houses dealing in Gas, Electric and Railway Securities
tioned. If you already have them and want to have less of them, there are two ways of doing it. You can go right after every past-due note with a shot-gun, bring suit and get your money if they are good, and by taking nothing but demand loans secured by government bonds, you can keep them in nice shape, but you will likely wind up with very few customers. The way I suggest is the one previously outlined, of using good personal work mixed with the feature of educating the customer towards promptness. Properly used this method will not only lessen the number of past-due notes, but will leave you with your customer thinking even better of the institution and the banker at the head of it than he did when he was allowed to run at will.
V*
7,012 National Banks
Washington, October 4.—During the month of September forty applications to organize national banks were received. Of the applications pending, thirty-three were approved and nine rejected. In the same month twenty-four banks, with total capital of $2,025,000, were authorized to begin business, of which number fourteen, with capital of $350,000, had individual capital of less than $50,000, and ten with capital of $1,-675,000, individual capital of $50,000 or over.
The total number of national banks organized is 9,550, of which 2,538 have discontinued business, leaving in existence 7,012 banks, with authorized capital of $963,201,925, and circulation outstanding secured by bonds, $676,031,393. The total amount of national bank circulation outstanding is $702,807,459, of which $26,776.066 is covered by lawful money of a like amount deposited with the treasurer of the United States on account of liquidating the insolvent national banks and associations which have reduced their circulation.
V*
Bank Accounts for the Poor
Bloomington, 111., September 25.—In an effort to prove his theory that poor children will be inspired with a desire to save if they once have a bank account of their own John T. Geldmancker, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, yesterday started 150 bank accounts for as many poor boys and girls, putting a dollar to the credit of each in a Bloomington bank.
V
The directors of the First National, Winchen-don, Mass., have made William W. Goodwin assistant cashier.
in effect. Ten years ago, I am sure that under same conditions I would have found them fully twenty thousand, and possibly more. The most effective method I use and recommend, is special personal work of an educational nature. For instance, ,begin to be more careful in accepting paper, refusing to discount every note that is presented simply because it is good. Unless you know it will either be paid or renewed promptly at maturity, get out of taking it if possible, thereby having your trouble at the beginning rather than at the end of the transaction. By so doing, it gives you an opportunity to teach a lesson, sometimes compromising with your customer under his special promise to take care of the paper promptly at maturity. I have found it to work especially well in several instances to engage the customer in a friendly conversation, and without directing my remarks pointedly at him, to let him know how much the bank appreciates a good, prompt customer. How they frequently strain themselves to help that class when the slow, draggy ones would be left to hustle for themselves. We all know how this applies in panicky times, or even when money is only fairly tight. We often re-discount and take good care of our prompt and worthy customers, but would not think of doing so for the slow ones. Let them know this in a nice way and do every thing in your power to work them up into the prompt class. My experience is that these little talks put a better feeling into the customer, and if it does not result in good, it at least proves to you that that man is not going to be a satisfactory customer, and you can then make your arrangements to eliminate his business, at least so far as all loans are concerned. We should not forget the fact that we are only charging for the use of the money and not for additional work of collecting slow notes, nor the annoyance of having to handle it every day for three or four months perhaps, and in some cases being forced to bring suit in the bank’s name. Summing the whole matter up, merely as a talk between bankers, I would say that in the first place, if you don’t want past-due paper use the “ounce of prevention” in the beginning along the lines I have men-
THE MARKET CHART COMPANY
INVESTMENT SPECIALISTS	[
259 LA SALLE STREET, CHICAGO	f
We have no securities for sale, hut cooperate with } Bankers and Brokers in examinations and reports, j
and their connections, it is nearly always possible for him to know when this class is presented, and right then is the time to be very careful. Not all of it is bad, but unless great care is used the bank will find itself loaded up with enough of these slow pieces to give great worry when they begin to mature.
It should be borne in mind that these usually represent slow paying customers at the start, those who were unable to pay their accounts when they were due, and frequently the notes themselves were, only secured by persistent effort of the creditor, and in discounting them to the bank they do so with the idea of making it do the collecting for them, even to the extent of bringing suit if that becomes necessary.
This class and the accommodation paper with two or more names furnishes most of the past-due paper in the bank I represent, and I take it that as human nature is about the same everywhere, it is a fairly representative statement of the facts. As I said in the beginning, I am speaking from the standpoint of the country banker. Our city bankers are not supposed to have any past-due paper.
When I first took charge of the bank I am fortunate enough to represent, I found that a large percentage of its customers had been in the habit of allowing their notes to run past due, and unless I went right after them they would just let them run indefinitely, often imperiling the dividend of the bank. I soon decided that I could not stand for that, at same time having a very active competition I did not want to lose good customers by going after them harshly.
I took a careful inventory of all my paper, taking into consideration not only the name and worth of the makers, but the conditions surrounding them. I found that it was necessary to handle some in one way and others in an entirely different manner. It was a long, slow treatment, but I am glad to say I have very materially reduced the past-due paper in our bank, and while doing so have been able to more than double our business.
I will have to ask your pardon for these personal references, but in handling these subjects I have no other practical way of treating them.
I took occasion to look over my past-due paper the morning I received notice that I was to speak on this subject, and I found that I only had six past-due notes that were net in process of satisfactory adjustment, and they amounted to less than $500, which I considered a good showing in view of the fact that no extra efforts had been