It is fitting that you hold your annual meeting in January, for January is a time for new beginnings. This year in particular it is significant, a new month, in a New Year, in a new century, in the new millennium. As we touch upon ways in which we can work together to make positive strides forward in a new century let me briefly take you back to what our nation and economy was like over one century ago. The year is 1894. Unemployment is high, of every three people in New York State one is out of a job.
Labor disputes are frequent and people are rioting in the parks and streets.
The economy has seen a panic every two decades since 1819. The Treasury Department is flooding the country with devalued greenbacks not fully backed by gold and coins that contain a quantity of silver worth less than 60 percent of the face value. Six years before a new century, neither Congress nor President Cleveland can reach an agreement to solve our nation's serious currency problems. It was amidst this political, social, and financial turmoil that William Cornwell, president of the City Bank in Buffalo, decided to hold a meeting to discuss and propose a solution to the current economic state of the country. In order to prevent or minimize any future panics he believed the banks must stand together.