Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-09
THE BANKERS.
Second Days Proceedings Of
the Austin Convention.
GATHER STATE BANKING DATA.
A Suggestion Adopted as Means of Protect
ing Banks from Fraud.
Interesting Discussion OF Banks and Bank.
ing from Early Days Up to the Pres
ent Day labor Agitators and
the Alliance Scored.
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
AUSTIN, TEX, May S.--The bankers met
IN convention at 10 .. II. to-day, President
| Levi in the chair
! The special committee appointed for
the purpose reported with respect
| to the recommendations of the eX
ecutive committee, that it favored
| the gathering in confidential man
ner OF data relating TO banking in the state,
and that the secretary of the association be
instructed to call on all banks in Texas for
| such data December 81, 1891, and compile
! the same for publication March /, 1892.
Another clause of the report was rs fol
| lows: We further recommend that in
| order to carry out the suggestion of the eN-
! ecutive committee Of protecting banks from
| frauds and criminal practices perpetrated
| upon them, that standing reward OF
| 500 be offered by the association for the
! prosecution of ali persons who
| MAY BE CONVICTED
| Of any fraud upon any bank who is a mem
| Der of this association, the penalty Toy
| which offense Shall be confinement il toe
penitentiary.
The report was adopted, except as to the
| clause relating to confinement in the peni-
| Tertiary, for which a substitute, offered by
| Mr. Miller of Gonzales, was adopted, pro-
| viding that when any fraud Is about to be
| perpetrated on any bank and any member
| shall find it out, it shall be his duty to i'm
| mediately notify the president, who shall,
! by circular, inform all the members of the
| association of said fraud.
As thus amended the resolution was re-
/ ferred to a special committee.
\ telegram was read from Samuel Collin,
president of the Washington bankers asso-
citation, in session at Tacoma, sending greet
ing and good wishes.
1fr NV u NV
calling for a committee of three to confer
with the Travellers protective association
with & view of having them issue their
members
CERTIFICATES OF MEMBERSHIP
and letters of credit, said letters to give n
minute description of the bearer and have
his photograph attached; also his signature
duly attested by the secretary under seal of
the association, and state by whom en-
ployed, said association to levy tax upon
their members and create therefrom an in
demnity fund for the protection of any
checks which might be dishcnored, thereby
protecting the association ard the banks
This resolution met with some opposition
from Mr.. w. o. Ellis and was referred to a
committee.
The following was read and adopted:
Resolved, that it is the sense of this
committee that all drafts, Endorsements
and addressed envelopes should be made
IN THE NAME OF THE BANK
to which same are to be sent, and not in the
name Of the cashier or any other official of
the bank; and We recommend that such
methods be adopted by our members.
Mr.. Blake of MeXia, offered resolution
providing for the appointment of a commit
tee to draft or propose bill to be presented
at the next American bankers association
for its consideration, providing a uniform
law for adoption in all the states in banking
and commerce, to the end that existing in
convenience, uncertainty and loss from
divers and conflicting laws be removed.
The resolution was referred to commit
tee.
Hon. J. F. Miller of Gonzales, then took
the floor TO discuss the subject laid down in
the programme. entitled, 'I1he Attitude
and Feeling of the Masses Toward Banks"
MIR. Miller had prepared no paper on the
subject and spoke without notes,
But HE GOT THERE
in good shape, all the same, especially
when he came to notice the labor organize
tons and Farmers Alliance which he's
castigated in the most vigorous and plain
terms. He is clear, fluent and forcible
speaker, and certainly made the hit of the
day, if one may judge by the hearty ap-
plause that greeted him when he sat down.
When the cheering concluded motion
was carried ordering 10000 copies of the
speech to be printed for the use of the
association.
He began his theme with retrospective
view of the history of national banking,
narrating briefly the salient facts in con-
nection with the birth, difficulties and decline
of the national bank
IN COLONIAL DAYS,
when in consequence of its unpopularity
and of the quarrel between the continental
congress and Pennsylvania the bank finally
became and still is a state institution il
H.. II,
some time after the adoption of the consti-
tuition to create and maintain a national
bank, but owing to the popular iealousies
the bank of the United States was over
thrown when Dewitt Clinton as president
of the senate cast the deciding vote against
granting a charter A third time, after the
bank of the United States had grown to be
a power in the land, it again encountered the
popular enmity as well as the determined
opposition of the president
ANDREW JACKSON,
whose veto in 1892 of the bill granting re-
issue of its charter, destroyed it and
plunged the business of the whole country
into deplorable state, causing widespread
ruin and bankruptcy. The existing ma
tional banking system, entirely different
from that in use at intervals down to 1882
is an outgrowth of the late war; and, valu-
able as it has been in many ways, it, too,
has been denounced as well as credited with
whatever financial business troubles the
people may have experienced at times. 1t
has been the fruitful theme of the agaitator
ever since,
AND IS STILL so.
Among those finding fault with and criti-
cising banks and the financial system Of the
country, are chiefly labor agitators-men IL
competent to have an opinion on the sub
ject, but ready a. all times to solve IN an
hour problems that puzzle and perplex the
ableSt minds. Bankers, said he, are con-
sentative class of men. on whom the pros
perity of the state depends; without whom
there would be no prosperity. Their help
and support are imperative. He looked
upon labor organization of all kinds as the
MOST DANGEROUS ENEMIES
of good order and the prosperity of the
country. They are growing and fearful
menace to all our Institutions, and their
power for evil was incalculable.
He paid his respects to the Farmers Al
lance also, which did not stand very high
in his estimation. 1t was composed mainly
of men who knew next to nothing to
finances or public afairs-men who make
poor shift at any business they may take in
hand. and who no sensible man would think |
of putting in charge Of a bank, unless he |
wished to wreck it; men who knowing |
nothing Of the matter, yet have more
DEFINITE AND DoGNATIC IDEAS
about finances than men Of training and ex- |
perience. They are lectured and taught |
by class oil leaders who stuff them with |
all manner Of absurdities in their secret !
meetings. where the most prepcsterous
/, aysa ~;