Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-05-09

President n. ,. Groce's speech.
Gentlemen OF the Conventions It ID
not my purpose 10 bore You today with
an array OF statistics. neither shall
s.artle You with any original PROPOSE
TONS for my administration hEs keen
MS much the development OF ouggos-
tons made by my predecessor. as q
record OF ideas OF my own. The Eavd
was transferred to me, ACCOMPANIED
by certain responsibilities. the most i'm
portant of which. was that suggestion
OF Your president. which with your
sanction, dcvolved upon me the APP
pointmcnt of a number OF committees.
having for their object an enlargement
OF interest among your general mem
bcrshir. These committees have formed.
with an enurt at proper distribution,
ard their names and respective duties
will be defined In the secretnry's re-
port. While / am not entirely satis-
fed that their general scope fully
covers your Intentions still thoy have
the merit OF being only temporary. us,
not being part OF your organic law,
they can he changed or eliminated at
your pleasure, or the Will OF the sue
ceedng presidents.
Following up another suggestion mnto
by my Predecessor, 1 wrote to every
president OF a state Bankers Associe-
tion. not domicilcd In reserve city.
TO ascertain the consensus OF opinion.
ercss to so enlarGc the law ~ 10 per-
NIT citica Of 5000 population to become
reserve cities, ut their option. ] argued
that the NATURAL Drift of money to-
ward the larger citles woa further en-
couragcd by the necessity OF surplus
funds being Kept where they would
count as reserves and AN enlargement
OF the law as indicated would hive the
tendency u create reserve cities IN the
several states, thus Keeping each
LII .I..a 49,. ID a
around It's natural habitat. establish
ing at the sumo time creator inde-
pendcncc OF the larger ccnters. | pre-
sent this mnttor here more ms evil
drnce OF effort OH my part than OF re.
Hults achieved, for the very few re-
nponscs received mow on Me In the
accretnry'a archives were 30 discour-
aging hs to force the conclusion that
perhaps. under the stimulus OF n big
state, ana number OF prosperous
cities. our line OF thought was a little
In advance of the tiinps.
think II well enough 20 again pre-
sent FOR your consideration that other
Huggcstion OF President woodbridge,
looking 20 the exemption OF mnnufac-
turinE enterprises from local taxa
tion, for a number OF years, under ccr-
tnin conditions, l Mill not attempt 10
add anything to the arguments OUT
lined by him. leaving Il for your wla-
dom To decide. " the proposition au-
vors too much OF class legislation for
your endorsement, In oonnlimcnting
the last convention FOR It's very POSI-
tive declarations on nearly every ques-
ton submitted for discussion, be-
gpenlt the same measure OF cnrnostncHs
on this occasion. for IL II be the pur-
pose OF this association 70 generate tho
respect NJ the outside opinion, we must
manifest our faith by an absolute rec-
ord OF our convictions.
MY work az your president has been
entirely In one direction. for, being
| thoroughly imbued with the idea that
the usefulness Of the association must
Increase with It's numerical strength
and that los declarations would grow
| In Importance when rejecting the
ViewR Of . larger number OF bankers.
| | have loolSed steadily 10 an increase
| Of your membership, The labor IN
| volvcd In II Systematic perfection OF
my ideas was too much for amy one
| man, however willing, aud nm ploua-
| cd 10 record n here that the entire Of
| fetal stan, sylnpnthiglng with my plr-
| pose. gnvc me their hearty ard wil.iig
| cooperation The state was first dl-
vlded into Ave geographical DIVISIONS
with one each assigned to the three
| vioe-pfeAldcnts, and the two assistant
secretaries who undertook To enlist
the interest OF all non-members In
| their respective dlatrirts Later
similar division was made among the
| i've members OF the executive COM
mittee, and later stlll the work was
| undertaken by the committee on MEM
| borship under the vigorous leadership
OF Mr.. @. A, Levi, who VIII doubtless
prcFent report supported by evidence
| Of his lnhorh. Seemingly. we might
have done more, but with the demands
Oh our time incident 10 the "unploas-
| antness" OF last summer we did all
| that we could and n | am not pre-
| pared 10 Ehpw yai any definite re-
| Rults 81 these particular lnbofH am
| stiil 90 convinced Of the merits of hur
| ideas that mt the risk OF being con-
Hldered indcllcatc I shall here suggest
| 20 my succcfsofH the proprlety Of fol-
| lowing them up. until every bank and
| banker In the state IN embraced Ia our
| membership. l have given much
| thought to certain plans for generating
| n more energetic Interest In the npao-
citation. but since these plans contem-
| plate some changes IN your organic
| law I win not formulate them into q
| recommendation, lest I anticipate the
report OF the committed on revision OF
constitution and bylaws.
Az your president have avoided
| the public prints MS much M poaebhie,
speaking only when tho occasion seem
ed to demand 1t, aud then combining my
speech within such limits as ! felt TO
be IN harmony with your Views. 40
II rs the manifest duty OF your prcni-
dent to protect you by the oyerclne OF
n wlge discretion In his own speech
There " q corresponding obligation for
you to respect his Official reHponai.
bility by u proper caution In using
the name Of the association. This
thought lis injected here more 10 indi-
cate line OF safety for the noxt ad-
minlstratlon. since II has been suR-
gested by the very zeal with which ali
matters have hccn submitted TO me.
before final action.
You have had official notice Of some
forgeries petpetrated upon banks
within our membership. While dcpior-
ing the misfortune OF our friends
cannot avoid scoring point for Tho
aFaoclation. by saying TINT these
losses might have been avoided by
more frequent attendance upon our
sessions. since precisely the same
methods We're ventilated at Waco two
years ago. and the thieves were xnb-
sequentiy caught, tried aud convicted.
and are now serving the state az
Huntsyille Your executive committee
Is vested with discretion IN the ok
penditure OF funds for arrest and con-
victinn OF sharpers. and II rests with
YOU 70 abate or continue thor prwnr,
The repeal Of the Sherman blil and
the subsequent passage and veto of
the seigniorage bill ore matters II
history At present the mast import.
ant pending legislation touching Uiir
interests ia the repeal Of the q per
rent fax on atufe bank circulation