The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-01-19
A Il
He Voices the Sentiments of the People
of Great Falls.

He Voices the Sentiments of the Peopl,
of Great Falls.
GREAT FALLS, Jan. Ito the Editor
As one Of the many who thoroughly on
joyed the banquet Of the Board of Trade
Tuesday evening and who listened to the
many able speeches on that occasion, ]
beg to trespass upon your valuable space
to say that of all the men and institu.
tions who received their just praises
from the speakers for having contrib
uted toward making this city what il
is today there is, in my humble opinion,
one institution and a set of men who
governed that institution in oar midst
who should at least have been mentioned
in the category of be~nefactors and build
ers of Great Falls since it's start eight
years ago.
l think l am right in asserting that to
no one is there more credit due Tor hav.
ing helped build up Great Falls than to
the First National bank and its officers,
u. E. Collins and A. E. Dickerman.
When the city vas struggling as an in
FAINT and it's merchants and business men
generally we're trying to build up a trade
with little or nc capital Of their own to
do it with, they found in that bank a
ready and willing help. They were
granted accommodations that they could
not have obtained had it not been for
the faith that these men had in the fut-
ure Of this city and their untiring efforts
to help and see the business community
prosper.
They made it possible for merchants
to start here and make a success of their
business; and when the panic reached
Great Falls, as it did without warning,
and the bank wal compelled to close it's
doors (Which, in my opinion, was no slur
upon the management, and which hap
pened to some Of the largest and strong
est banks in the United States, and
which no doubt would have happened to
any of the other banks here at the time
had they been doing the business that
the First National was doing) they did
not attempt to force merchants and
business men who owed the bank to pay
them at once, but showed a ~leniency to-
ward their debtors that l think should be
appreciated by the entire community. Ii
they had adopted an opposite policy and
concerns to nay up during the
panic | venture to say that fully one
half OF our business houses would be
today.
1t seems to be quite natural for the
most of us to condemn men after mis-
has overtaken them and to en-
tirely forget what has been the u of
their trouble; but in this instance it
seems a little surprising to one who ie
entirely dislnterested in any bank in
Great Falls, but who has watched the
progress for the last six years and
the men who have contributed
literally of their time and money to.
accomplishing the building up of
young city, that 30 many are I'M
to recognize these things when |
feel that they are able to get on
without such peoples help and there is
no immediate prospect of getting it from
them if they did.
| have yet to find the first man who
did business with the First National
bank when it was open who would say
hat he was not we'll treated and would
not like to see it doing business again.
Let us hope that the good old First"
will soon throw its doors open for bust
ness, and when it does we will once more
and Great Falls will take a new
Jump forward, for it will have some of
ts old, tried, and true friends to help it |
along in the struggle, ready again to do
all in their power to speed her progress.
Very truly yours, A CRoAKER.