Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1896-11-04
ALASKA HAS NO BANK.
The Conditions There Are Not Favorable
to the Business.


| to the Business.
There is no bank in Alaska. A
few years ago one was started in
Juneau, but it was a weak affair and
soon suspended operations. Several
people lost a little by the failure,
and business men now look with sus-
pioion upon any banking scheme.
This lack of confidence is not the
main obstacle in the way of estab-
fishing an Alaskan bank. If such q
bank were established, it would be
necessary to locate it in Juneau, as
that is the only town whose size
would at all justify the enterprise.
At this place the absence of bank
has compelled half dozen leading
merchants to enter certain depart
ments of the banking business.
These merchants keep as little mon
ey as possible at Juneau. Their
main places of deposit are Seattle
and San Francisco. Upon these de-
posits they issue personal checks.
Such checks are free of exchange and
are generally accepted all along the
coast as the equivalents of drafts.
If bill is to be paid in New York
by a juneau merchant. he takes the
ferry across to Douglas island, five
miles distant, and buys Treadwell
mine check, which is good the world
over for its face value. The mer-
chants and miners adopt this plan of
selling checks in order to keep mon
ey in the country. They therefore
charge no exchange for such checks.
Thus one of banks sources of
revenue would be cut off. Mer-
chants have also adopted another
means of clipping banks wings.
Men are usually paid in checks.
Formerly merchants charged one
quarter of l per cent, and nothing
less than Is cents, for cashing these
checks. One man began oashing
these checks at their face value, and
thus forced other merchants to do
the same. Now, if a laboring man
wants to get his check cashed, all he
has to do is to enter store, buy a
small article and present his check.
If issued by man who is known to
be good, the check passes without
question as so much money. An
other difficulty with which an Alas.
kan bank must contend is the cost
of getting currency.
The steamboat companies charge
1 per cent for shipment Add to this
the time element, and this difficulty
becomes serious. Except during the
tourist season, there is but one regu-
lar steamer to Alaska. This makes
a trip once in two weeks. There are
no railroads, no telegraph lines, and
but two of the towns Duncan and
Douglas City, have telephone con-
neotion. The place is yet too isolat-
ed. To my mind, the greatest trou-
BILE with which a bank would be
obliged to contend is the inability to
secure good security for loans. It
must be remem bered that Alaska is
not even an organized territory. It
is simply district. AS the result of
this there are no village, town or
city governments. Taxes are not
levied, and even fire protection and
streetmaking are paid for by volun-
tary contributions.
More serious, however, is the fact
that the oocupier of land has no title
to his real estate. He cannot, there
fore, give mortgage security that
is of much value. Even chattel
mortgages are of little worth in a
bandbox town without fire protec-
ton or fire insurance. AS there are
no territorial laws, and the laws of !
the state of Oregon apply only in a
general and indistinct way, there |
are a thousand and one means of es-
Gaping collections. It is, in fact, a
paradise for knavery. Under such
conditions it is not strange that !
those who loan money receive from
1 to per cent interest per month.
Exchange.