The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-24
Interesting Address by President
Banks and Duties of Officers.
AGENTS OF THE MONEY POWER
REAL FINANCIAL DICTATORS ARE
THE COMMON PEOPLE.
Reports of the Committees on PrOtec-
homework of Detectives.

bI9AN En- Nol., aug. zj.-In6 twenty
fourth annual meeting of the American
Bankers Association convened to-day at 10
o'clock at the Broadway Theater Most of
the four hundred delegates expected were in
their seats when President W. W. Hen
bricks raped for order Chancellor W. f.
Bowling, of Denver University, invoked
divine blessing. After roll-call Governor AL
vim Adams, of Colorado, also banker, well
coined the ASSOCIATE to the State. He
predicted an era of prosperity to follow the
season of uncertainty produced by the war
with Spain and a great widening of opera
tlohs and influence of American tinanciers.
Mr. Joseph A. Thatcher president OF the
Denver clearing house, delivered an address
of welcome on behalf of Denver bankers.
President Hendricks spoke in response to
the words of welcome. In the course of his
address he said:
rs banking trade or a profession? That
depends on the banker The man VINO
worms along in a narrow groove gets a
nxed vision and contracted brain, and
becomes shopkeeper of money. To one
or Wider view the function takes on the dig
nifty OF profession. The field OF useful
ness is wide. The range of activity is
kets, to understand Alright the tides and
the cross currents IN the habit OF money,
TO judge human nature, to detect the, APP
crisis in Its passage, to arrange maturities,
to sharply define commercial credits, to for
tify against speculative borrowings, to steer
clear of real estate, to stubbornly hold
assets at the melting point against the
temptation of fixed or slow Investments to
remember that the best as well as the worst
market has tomorrow TO know the pay
ing value of a goodly amount of cash, to
be able to give his duty the benefit of ev-
cry doubt, and to have the courage not to
take more than the ordinary risks of bust
&c fC Ia nj nrtG TariY
cess in banking requires time patience and
amending industry. Years Of dribletS make
a surplus. One loss eats up the result of
a multitude of transactions, and draws in
its train days and even nights of care. The
banker who never makes loss may exist,
but his existence is doubtful and his edu-
has had the pleasure of seeing the dead
come to life out of the musty corner of
the portfolio of protested bills.
HARD TO MAKE BANKING Paw.
"It is harder to make banking pay than
most people think. The tendency of our
profits to diminish is the natural incident
of the competition of loanable capital and
must be reckoned with as a factor in the
future of our business. The net earnings
of the money invested in banking. in capital
and surplus does not exceed, as a whole.
per cent. The net earnings in the year
ended June so, 1884, on the capital and sur
cent, and in twenty-eight years the aver
age net earnings on the capital and sur
plus of the national banks have been rs
per cent. Since the beginning of the ma
been organized of which 3617 are in opera
ton. There have been only 36S failures
among national banks in thirty years, so
that more than thousand banks have
liquidated and paid all claims, the infer
ence being that they could not make the
business pay.
III.
that we are agents of the money power
That money power is lodged not in the
hands of the few but in the splendid body
of common people composing the Republic
of the United States The national banks
are owned by PSI, 225 shareholders. OF these
101 944 are women. The average investment
of each shareholder is $3.50 Over 60 per
cent of the shareholders of national banks
own ten shares or less. The state bank sta
tistics would probably show a more scat
tered ownership. The number. of depositors
runs into the millions There is no syndi-
cate so strong as to dictate the policy of
the banks of this country or to interfere
with the dealings between a bank and it's
regular customer.
eve often hear that there is lack of
banking facilities IN certain parts of our
country. AS bankers we should know about
this and explain the reason. There is no
doubt Of the fact, but there is a twin fact
to 1t. which is that where banking facilities
do not exist conditions for profitable bank
ing do not exist. The complaint comes
from agricultural regions. Here the crops
that require money are planted at the same
time. and they are marketed at about the
same time. The customers of a bank would
deposit money at time when there was
no demand for it, and Withdraw it when
employ its funds all the year, or banking
will not pay expenses. Small banks are not
the remedy: They cannot exist where ere.r IN
so that money may be kept out in the diff
ferent seasons. In Canada the branch bank
system meets the want, and 1t would do
ca in giving a
ton of loanable capital and an interest rate
more nearly uniform.
MORE SKILL REQUIRED.
"As bank profits decrease, and we all see
that tendency as the interest rates get
lower a higher range of skill will be re-
quired in our business. Just as much close
hard study is being given to business to-
day as to any profession. Lord Eldon chose
the most stupid man in London for his
banker and was sorry he could not find one
more stupid but that was long time ago.
1t used to be said that If a man could tell
the difference between a mortgage and a bill
Of exchange he could go into the banking
business We have found out in this coun-
try the costliness of the experiment of run
ming a bank as a side occupation to an
other business. We have TO be attentive to
either goes ahead or falls behind: it will
not run itself. Then. too, bankers, like
other successful business men. must study
the economic aspects of things about them
These are becoming more complex as civil
liZation advances The hundred hands of
science are mixing in business all of the
time. replacing the old with the new. An
adjustment 10 one set of conditions is
scarcely made before new set of condi-
lions begins to develop. The tide flows in
and the rocks in the channel are lost to
sight. but they do not cease to exist. We
cease to think and to talk about them.
When the ebb tide runs they reappear. It
is cur business as bankers to keep our
charts corrected to date and to watch the
tides. Elusive. subtle. evasive and perplex-
ing as the principles governing the fnan-
cial affairs of the world are. they never
OF nature IT is our duty TO study the bust
ness affairs of our country. to isolate and
search out to the roots the complex eco
nomc phenomena. and to tell the story as
simply as we can. What better forum Is
there for this than a bankers convention?
Secretary James r. Branch then read his
annual report. The secretary. who ap-
peared in his uniform of major of the Sew
enth United States Immune Infantry, was
received with enthusa site applause. His
report showed the association to be in
Furnishing condition.
Mr. Walker Hill, of st. Louis. treasurer
of the association read his annual report.
year S10i21; disbursements, $S5925; ball
ances, $e5.2e6.
PROTECTION OF BANKS.
The report of the auditing committee was
read, after which the report of the protec-
tive committee was presented. It says:
Starting out to throw line of protec-
ton around the members of the American
T2apkers' AsSociafion the protective COM