Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-02-03

Iuth. \ continuous growth from thr
start, each SIX months showing an ia
crease Of deposits and assets over the
previous SIX months. There is a lit at
personal history connected with this
bank which, an view of the above results,
forms an entertaining chapter To those
connected with savings banks. ar. i'll
deed, to any one interested in the growth
aud prosperity OF Vermont.
In 1884 lex Gov. Page was appointed
Inspector of Finance, a position which
he held until Dec. LIST. 1883. During this
period he had official charge OF the saw
ings banks OF Vermont. At that time
savings bank managers were infatuated
with western mortgages, and there was
then no limit by law to the amount of
this class of investments which a savings
bank could carry.
Gov. Page, seeing, as he believed. a col
lapse OF the western mortgage boom,
asked the Legislature to limit the amount
which could he invested in Yves crn
mortgages to 40 per cent oi the banks
assets. His request was stoutly OPP.
posed by the managers OF nearly rll our
Vermont savings banks. The result was
That compromise was finally reached
whereby in 1886 a statute was enacted
limiting the amount which could be in
vested i'll western mortgages to 80 per
cent of the assets of the bank.
New Hampshire was in precisely the
same situation, but in that state an at
tempt to establish limit as in Vermont
was unsuccessful. 1t is hardly necessary
to state results, because they are gener.
ally known. With single exception, we
believe. every savings bank in western
New Hampshre-they were all, save one,
heavily loaded with western mortgages
failed; while in Vermont there was not
=, single savings bank failure from 1851
to 1898. They all passed through the
crucial test of monetary pancs I'M
scathed.
The retaining of Yer mont money IN
Vermont 10 foster and develop Vermont
industries was iegarded as a hobby of
Gov. Pages and was declared by many
bank managers to be absolutely imprac-
ticable, but the governor told them that
he would show them by an actual, taugi-
bic illustration that it could be done,
and within sixty days from the time he
surrendered his position as Inspector OF
Finance he started at Hyde Park the
Lamoile County Savings Bank and
Trust Co. From its organization until
today, a period of ten years, this bank
has never loaned single dollar outside
OF the state, and if the success of the in
stitutiOn is correctly set forth in the ten
claims appearing at the head OF this arti
cle-and there is not particle of doubt
that they are-wc think the Governor
has substantiateG his theory by incou,
trovcrtiblc facts.
The bank has advertised from the be.
ginning that every Lamoile County in
dustry might depend upon it for financial
assistance at any and all times, and ever
during those terrible pancs of '93 to '96
which SO severely tested the foundation
Of all savings banks, it never hauled
down its coors. 1t never tor one mo-
mcnt failed to respond to calls for tinan'
cial aid from any borrower living within
its legitimate sphere of loanlng, a claim
which we believe cannot be truthtully
made for any other bank in Vermont.
1t has demonstrated the fact that /
home loans are sought for and encour
aged by savings bank managers, new in
dustries will from time to time spring VI
and develop to absorb the loaning ca
pacity of its local savings bank. The fac
that the Lamoille County Savings Banl
and Trust Co. does not own an asse
outside of Lamoille and adjacent coun
ties is the best possible standardization o
this position. To claim otherwise is O
course to assert that Lamoille County il
an exceptional field. and we know o
nothing to warrant such assertion. In
deed, it is matter of record that II
1856 the only bank i'll Lamoille County
was compelled to reduce its capital from
$15O,OOO TO 100000 because it coulC
not loan its money. Why? Simply be
cause the people felt no safety in entering
upon any enterprise requiring banking
assistance for the reason that the banl
felt no moral obligation resting upon i
times of monetary stringency and wher
financial aid was consequently abso
lutelv essential. But when the bushes
enterprises of Lamoille County came tC
know that money on good secur ty coult
always be obtained at the Lamoil
County Savings Bank and Trust Co
with as much certainty as corn or fou
could be had at Chicago, they branchet
out into enterprises which have made tn
villages of Lamoille County noteworth,
for their enterprise and thrift. TIL
100000 banking capital of Lamoill
County in 1856 has continued to grow
until today the assets Of the two bank
il the little village of Hyde Park--th
Lamoille County Savings Bank ant
Trust Co. and tie Lamoille County Ma
tionaI Bank-aggregate 1897, 1926.
The unlimited confidence of the peopl
of Northern Vermont in this institutio
is shown nv the fact that dnrincr III