The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-01-12
CONTESTED IN CENTRES
THE SOUTHERN LEGISLATURES
WOULD MAKE SAFE STATE
BANKS OF ISSUE.
'LeTHoal or FUNDS IN MONEY CENTRES
rhe Tendency Of Money in the Country is &c
Flow to the Great NOISY Centres. II
Dies mol Imply Desir lb'e
Conditions,

AT n meeting of the stockholders Of
the Commercial and Farmers Bank on
Tuesday. Capt. j. j. Thomas, the able
and careful president of the bank, i'll
his annual report, touched upon several
matters in which all intelligent citizens
are interested. II was so interesting and
instructive that Capt. Thomas was re-
quested to give it to the News and OBJ
server for publication. He consented to
give the following extracts that show his
thorough knowledge of conditions in the
banking and business world:
while the past year has been an event
FIJI one in many respects, excitement of
the people incident to II state of war
with Il foreign country, and Il more than
unusual interest awakened by political
elections throughout our country, yet
there has been no serious disturbance of
our financial condition as Il State or Ma
tion. The failure of banks, both Ma
tional and State, for the past year. have
been below the average. both as TO num-
Der and amount of money involved.
",The 200 million of Government bonds
having been placed upon the market the
past year and supposed to have been sold
largely to foreigners at Il premium, have
produced Il plethora of m0ney-this be-
ing intensified by an abnormally low
price of the products of the country, re-
curing less or smaller amount of
money to handle the volume of business
Of the country-hence very low rate of
interest prevails: this is the logical re-
suit when a redundancy of money eX-
lists. and of course; with the same per
cent Of profit in the various lines of bust
ness, produces n smaller income. We
are. however. gratitied to stale that the
business of this bank in which you are
personally interested, has not only been
retained but our deposits have steadily
grown. adding many valuable accounts
since my last reports.
''As stated in my report to the stock
holders year ago regarding the re-
Communications as then made by Secre-
tary. Gage, my pronI$Vy mas been .veri-
fed: that is--that sCSngress would pass
no currency bill by which relief to the
West or South could be had, other than
calling upon the banks in New York and
other Northern money centers. Comp
troller Dawes recent report shows over
eeventcen-million rediscounts by banks;
g
South and West, to move their crops.
and advanced very largely by the New
York banks. This of itself shows very
clearly that there is, not enough money
in the South and West for it's legiti-
mate business, in other words, we need
some plan by which we can have an
elastic currency when there is u neces-
Sity for il. and that the rights of the
leposit-holders and the note-holder may
be the same against the common assets
of the bank to which their money has
alike contributed The note-holder of
Il national bank is always preferred in
the case of failure of n bank, to that
of a depositor so the claim of better
protection to the public on the part OF
a national bank to that of a State bank
is misleading. and erroneous. BY re-
cent State legislation, i'll case of failure
of n State bank, stockholders are liable,
not only for amount of stock held, but
for a similar amount, if necessary, to
protect depositors. Our Legislature
should throw the same safeguards
around a State bank that is vouchsafed
TO savings banks-that is, during panic
or false rumor as to the condition of
the bank, or whenever a run IS made
,lron n bank caused by some vicious
person, the bank can exercise It's privi-
lege OF serving thirty days notice on
depositors before payment.
Steps have been taken by the Georgia
Legislature to test the Government State
bank tax Of 10 per cent; bill having
been passed to authorize the issue Of
notes by banks incorporated by the
State. The object of the law is toI
make test case for the Supreme Court
Of the United States. This bill was
passed in 1S65--by appeal was argued
before the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1869, and upheld by that
tribunal Since that time. nearly thirty
years ago. the personnel Of the cour; his