Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-10-07

Ahe' e'0Nie COO VI Weicomc 10 the american
Bankers Association at Richmond
Tuesday last:
Mr. president and Gentlemen of the
American Bankers Associations:
1t gives me sincere pleasure to ex-
tend to you on behalf of the people of
virginia, u most cordial welcome to orr
state and city. 1t is peculiarly appro-
pirate that this great association of
representative men, coming as you do
from all sections of our great country,
snoulu hoid It's first session in the
South, here in Richmond So many
memorials of a historic nature connect
ed with our nations birth and growth
are clustered around this Old Capitol
tnat strangers are prone to believe
that We are altogether sentimentalists,
ana am glad to welcome this great
pody or American business men to our
MIDST, that they may bear testimony
10 the fact that we are beginning to
ieaiiZe the Importance and necessity for
industrial advancement. This magnifi-
cent edifice in which we are assembled
to-day, our great locomotive works, our
shipyards and other industries that will
be shown you, all the product of South
ern enterprise and Southern capital,
bear strong testimony TO the truth of
this statement. We would not have
you to think we have lost all our SEN
timnetality. for we have not. the glori-
Gus memories OF the past are the main
and inspire future greatness. Senu-
ment is the soul of man. that softens
the burdens of the practical. 1t was
sentiment breathed from the lips of
Patrick Henry. on one of the seven
hills of this grand historic city that
made possible this assemblage of repre-
sentatives of Americas financial great
ness. We owe too much to sentiment
to forget 1t, but we realize that we can
not live on 1t alone. We are glad to
the practical side of life. come among
us and help build up this great and
glorious section of our country. SO
that If we cannot all have sentiments
in common we can all have interests in
common.
Let us add to the tie OF sentiment, the
band of commercial unity to bind to-
gether in closer ties than ever, the
States of this great Union, and again
make IL what II was i'm the early days,
so that an attack on Massachusetts
was an attack on all, and from every
section came men ready to lay down
their lives in her defense. Tho South
stands with open arms TO greet you,
and her undeveloped resources offer
rich fields for your investments and
your laborS.
The bank and the banker form the
common meeting place for the energies
and enterprises of the people. They
constitute n common reservoir into
which empties the thousand streams of
human thrift and ingenuity and out of
which are drawn the irrgating and
sustaining currents of capital for car
rying on exchanges and trades among
men. and for developing the latent
powers OF nature. The banker is the
most trusted of all men and, in turn.
he must perforce, maintain the great
est faith in others. He must needs be
profound student of human nature.
and. above all, Sagacious in the affairs
OF men. II all men bring to bear upon
him much pressure as / have known
at times. his normal condition must be
thousand pounds to the square inch
of surface. If there are any weak or
unsound timbers in him, they are to be
revealed. He has, imagine, his trou
bleS like the rest of uS-trOublcS that
arise from inability TO extend favorS.
to succor the embarrassed, and at the
same time maintain his sacred obltGa-
ton to the trust funds committed to
his care and honor. l am not one of
those so shallow in the philosophy of
this life as 10 think that a man, be-
cause he handles money every day, and
who sits where all waves meet and
where the trade currents ebb and flow
with the tides. is. therefore. necessarily
blessed among men and sips his life
from trimming cup. Care, troubles.
responsibility are as common to us all
as the encasing air that we breathe.
men who should have welcome to
their work that is full of intelligent
sympathy, that class is the Bankers
Association of America. Your oppor
tunitieS are great; your responsibilities
are correspondingly so. The American
statutes creating the system under
which your work may be vicious and
filled with inequalities and injustices,
but we all select our individual bank
ers. because of their known probity.
their trained business methods and
never-failing. never-lagging courtesy
and consideration. OF course evil men
creep into your occupation and bring
reproach upon you all. But what pro-
fession is free from this? I have heard
of such men even getting into politics.
And l want to say right here, If there
We're as rigid penal statutes surround
ing the holding of public Office and
covering the abuse of the same as now
surround the bank and banker, the
Canadian colony of escaped politicians
would far exceed that of fugitive cash
1erS. There would be Il mighty exodus
over the border every few years. But
l am drifting from my welcome. [
want TO say to you that have been so
used to looking at bankers through iron
gratings, that 1T is a refreshing sight
to see you all sitting here with this
unapproachable veil lifted from your
faces. / am beginning to feel that,
after all, you are men that can lie
trusted to walk out of your cages into
the warm glow OF the sunlight and into
the balnly good fellowship. And now
while l have you here, and when no
suspicion of wanting to get note dis
counted. l will speak my mind on one
or two subjects. In the first place, you
have heard of the word collateral.
Well. my friends. it's meaning needs to
be enlarged.
1t usually means, in all OF our
American cities the securities that are