The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-06
TALK AMONG BANKERS.
MODERN METHODS OF BANK
ING.
The Case of Pittsburg, as Diseuss,!
Among Bankers at Their Gathering
ia New Orleans.

In New Orleans.
AS is often the case in gatheris.T
similar 10 this one. private consult;
tions, informal exchange Of opini' 81.
the chats between d-igates represent
ing widely separated parts Of the
country; and the conversation that told
of local conditions here and there, were
possibly the most valuable of the feat
ures of this gathering. 1t was noticed
that bankers repre- senting that cvnsid-
cradle region 10 which the headWaters
of the Ohio and the ALE gheny and the
MonOngahela rivers are tributary, and
which eastern Lake Erie bounds, fur
nished the most interesting of the top
les of private conversation. OF course
the achievements of the banks Of New
York city the dazzling aggre cation Of
capital and deposits ana the amazing
growth of trust institutions, together
with the opportunities for money
making which the combination of CAPT
tai has made possible, was a general
subject of private conversation ana in
terchange Of views.
But, after all, the developments
which within few years have been
made in P!ttsburg and its vicinity, and
to some extent in Cleveland and that
vicinity, were as entertaining if not as
important subject Of discussion. 1t is
only recently that in New York city
attention has been concentrated upon
the remarkable growth of PittsbIrg,
and to lesser degree of Cleveland, as
Centers of banking capital and as cities
where there has been an aggr, CATION of
deposits which, in proportion to the
poulation, is even more remarkable
than that which has taken place in
New York.
Within the memory of the present
generation Boston ranked second to
New York as the home Of banking cap
ital and the city where there were vast
supplies of money. That prestige is
gone. When Boston lost the Burling-
ton, the Atchison and the Union Pa
cific railroads she parted with one Of
the great sources of her influence as
center of banking and other capital.
What Boston has lost Pittsburg and
Cleveland appear to have gained,
When the bankers compared notes the
other day they discovered that proper
tionately to a greater degree than
New York, Pittsburg has been invest
ing in banking capital and stands pre-
eminent in the United States in this re-
spect among cities Of less than 100000
population. Nearly 70 institutions, ma
tional and state, are engaged in that
city in the business of banking. There
are almost as many banks there as
there are members Of the New York
clearing house association. Boston is
approximately of even rank with Pitts
burg in this respect But it is not the
number of institutions along that
causes comment. 1t is the great ag-
gregation Of deposits, the high quota
tions for bank stock and the most
healthful accumulation of surplus. B0s-
ton, it is true, has one or two banks
which in gross deposits overmatch any
thing that Pittsburg institutions are
able to report. One of these Boston in
stitutions carries nearly $50,000,000 of
gross deposits, or little more than
twice as much as the Pittsburg insti-
tuition whose deposits are the largest.
But there are dozen institutions in
Pittsburg carrying $5,00O,O00 of deposits
and upward, and the bankers who
have been watching the banking de-
velopment in that city say that the in
crease in deposits there is proportion
ately greater than the increase which
has been noted in New York city.
What does all this mean? Where
does all this money come FROM"
These are questions which bankers
from other parts of the country asked
EoI
New York bankers were interested to
know how 1t has been possible in a
community of the character of Pitts
burg and its vicinity to build up bank
ing resources so that that city to-day
stands in as pre- eminent relation to
the banking of the country outside of
New York or Chicago as it does to the
manufacture of iron and steel products.
In reply, the inquirers were told that
first of all in Pittsburg the temptation
has been very strong toward invest
Inent in banking property. 1t has been
strong because of the opportunity for
favorable investment, for profitable use
of the funds thus obtained. Seeming
opportunity lying all around them, the
aggressive and energetic banking abil-
ity of Pittsburg cast ancient traditions
to the Winds excepting those that en-
forced the principles of sound banking,
and undertook a system of advertising,
of soliciting, of canvassing, which not
many years ago in New York city
would have been regarded as unworthy
of a banker, or would have caused sus-
picion to rest upon that bank whose Of
ficers went out upon the highways and
byways and sought business. Nc
longer does New York look upon it as
undigniied or as any indication of i'm
paired credit or resources for bankers
to solicit business. But they do it
somewhat under cover here. The COM
petition, however, is recognized and
banker to-day does not feel Inundated,
although he may be somewhat indig-
nant, when he discovers that a rival
has been sending circulars to his own
customers to tempt away some portion
of their business. Our bankers bring
back from New Orleans reports of the
methods that have prevailed in Pitts
burg, which they tel with all the man
nerisms both of Armament and of adj
1niration. They say that Pittsburg
bankers have expended within a year
several hundred thousand dollars in
advertising, the advertisements being
so worded as to catch the eye of every
citizen, no matter how humble, who
has accumulated an savings. They say
that solicitors go through all of the dis