The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-11

Deen given the pest cnance ever accord
ed to insure to us the hearty good will
and entire confidence of the american
people, which shall mean not only faith
in the solyency of the banks but also
a friendliness toward them and a will
ingneSs now and then to look through
bankers spectacles, at legislative and
other questions? Have we not learned
that we are not profitably enriched by
the increment of usurious interest
which is really Withholding blessings
from the needy? Is any greater gain 10
be hoped for from the concerted action
and the utmost influence of banking in
terestS than the winning of such COM
plete public trust and good will as the
American banks and bankers have al
ways desired, but have never as yet OBJ
tanned?
1T is not many years since the most
conspicuous labor organization of that
day in the United States. barred from
membership just three classes. They
were the saloonkeeper. the lawyer and
the banker. And a painfully large num-
Der of men other than Knights of La
Dor, thought the grouping was sensi-
bic, or perhaps rather hard on the Ii
quor seller. The feeling which found
expression in this curious bar to Amer
lean Knighthood, has been greatly
weakened by the logic of events. even
where it was formerly most common.
Too many of those who Is or 20 wears
ago were aVowed enemies of the banks
ers in the Institutions which they de-
nOunce, to permit OF the continuance of
such sentiments
The impression that federal legisla-
tors have. that much of this prejudice
and suspicion remains, makes bankers,
as a body, an unpromfsing source of
proposed legislation on. the money ques-
tion AS individuals, working directly
with senators and representa- tives, party
leaders and political organizations, the
far-reaching influence on the side of
common sense and sound policy. But a
an asSemblage of bankers could this
convention take positive action in favor
of any sharply defined and finished
scheme of financial legislation without
great danger of hindering rather than
helping the wide and permanent devel-
Opment and Improvement of the money
system of the United States? Would
it be possible to go so far without fur
nishing texts for demagogs, and fright
ening tinlid law makers and political
leaders? In Ohio we have learned, by
long experience. as one of the states
composing the buffer which the middle
west has interposed between the vagar-
les of the newer states beyond Missis-
sometimes over aggressive orthodoxy
of the east that the gains which are of
vital Importance are often most easily
won by discreet piability regarding
INCONSISTENCIES 11Tuc0Ice III ways ana
means of progress, is not unfaithfulness
to cause or remuneration of a pur-
pose.
The imperative need now as in the
past, is that every part of the c:sculat-
ing medium of the American Republic
shall not only be as good as gold, under
all stress of business weather. but shall
have the reputation merited by its char
acter. dollar doubted is dollar half
destroyed. The folly or injustice of the
great suspicion makes small difference
in the hour of danger. Flexibility in
the body of currency is very important
but it should never be forgotten. the vi
tai point is, that nothing used as money
shall be disJrusted. It is not what the
logic of financiers proves. but what the
man in the street feels which makes the
difference between safety and peril for
banks, III the frenzy of panic or the
lean years of Industrial and commercial
depression. -s-
Enthusiastic advocates Eof the Scotch
banking system. with its circulating
notes secured by the assets of banks of
issue, and it's wide multiplication of
branch banks, supporting the central
institutions in emergency, are prone to
overlook or ignore our conditions, which
cannot be pushed aside at will. In this
country there is no postal savings de-
partment to make the national govern
ment the creditor of thrifty wage-earn-
erS and others of small means. Here de-
poSits in savings banks form a very
large part of the money used by the
banks of discount. The national banks
and the savings banks are bound to-
gether by ties of self-interest and inter
dependence, and any scheme for throw
ing new responsibilities upon national
banks which would force them to as
sumo the regulation of note issues and
the adjustment of the supply of money
to the needs of business, would equally
affect their allies The very nature OF
the American government makes uniVer-
sal suffrage forever to bereckoned within
legislation affecting banks and curren-
cy. A small, especially instructed class
will never be able to control law-mak-
ing in the field of finance. as it does IN
Great Britain. We have to deal with
a more mobile and emotional. people
than kinsmen in the United Kingdom
and conditions are not the same What
that means has been impressiVely shown
in the British colonies.
President stickney of the Chicago
Great Western Railway company urged
with marked ability before this associ-
alton last year, that the experience of
Canada proved the desirability OF
branch banks. and note issues secured
by bank assets. and we wonder that
anything other. than a Scotch banking
system should be taught by the expert
ence of the great governing colonies
of England. The ordeal which Australia
passed through after the Barring failure,
is suggested in this connection In that
country of very large gold reserves and
exceptional per capita of wealth, the
multiplication of branches of great
banks established in Sidney. Melbourne
and other cities, had been carried to the
extreme limit of possible need in the
most active times. When the crash
came in land values. as an inevitable
result of over speculation. and when
general business languished. the banks
did not pay, and they could not safely
be closed when the public was uneasy
and apprehensive. The managers OF
branch banks had been far too ready,
in eager competition for patronage. to
procure the loan:ng of funds on secur-
ity unfit to stand the test of hard times
In the beginning of 1892 there We're Is
banks in Australian colonies of Great
Britain, with more than LOO branches
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