The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-13
vas at last passed by a narrow mar.

Il r. | passed by the narrowest sort of A margin. It had only one vote to spare. shall always believe that it was l stroke of good luck for us that the I bill passed at all. for just as 1t was called up for final passage, I saw two rural members of the House. who were opposed to the bill. go down Dexter avenue presumably to get a drink. l This affords one instance in which the saloons were not entirely an evil" He regretted that the Negotiable h. strument bill which had been pushed | through the Senate by Senator Lam caster had failed of passage in the | House because of it's falling into the suggested that the members of the as- sooiation prepare even now for the | fight before the next Legislature for | the legislation to secure safety and security to banks and their eustom- CTS. N
 Paper By MT. Armstrong. ta "A Country Banker" was the title | of an able and instructive paper read l by A. F. Armstrong, cashier of the Ma rion Central Bank of Marion. As evil dcnce that he was qualified to speak on that subject Mir. Armstrong mcn- | toned that he went into a country | DAnk dt the age Ok l4s ana naQ been connected with the same bank twenty years. His salary when he began was | nothing a month, and his duties were to sweep out. run errands. collect and act at times as an exchange clerk. In l those days the cash was balanced every Saturday night and the books once a month.
 He recounted some of the difiiculties with which the country bankers had l to contend and which were unknown to the city bankers. He paid tribute, too. to the high character of the aver age country banker.
 ''The country bank" said Mir. Arm strong. relies more upon the charac- ter of its officers than it does upon its dollars or it's deposits
 He strongly condemned the methods of some bankers who departed from I the safe and conservative ways oi banking and risked ruin to the bani and to It's depositors. He pictured thu ideal country banker as one who con 1 served his strength for the time oi | trial and when 1t came safely weath' cred the gale.
 He suggested too. that the countr, bankers when approached for a. loar should ascertain to what use thu money would be put. This would no I necessarily mean that the banker Wal prodding into other peoples business but if he adopted that safe policy 1 could not otherwise result than in hell and In benefting the community. Moth ing could be more harmful, he said than the custom of hustling by banker' for public deposits and in doing so be come active and aggressive in poll ties.
 'sThe true country banker" sald MT Armstrong. "is the buiwark of hii lcommunity and the financial Gibraltar of his country"
 1 Report af Mr. Farley.
 Vice. President Louis D. Farley wht was the delegate from Alabama to thu National Banking Assoeiation.s whici met last year in San Francisco ther submitted his concise but exhaustive report of the proceedings of the Asso aiation. Mir. Farley's report brought l to the attention of the Association thu grave questions which were engaging the thoughts of the leading bankers and flnanciers of the country. The re port gave to the Association much foot for study and reflection. It was in ful I as follows: stf
 MT. President and Gentiemen:
 Tt is with a feeling of distinct pfidj and a keen senslbillty of gratitude tt our worthy President that was givei the honor of representing the Bankers Association of this sreat commonwealth [ at the twenty-ninth Annual 3conventioi of the American Bankers Association a circumstance of fate allotted the priv
 ilege to your representative of answer
 ing first in the name of Alabama to tn
 roll eaIl of State, and was not sloV to inform my hearers that Alabam
 stands first in the line of progress am | a-rxyf yfr.cr In n a
 bosom those God-given treasures 0
 which any State or country known t
 men might well be proud.
 From the distant centers of our ma
 tional life came to San Francisco, tha
 Western outpost of true American de
 velopment. representative bankers t
 "exchange" personal views and draft | upon the stored knowledge of each oth
 CT, and by such deliberations endeavo
 to solve the problems of the day a
 well for the interests of commerce an
 labor as for that of finance at large.
 Those gathered there were like s
 many financial physicians. each tryin
 to count the beats of the nations finan
 ciaI pulse, to determine the ailment,
 any, and to prescribe for it. if found.
 Conventions, or the coming togethe of any body of men, allied in kindre 1 occupations, are ever for the better ment of that particular craft assembled
 and as each bank. regardless of loca
 ton or management. is true ther
 mometer of a locality's prosperity or
 nations well-being, these annual con
 ventions of the American Bankers As sociation better show our country
 progress than any other index know
 "No gathering ever presented brighter picture of a nations peerles progress than did that convention hell within sight of the Golden Gate, il the land where flowers never cease t bloom, where one dies not from hea or perishes from cold. where nature al ways turns a smiling face and a wei come is yours without the asking.
 ""The sessions were held in the Cali fornia Theatre in San Francisco, anC the attendance was the largest of any year, except that in New Orleans thu l year previous. Besides many of thu | most prominent and able t1nanciers o the East and West, there were presen that grand old man. Hon. Ellis H. Rob. erts, the Treasurer of the United States and the Hon. William B. Ridgely, thu present Comptroller of the Currency both of whom made able addresses tC the convention, as did others equally welI-known to you.
 Work of National Meeting.
 Before referring to the proceedings of the convention, let me say for thu information of those who may not b, familiar with the growth and innuenci of the American Association of Bankers that on September 1st, 1875, the mem bershIp was only sixteen hundred which decreased to thirteen hundred and ninety-1ve by September 1st, 1885