Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-24
BANKING IN CANADA
How Money is Handled in the
British Northwest.
CHARTERED INSTITUTIONS
Thirty-Th of Them Having One
Thousand Branches.
BACKED BY THE GOVERNMENT
Loan Associations in the Far West
a Talk With One of the Coun-
try's Leading Financiers.

Copyright 1905, by Frank G. CarpenterD
Special Correspondence of The Star.
WINNIPEG.
The chartered banks have thrown their
net over the British northwest and are
establishing branches at It's every municipal
krot There are more than a score of them
doing business IN Winnipeg, half as many
are to be found at Edmonton and Calgary,
and they have their agencies in nearly
every new town of the wheat belt. One of
the first buildings / In the wilds of the
Cobalt mining regions was a pine shack
with the words Imperial Bank painted upon
its walls, and near by the Canadian Bank Of
Commerce was doing business In tent
The Bank of Montreal has just put up
new building at Edmonton, and altogether
there are hundreds of substantial banking
institutions In this new part of the world.
AS far as I can learn they are all making
money. Six of the large banks, whose
branches are spread most widely over this
territory. earned more than fourteen and
half per cent on their paid-up capital In
1909. and upon their capital and surplus
combined almost nine and one-half per cent.
This covered the whole of Canada and
great part of the profits came from the
west.
Canada's Banking System.
During my travels here I have met the
leading financiers. and have learned some
thing about the banking system. 1t Is diff
sGlGIlJ from ours. tanaGd s nRanclal mat
tiers are managed by big institutions with
big capital, which have branches scattered
throughout the country. There are no small
banks with fifty thousand. one hundred
thousand or two hundred thousand dollars
capital. 1t Is not possible to start a bank
of that kind. Tho money business of the
whole country is done by chartered banks,
which have altogether g paid-up capital of
more than eighty million dollars and sur
plus Of more than iftyfOur million.
ivt,r
Canada with more than one thousand
branches spread all over the country. OF
these branches there are 491 in the province
| OF Ontario, 1873 in Quebec, eS in Nova SEQ
| 30 in British Columbia and almost one hun
! dred in this Canadian northwest.
The Bank of Montreal. which has its head
| office IN Montreal, has almost an hun
| dred branches. 1t has three banks In the
! United States and some in Great Britain.
| The Canadian Bank Of Commerce. the
| Union Bank. the Imperial Bank. the Bank
| OF British North America. as well as some
/ thirty others, have all large number of
| branches.
| These banks are all making money.
| They have altogether assets OF more than
S64OVoOO0O. They have deposits ap-
proximating half a billion dollars. and |
| am told that the deposits of the Bank of
Montreal alone are more than a hundred
million dollars. A significant evidence of
| the prosperity Of Canada Is that the assets
of these banks have increased about 80 per
| ttill "itnlH the past 1Ne years and the
stock OF each of them sells far above par.
That of the Bank of Montreal at this writ
ing is 255, and that on a capital of over
| fourteen million dollars with surplus of
| ten millions.
Backed by the Government.
The chartered banks are largely under
government control and their capital and
dividends are limited by law. Every bank
has TO pay a certain proportion of its
| money In government notes. and not less
than 40 per cent Of its cash reserve must
| be held in such notes. The banks have the
| right to issue notes to the amount of their
| unimpaired paid-up capital. but each must
| also deposit with the government an
| amount equal to per cent OF its note cir
/ culatlon. This 8 per cent on all the note
| circulation of the country, issued by the
| banks, forms common fund for the Sc
| curity OF the note holders, who are further
| secured by provision requiring that the
| notes of a suspended bank shall bear In
| terest at per cent until the public is mott
fed that they can be redeemed
The Bank of Montreal.
During my stay In Montreal l met the
manager Of the Bank of Montreal, Mr.. e.
| II. Clouston, and had a chat with him
| about Canadian banking methods The
| Bank OF Montreal is one of the chief banks
| Of the world It was founded by Montreal
| merch ants in 1877 when James Monroe
| was beginning his first term President
| OF the United States. and Its original capt
tai was $4,000. 1t paid a dividend of =
| per cent the first year, and has paid diyi-
| dends ever since. Its capital has been in
creased to S14. 400. 600 and It has now a
| surplus twenty times as large as the
| amount originally invested. Its president
Is Lord Strathcona the richest man in
| Canada and the representative of the
| Dominion in London.
The Bank of Montreal looks more like one
I OF pOVnrnnnnnr 1ppa rtTppnfG than any
| financial institution of Wall street. IL has
| Corinth2an pillars at the front and Its roof
| hundred feet above the floor, Is upheld
by columns OF black granite from Yer
mont, each as big around as -four bar
| rel and bright as polished Jet. Every
thing about the building Is stately and the
servants are imposing as those OF the
Bank of England. sleek, black hairee