Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-18

SACRAMENTO. Dec. 17.-Governor
GilIett today gave out the following
official information,
after Saturday, December II. The
banking institutions of the state have
improved to that extent that holidays
no longer are necessary"
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1.-THE San
francisco Clearing House association
at a meeting this afternoon adopted a
resolution declaring that 1t was the
unanimous opinion of the San Fran
cisco bankers that there was no FUR
ther need of special holidays, and that
the financial situation mo longer re-
quired them.
There has not been a time during
the past three weeks that the San
Francisco banks required the. special
holidays for their protection. or woulu
not have been glad to have had them
end" said Homer s. King of the Bank
of California and president or the
clearing house, after the meeting OF
the bankers this afternoon.
I'VE made no request OF Governor
Gillett to declare off the holidays, put
left it to his discretion as to how long
they were necessary, believing he, no
doubt. was in communication with the
banks in other parts of the state and
the San Francisco banks did not wish
to ask the governor to discontinue
them when perhaps other banks We're
not in proper shape.
"Howeyer. the holidays have con-
tinued so long that the banks In our
clearing house considered that IL was
time to make public the fact that, SO
far as San Francisco was concerned
speciAl holidays were no longer re-
uuired A meeting was held this
AFTERNOON of the sixteen banks In the
San Francisco clearing house to con-
slider the matter, and representatives
Of the savings banks, in response to
invitations, were also present. 1t was
the unanimous opinion, not only or the
clearing house banks, but OF the saw
ings banks as well, that the holidays
are no longer necessary and should be
discontinued"
King Explains
In, regard to the statement or the
governor today that some bankers were
declaring publicly that they no longer
required the protection of special holi-
days, while at the same time fearing
the effect of their discontinuance, Mr..
King said:
II cannot think that Governor Gill
lett has been correctly quoted / do
not believe that he said tIlat. / am
certain that no San Francisco bank has
asked him to continue the special hol1-
days The governor was asked to pro-
claim holidays principally at the urgent
request of the country banks who We're
not prepared when the stringency in
the money market became acute
'Will the discontinuance of the spec
ial holidays mean that the banks will
return to cash basis and Immediately
retire the clearing house certificates?"
was asked of Mr.. King.
mo, indeed" said he. "The GER
tificates will continue to be used for
several weeks yet. Gradually they will
be retired and become scarce and many
people will be sorry that they have
disappeared. Certificates to the amount
of $4,000 900 were issued by the San
Francisco clearing house.
"The clearing house certificates
served the most important parts of
finance when coin and currency could
not be had. They served that office
we'll But for the clearing house cer-
tificates as q medium of exchange many
factories and business establishments
would have had to shut down owing
to the scarcity of money. so far as
California is concerned the credit for
the idea of clearing house certificates
Is due to the banks of Sacramento, VINO
first issued them in this state"
Mr.. King said many people now pre-
ferred the certificates to coin and he
expressed the opinion that their use
will result in the introduction of more
paper than has heretofore circulated In
this state.
Governor Gillett is somewhat in
censed over the action of the bankers
of San Francisco in giving out to the
press statements to the effect that they
are not in need of any more holidays
and in the next breath begging the
executive to continue declaring holi-
days.
Raps Bankers
In other words, the governor does
mr. relish being made a scapegoat by
the bankers In San Francisco yester-
day a number of officials of various
prominent banking institutions de-
clared for publication that they see no
necessity for further holidays. Yet
those same men were responsible for
tho steps taken by his excellency I'M
proclaiming special holidays for this
week.
In speaking about the matter this
morning Governor Gillett said:
"The trouble is this: The San Fran
cisco bankers who are really in need
of holidays do not care to admit the
truth. You could go to any of them
and they would say they were getting
along in fine shape and needed no fur
ther assistance and vet those same
men may be trembling in doubt as to
whether or not they are going to pull
through.
"They tell you one thing and to me
they say just the opposite. They dol
it in order to make good outward
showing and yet their action puts me
in a queer position. / have been COM
municating with the bankers of LoS
Angeles. San Francisco and other places
with view to determining what the