The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-04-10
!: The Country Banker.


The writer Of the article from
which the following extracts are tax
en- is ne editor Of the Daily Reflect
or. Abilene, Kansas. and has written
frequently for the Atlantic.
The Country Banker.
Enter the small town for almost
any purpose-to sell books, 10 seek
a location, 10 look up land titles. 10
write life insurance, TO get news
story, TO collect a debt-and early in
your visit you will go 10 the ornate,
imposing building on the corner OF
the two busiest streets. You viii
pass a lattice crowned counter, be
admitted TO small room large
enough only 10 hold desk and two
chairs. There you will come face 10
face with the towns financier, the
Pierpont Morgan Of the community
the banker. Not an enterprise, not
considerable business undertaking, is
started without consultation with
with him. The man who sells a farm
and wishes to put his money where
it will earn interest goes TO the bank
er. The widow with few thousand
dollars of life insurance-mOre mon
ey than she ever saw together i'm all
her life before-asks the banker how
to invest It. II would be better II
more OF this class would take the
bankers advice when II is given.
Then there is the merchant who owes
for a large portion Of his good
bank will see him through the dun
season. The banker gives assent 10 |
one, explains to another, refuses "A |
third, and comes at last 10 read un- |
consciously the business record OF /,
every man he meets on the street.
Banks i'm the West.
Banks are in every hamlet and vii.
lage Of the Middle West, and are
steadily increasing in number. The
community OF two hundred pOpula-
tion often has a bank; some Of four
hundred population have two. Yet
with the prosperous years OF the past
half decade have they succeeded re.
markably. Said the cashier OF a lt.
tie bank whose stockholders are near.
~ all farmers, located in "A town OF
$50 population two hundred miles
west Of the Missouri River:
When we started five years ago,
bankers told us We might
get SIS, 700 in deposits, but We could
not hope for more; that I've might
pay ten per cent. dividends. and
would probably have some losses. We
have $61,0 deposits, all out Of the
immediate vicinity, have paid 241a
per cent. dividends each year, and
have not yet lost a dollar"
Paying by Check.
The country banker eXerts his
greatest influence on national finance
during the crop harvesting season.
Whether it be in the gathering OF
fruit in California, of cotton in the
South, or Of wheat in the plains re-
gion, the banker comes in direct
touch with the worker.
Take the wheat harvest. as cover.
ing the widest area and creating the
most intense demand during its exis.
tence. In a single State twenty thou.
sand harvesters are needed beside,
those at. work already on the farms
Through the labor bureaus and rail.
way departments whole trainloads OF
workers are secured from States at
distance. These helpers are mostly
itnerants and they have no local
standing. A grain raiser went among
his laborers one Saturday night and,
asking their names, proceeded TO
make out checks for the week s work.
What shall we do with them ?"
asked one
Cash them at the bank, OF
course"
who will identify u.s."
The employer saw the point. tore
up the checks. and secured currency
with which TO pay the men. That
made n demand on the bank Scores
of other farmers were doing the same
thing. Hundreds Of other communi-
ties did it. The result is that the
country bankers draw millions Of dol.
lars from the reserve centres" every
harvest and TO some degree change |
national financial currents thcreby-i
G. NJ. Hargcr, in the Atlantic.
WORDS OF WISDOM.