Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-04-16
! The Country Banker.

oooooooooooOooOO00OOoSeoeS
The writer of the article from
which the following extracts are TAX
en- Is the 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, to seek
a location, to look up land titles, to
write life insurance. to get news
story, to collect a debt-and early IN
your visit you will 60 to the ornate,
imposing building on the corner OF
the two busiest streets. You Will
pass a lattice crowned counter, be
admitted to a small room large
enough only to hold a desk and two
chairs. There you will come face to
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 farm
and wishes to put his money where
It will earn interest goes to the bank
or. The widow with few thousand
dollars of life insurance-more mon
ey than she ever saw together IN all
her life before-asks the banker how
to invest it. It would be better ii
more of this class would take the
bankers advice when it is given.
Then there is the merchant who owes
for q large portion of his goods
he comes nervously asking If the
bank will see him through the dull
season. The banker gives assent to
one, explains to another. refuses
third, and comes at last to read I'M
consciously the business record OF
every man he meets on the street.
Banks in 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-
ton often has o 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 lit
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,
experienced bankers told us we might
get $4,000 in deposits, but we could
not hope for more; that we might
pay ten per cent. dividends, and
would probably have some losses. We
have SCI, 900 deposits, all out OF the
immediate vicinity, have paid "a "
per cent. dividends each year, and
have not yet lost dollar!"
Paying by Check.
The country banker eXerts his
greatest influence on national finance
during the crop harvesting season.
Whether 1t 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 single State twenty thou
sand harvesters are needed besides
those at work already on the farms.
Through the labor bureaus and rail-
way departments whole trainloads of
workers are secured from States at a
distance. These helpers are mostly
itinerants 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 weeks work.
What shall VIC 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 a 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 thereby
C. M. Harger, in the Atlantic.
WORDS OF WISDOM.