Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-15
REFORM SPIRIT
SWAYSBANkERS'
BIG CONVENTION
800 FINANCIERS UNITE IN DE-
MANDING NEW LAWS
PRESENT SYSTEM is ATTACKED
VEHEM EMILY
Leaders in Affairs of Money World
Assemble at Pasadena-Cur-
rency Legislation Is
Advocated
BY t. SHELLEY SUTTON

Three hundred high officials from az
many big banks--some of them among
the largest in the United States-com.
ing from New York, Chicago, New Or
leans, San Francisco and other big
cities, assembled at 10:30 o'clock yes
terday morning in the music room of
the Hotel Maryland, Pasadena, to
open the fourteenth annual convention
of the California Bankers association.
That this convention Is to go down in
history as one of the most important
epoch-making conventions in the life
of the association was soon made evil
dent, and the 300 bankers, which con-
stitutes by far the greatest body of
delegates ever gathered at a Califor-
mia bankers convention, were not long
in getting to business.
Back of this important gathering of
financiers who are representing mil
lions of dollars of the nations medi
ums of exchange and obvious in the
keynote and message of every speech
made yesterday is undoubtedly a pow
erful demand-if not a pronounced de-
termination-to reform the banking
laws of tbs United States. and thus, as
fast as possible, modify, repeal and
radically reconstruct the laws of Cali
fornia.
Not once, but frequently, during the
remarks of leading financiers at both
sessions yesterday our banking laws
were severely and unqualifiedly de-
nounced as lax, dangerous and" erro-
ous-fundamentally wrong and
structurally to be condemned.
Conditions Criticised
These caustic criticisms were not
made by neophyte orators, fanatical re-
formers or political iconoclasts, but by
| the most acknowledged connoiSseurs of
| the money world; by expert bankers
and financiers-men who have devoted
| .s.,Axr A.
uosity of banking life, with all its
schemes, complexities and responsible
tiles; men who know the great game of
| finance from A to 2, who are familiar
with every known or secret detail of
the system, and who, through years of
| experience profitable or otherwise,
have been taught the lessons that cam
not be learned by the average depos-
itor. These men recognize and deplore
| the loopholes, flaws and reactionary
dangers and adversities existing in and
arising from the present plant of
things, and as high authorities their
| assertions and suggestions must be
accepted as of value to the public.
The present convention is declared
| by leading financiers who are present
or ably represented there to be one of
exceptional Importance, coming, as 1t
does, in the wake of what threatened
| to be a prolonged financial panic The
|
walls of from five to seven years an
alarming number of these financial
stringencies-some far-reaching in
| their efrects-despite the long and con-
tinued revision and enactment of So
called regulation banking laws. has
dena to investigate deeply into the
present system of banking in an effort
to trace the cause and obviate the
recognized defects.
Inspires Spirit of Reform
The result of their conclusions.
greatly stimulated by the public de-
mand, has inspired the spirit of reform
which prevailed at both sessions yes
| terday, and which was made strfkingly
manifest among many individual bank
ers outside of the convention. 1t means
that the fourteenth annual convention
of the State Bankers association is to
be a memorable step toward the I'M
provement If not toward a complete
and almost revolutionary revision or
substitution of the present laws and
| system Time only can decide the full
| achievement of this convention. 1t
may be that other similar conventions
will be necessary to awake all the
component parts of the banking world
into unanimous and decisive action;
but it would not require many more
such as the present convention prom
|
The convention is regular affair.
but the slogan of it's object, the spirit
prompting it's manifest desire, un-
doubtedly is due directly to the finan-
cial disturbance through which we
have just passed.
In the clearer light following the
dissolution of the storm cloud, the
bankers of the country as represented
at the Pasadena convention also have
| recognized the need of greater co-op-
| Grafton. If competition, always merci-
less and mercenary. is truly 1.-The life
| of trade" as a questionable adage
terms it, it does not seem to be so
regarded by the bankers. Their mes
sages yesterday were appeals, in the
greater part, for cooperation, organi-
Zation, mutual methods and assistance.
| The interdependence of one upon the
| other seemed emphasized in a new
! light. The necessity for unison in their
modus operandi for sympathetic sys-
tenn in their fortification against forg-
ers, borrowers. overdraft patrons, ETC.,
were frequently urged. Protection of
the individual bank, through its en-
forcement of general rules protecting
all banks, also was emphasized.
To Protect Depositors
Another feature of the sessions yes
terday was the frequent emphasis of
the fact that the depositor-the pub
lic-demands to and must be safe
guarded to every possible extent. The
bank was designated as a public de-
positor of trust and that trust, 1t was
urged, must be inspired by laws and
methods of unquestionable security and
strength.
AS the convention is the most impor-
tant in the history of the association
in point of attendance, so it may also
be said to be the most important i'm
point of distinguished delegates and
speakers attending 1t. The program
without doubt contains the most nota-
BILE grouping of financial stars the
state has ever had, headed by Lyman
J. Gage. formerly at the head OF the
official exchequer of the United States;
w. r. Williams, treasurer of the state
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