La Junta tribune., 1908-10-10

ute q tW0s A0o uuolly u8W = pSooBo
way near me. which ] entered. !
said in broken French. "je suis un
American. je veux le banquet am
American. je veux voir le banQue"-
Il am an American want to see the
bank.) The man addressed. replied
something in better French. which.
unfortunately. l did not understand.
but IL was q direction to go to an
other place. went out into the
court yard. as l will call 1t, and see-
ing the concierge. l addressed him in
similar manner. also showed
him a paper. on which was written
the name Of the general secretary.
The bank has another great stohe
building. at another place, where all
loans and discounts are made and
where all the collateral for such ad-
vances are preserved. l had called
ut this place first. and was directed
TO desk where there was a man
wto coald speak English. He in
formed me would have to Sc
cure The permission of the general
secretary. before l could see any
thing. II was the name of the gem
eral secretary. written by this man.
that l presented to the concierge.
Without further question, he pointed
me to the door 'Escalier a
gauche''-the stairway to the left. i
went up the stairway. entered hall. I.
saw door with the secretary's name
but indicating 1t was private. l
then passed on and trough the foldin
secretary's office. entered, and
asked the gentleman who arose to
meet me, II he could speak English.
He replied he could not, but said for
in about five minutes, returned with
young man who could talk En-
glish, but not well. l told him my
business. He led me to the gener-
al secretary's office, where made
known that wanted to see the OPP
erations of the Bank OF France.
told him | was a little banker from
little place in America. two thous-
and miles from New York. After a
few minutes talk. young man was
called and directed to show me
through the bank. He was very
courteous. He could not have been
more so, had been the manager of
the geatest bank in America.
The old portion OF this building
was the chateau OF Count Toulouse,
son of Louis XVI. l was taken to
this part first. to the gallery OF the
chateau. II Is a most elegant place.
decorated with heavy gilt mouldings
and carvings. rich frescoes by cele-
brated painters-paintings OF won
drous beauty. reliefs and statuary
done by the great artists-sculptors
Of that period OF fine nrt--a dream
Of royal magnificence and seldom
surpassed. There hung also the
picture-a rich painting-of the first
president Of the bank. The bank has
been In existence over one hundred
years. l was then taken to the vari-
GUS departments OF the bank, where
everything is In striking contrast
with the place where the stockhOld-
ers meet once year for their an
nuai meeting. ! saw the collection
department with It's brigade organize
in squads as In the army, with Its
numerous cages, the department OF
open accounts. where deposits are
received and checks paid. the de-
partment OF general accounts. and all
the counters, cages. windows and Of
fices OF the great bank. The furni
ture and fixtures and the offices are
the plainest, the dirtiest and the
meanest I have ever SEEN. since l
saw the old quarters OF the old Bent
county bank. At one place where
deposits are received, there was
but long narrow pine board, un-
painted and not smooth. for desk.
There was not marble base board
or any attempt at elegance or even
fitness, In any other way-throughout
this great bank. The men were all
dressed as ordinary clerks-no swal-
low tails or great white shirt fronts.
but common, hardworking lot Of ex-
perts. There restwo thousand peo-
pie employed by the Bank Of France.
of which about four hundred are
women. was utterly astonished
at the commonplace interior and the
equipment Their reserve, while it
is large, Is not large proportioned to
the banks capital. It's undivided
profits are meager. showed my
courteous banker the statement Of
our little bank. He was surprised
that our surplus should be as large