Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-01-16
THE loan AND BUILD.
ING ASSOCIATIONS
OF Maine Meet at Waterville===One
New Member Admitted===Address
bv Hon. William T. Haines.

But will some one tell me why the
average man with small savings ever
thinks of investing in railroad stocks
or any foreign bonds? What does he
know about either? Possibly some
broker may have told him something;
but the chance is that the broker has
told him about the particular property
of which he has securities to sell and
about which he knows most and talks
most. Do the people of Maine earn so
much money and have such an amount
of surplus savings that they are oblig-
ed to go away from home for market
to invest in? Where does the Maine
mans money come from: i answer
from our farms, mills, factories. forests
seashore and inland fish and game IN
terests, railroads, steamboats,, trading
and professional work. Who furnishes
the necessary capital for all the things
that the men of Maine do or try to DO:
1 answer. necessarily in a large meas
urc we furnish it ourselves. Yet am
obliged to say that no large enterprise
can be undertaken in Maine relying
upon Maine capital. in the first in
stance, for it's promotion.
What gain to the Maine laborer or
Maine businessman IL the investment
of over 30 100000 of our savings banks
resources in the bonds of railroads out
side Of Maine? What good has this
investment done us as a State, except
10 produce the 3 5-100 per cent. to the
depositors Who got days labor or
earned a new dollar by it in Maine:
What new railroad has been pushed
into our great northern forest. or to
reach and help develop any new water
mower resource in our State? Did the
Bangor & Aroostook Railroad or Wash
ington County Railroad, or the ex-
tension of the Somerset Railroad find
capital for their building in Maine?
1t is undoubtedly true that their bends
ultimately found large sale among
Maine savings banks; but in the first
instance each and every one of these
enterprises was compelled to- look to
the brokers of Boston and New York
for the assurance of the means for
these undertakings.
| make no complaint against our
Maine institutions for their methods
of investment. and l want to say, az
a whole, 1 think them remarkably well
MANAGED. The way all of our banks
have stood up through the recent panic,
with a single instance Of temporary
closing of doors of only one institution,
is the highest compliment to the hon.
esty and good judgment of tie directors
and trustees in charge of all our in
situations. Yet 1 do hope the time will
come when an important Maine enter
prise. like the building or extending of
a railroad or of a water company. or
a manufacturing plant, or any sub
stantial and safe enterprise can find
in the concrete form substantial flnan-
cial help in our own State. There is
a largo amount'lost in commissions by
marketing our money to our own peo-
pie through the agency of Boston and
New York brokers. 1t Is like sending
potatoes from AroOstook county to
Boston. to be again resOld in Water
Vile. We can't pay too much atten-
ton at all times to the management
of Maine money for the benefit of
Maine business 1t is the duty of the
Maine man to stand, first and last, for
Maine, and accumulated capital is one
of the most important factors in the
development of any state or country.
Much is being written of late about
investments and the financial situation
of the country in general. We have
just passed through a period of great
prosperity; money has been on the
boom. The modern method of doing
business Is largely through corpora
tions. 1t has come to pass that even
the farms. the grocery stores and the
drug stores and the blacksmith shops
have to be Incorporated to do BUSH
ness. This change in method came rap
idly upon US. The average business man
attending to his own business today as
merchant. trader. doctor. farmer. or
whatever it may be, knows practically
nothing about the law regulating or
the method pertaining to the issue Of
stocks and bonds. This fact alone has
permitted great period Of misrepre-
sentation and plumber by designing and
scheming promoters. 1t has furnished
the greatest opportunities for the issue
and sale of worthless shares and unse-
cured bonds that the world ever saw,
and there has been plenty of unscrup-
ulous schemers ready to take advant-
age of the situation.
Now my suggestion to meet this is
found in just one remedy, and that Is
education. And if I had the manage
ment of the common schools of Maine
today l would put a teacher into every
Grammar and High school grade, CIV
ing at least one terms instruction IN
the methods and management OF cor
porate business. / would send a boy
out into the world so that he would
know the difference or nc able to find
it out between a share of stock which
had been paid for and one which had
not been. l would teach him the differ
ence between common stock and pre-
ferred stock. and between both and
bonds. And until this is done, or until
a generate comes up in this country
who knows what they are talking
about when they talk about corporate
property in any form and have a fair
understanding of the subject, we shall
still continue to go on with the lying.
dishonest promoter as part of our
daily business life.
Nothing makes more for a country or
people than the possession of good
homes. The Loan and Building Associa-
tons Of Maine We're started for the
purpose of aiding in the building of
homes There seemed to be a disposi
ton among MANY of the SAVINGS hawke