The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-16

High Protection Kills Facilities.
 upbuflding of an artificial high tariff for z time seemed se G Gattfsctive. but the bringing to light or the true facts has now disiliusioned al ail conservative and patriotic citizens. wy opinion is that high protection if persisted in will finally kill all our remaining international trade facili- ties. Comparatively few in this coun- Iry outside of those who live on the history is now on. Not a battle fought With powder and sword as of old. but a war Of trade and barter, a peace 1ul war as compared with the bloody less decisive--a struggle which will determine the fate of many peoples.
 That nation can win, which pos sessing by nature a world of resources, field of .distribtion. The United States could never be made to take second place in such a competition. Although an American by birth and long ances- my initial financial education in an English or rather in Canadian bank, Very often in those days, while trying to grasp the meaning of that great by the Bank of Montreal and similar institutions of foreign origin, I won dered why no large home organiza- tion or corporation then existed in the OHttCu GthbCn WHICH Whb iCH0CSl0hy fitted for work pertaining to those transactions daily taking place be- tween merchants of the Old World and those of our own country. It was constant source of astonishment to me that the American merchant and the American manufacturer had not that financial backing abroad which was vouchsafed to the business men Of other lands by their own banks. Not that there was then any scarcity in the United States of private firms and even banks engaged in international banking. But I found that almost banks either were of foreign origin, possessed a foreign partnership or else represented on this side some foreign bank or banking house. At pressed upon me that by far the larger portion of all strictly commercial in- ternational transactions on this slde pertained to exports and not to im- ports.
 And so the conviction came. and I think is entirely correct, that the reason for the existence in our land of these great foreign banks ana 1or@ eign private houses was primarily pe- cause ofa the export trade which we were furnishing to those countries consulted history and found that every nation aspiring in turn to worlds leading influence. became nrst a trading nation and simultaneousiy
  bankers. Such an influence was Ven ice, until Genoa seized the reins or commerce and banking from her. Flor ence and Rome had previously pos | sessed the business of the world, but | lost all commercial and banking con | trol because they were content with | their local sphe
 "At that early time there were two | distinct classes of banking. The first | or primitve banking consisted of a | sort of pawn business; goldsmiths as | they were termed in England, far back | before the teens of history. This class | be called the local bank, and was | first typified as a separate and dis | tinct business by the great banking | houses of the Florentine age The actions not so much with a view to | aiding commerce by advances upon l merchandise as for the loan of money | on local collateral and pledge. A lit- | tie later, just as the dawn of the age | of discoveries, the other class of | banking was crystalized in the estab | lishment of the Bank of Venice. The | many wars which Venice prosecuted | ing her into closer touch with the | then known world made necessary an
 institution which performed in it's
 crude way the factions of the first
 From that time on, the; Florentine
 or local banking system began grad | ually in Europe to become absorbed l or rather included with the larger | and broader scope of international ef- 1 fort. .-...-.
 And thenceforth we see the nations
 of Europe wing with each other foI I a worlds business. Genoa watched
 the signs of decay in the sister. city | Antwerp and then Hamburg. Bremen
 and Amsterdam each had her day, un-
 til London and Paris secured the | worlds commerce and consequently | also the worlds banking.
 Paris secured the worlds commerce
 and consequently also the world'
 banking.
 | If you look back upon history yoi
 will find that particular nation in th' | foremost ranks of banking which ha
 possessed the most liberal trade laws
 The nations of the earth concentrat,
 their transactions at those clearing
 points. Every flag is seen floating Il
 Just here 1t is interesting to not,
 that Antwerp was the first to devise { sch eme by which all bills of eNchang'
 drawn on Antwerp were by law mad,
 notes This made 1t necessary fot
 merchants and business men to deposi
 their coin in the bank of Antwerp st
 that they could get the notes witi | proved a great boon and impetus tt
 business. because before that there wa
 in Antwerp confusing assortment O I coins of all nations. Merchants wer'
 at their wits ends to know how to fig
 ure out actual values. The bank O
 Antwerp stepped In and took all tn,
 coin at face value, issuing its owl
 notes in lieu thereof. As long as th
 Bank of Antwerp has honestly man
 aged and It's coin not lent or divertet
 for foreign speculation or promotion
 schemes Gas afterwards actually hap
 pened) it's success was complete. Ant
 today the Bank of England, the Banl
 of France and the Imperial Bank o
 Germany (wIth improvements to mee
 modern conditionsl are in imitation O that general international bankini scheme first inaugurated by Venic
 and Genoa and later brought up to more perfect condition at Antwerp. 'In this land of ours, we have pro l gressed but a short step beyond tn | first mentioned banking plan. Like tn l Florentines we are as yet but a natio | of local money lenders. Occasional we take a hand in the financing of foreign loan. but only in the way o | investors not because of our interna tional or trade relations
 l q wish to say nothing in this ad | | dress which even remotely might b | construed as personal or selfish. Bu E this much needs to be told when tn l | history of banking is written in tn
 United States. The International Bank ing Corporation, which institution II have the honor to represent here, IS tc l day the only organized nome enoi ] looking to the upbuilding Of America i trade and acting as a direct aid | American commerce abroad throug frst-class banking facilities. But a ter all, its contribution is only a drc
 in the bucket to what could be done