The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-06-19
The Banker.


Des Moines Register and Leader:
How many people stop to consider
that but for the banker all the indus
try and economy of Iowa could not
create within very large percentage
of the wealth that is daily added to
our credit?
We are in the habit OF attaching a
great deal of importance to labor ex-
pended In producing things and but
little Importance to labor engaged IN
facilitating their exchange. And yet
exchange is just as essential to wealth
as production.
Air is indispensable, but 1t Is not
an element of wealth because it can
not be segregated and exchanged. Wa
ter is only an clement Of wealth as it
can be bottled up and sold. Wherever
we turn 1t Is. the ability to ex-
change that makes wealth of any ma
terial possession. And wherever we
turn it is the facility with which
things can be exchanged that marks
the progress of production.
Iowa might churn butter until the
state was smothered In it and be
poor enough, il the wheelbarrow were
the only vehicle of exchange and if
every trade were made in bullion, just
as Ali Baba's brother was poor enough
In the robber cave of jewels after he
discovered that there was no way to
get them out and trade them. The
railroad and the bank mark human
progress in exchange just as the cream
separator and the self binder in pro-
duction. And the one has had just
as much to do with our success as
the other
The orange lands of California were
worth but little until car was made
for the shipment of oranges. 1t was
when an orange supply, that was
worthless and rotted on the ground,
could be promptly delivered to the
people in the western prairies that or
ange land began to look up and or
ange culture assumed proportions as
/ one of the great sources of American
wealth. It would be an interesting cal
r
orator car has done for the perisha-
BILE food products of Iowa.
1t is worth while to stop and con-
slider once in a while how far-reaching
modern exchange is, how many delica-
GELS in go, how out of the universal
their way to every table, to what mar
kets the things a state like Iowa ex-
GELS in go. how out of the universal
appetites and needs OF the human race
in all quarters Of the globe is made
up the demand that calls upon every
source of wealth to its fullest capac-
ity, thus giving employment to labor
and insuring against extreme fuctua-
tons ofSsuppiy and demand. And all
of this would be impossible If men
had to depend on OK carts, or make
their trades in actual money.
The railroad has added enormously
to the wealth of the world. 1t has
made universal distribution possible.
But even with modern shipping faciii-
/ ties, how could Iowa cattle be sold
In Europe, If there was nothing but
bullion with which to negotiate pay
ment? If every trade were measured
in actual money, delivered on the
spot and carried about in the family
wallet, the boundaries of each state
would mark the limit of transfers
and we should go back to the condi
lions that prevailed In the days wher
citizens of one little European princi
pality never crossed the boundaries
Of neighboring principality, except
ing In times of war. The system Of
exchange by which our banks enable
the Iowa farmer to ship his stock tc
Liverpool and take credit for payment
in his home bank, without delay
without uncertainty, and without loss
Is one of the marvels of human ingen
uity.
1t is a testimony to the character
of the banker that the world does
business In absolute confidence Nc
man hesitates for moment to en-
trust his goods for Chicago, or New
/ York, or Europe. The element Of
uncertainty of payment never enters
1i'eO hAo IL LIS SOOus
reach their destination he feels tina,
the money Will be awaiting him In
the bank. With all the reforms thai
have been demanded in our banking
laws 1t remains true that no indi
vidual citizen ever raises the question
of getting his money when he sells
his yearly surplus. 1t would be ar
| interesting speculation to figure out
what shrinkage of wealth would fol
low period of universal distrust o.
! our agencies of exchange.
The banker is not always vel
spoken of. He seems to bear abou,
with him too much of an air of pros
perity. The people cannot quite dis
possess themselves Of the feeling that
he is getting too much good out Of
their money. The bank is always
the show building of the town. The
people think they have built it fol-
him. But underneath all this there
is deep down consciousness that the
banker Is an important factor In
every business enterprise and that
without him local prosperity would
SOOn decline And tbo rooJ faal;n q