New-York tribune., 1910-07-15
BANKERS SEE LESS
BUSINESS ACTIVITY
conservative Optimism" the
Prevailing Feeling at State
Convention.
ADDRESS BY MIR. VREELAND
Wouldn't Put Central Bank in
Full Operation Till 1880. Date
of Maturity Of 2 Per
Cent Bonds.
ADDRESS BY MIR. VREELAND
rBv Telegraph to The Tribune !


relation 10 the general business outlook,
| It is the prediction of representative up
! state bankers that the coming fall will
probably be q period of restricted business
| activity. but all have an abiding faith in
| the bettern1ent Of conditions in the not dis
| tant future. while there is no dissent from
| the opinion voiced by various speakers at
| to-dsy's session that the increasing ten
dsncy to extravagance must be controlled
| and that the currency system must be re-
| formed.
| Cooperstown is off the main travelled
road, but the registration up to the opening
| Of the business session this morning was
| larger than that for any year-aImost four
/ hundred-and the number was later in
/ creased nearly one hundred by the ar
! rival of members who aimed to reach here
! in time 10 attend the annual dinner this
evening
! President Ledyard Cogswell called the
| convention TO order this morning and deIiv-
cred his annual address, the references in
which to the desirability of less legislation
| in the future and to the obligation on his
| hearers as bankers to use their influence in
their home cities and towns to curb ex-
travagance were heartily applauded. Mr..
| Cogswell said in part:
year Of the administration of President
/ Taft. We have seen long session of Con-
| gress adjourned. We have heard if we
/ nave not read. the bills that the admins
/ tration has had passed by Congress-. These
! new laws are to be tried out Let us be
| loyal and give them a fair trial and hone
| that they will benefit the country but I
/ am sure that we, as business men. feel
| that If we were only let alone for little
| While we would get our feet on solid
ground again We shall hope that the
| coming year will be one Of quietness and
prosperity The outlook for our crops.
which are the wealth of our country, is
excellent The basis of our mercantile and
| manufacturing interests is firm and solid.
! We have all become more conservative in
our methods, compelled by our experiences
| in 1901. The only great menace which
| creates uncertainty and unrest is that of
| our extraordinary extravagance, not only
in us individually but as shown bv the
great expenditures of the nation, the state.
the city and the town
Total Membership Now 731.
The secretary. William J. Henry. present
ed his annual report which showed that
out OF more than four hundred institutions
and bankers eligible for membership a wear
ago l4S had meanwhile joined the associa-
ton, the net gain in membership having
been 10, bringing the total to 731
The president then introduced Represent
ative E. B. Vreeiand, chairman Of the
House Committee on Banking and Currency
and v1ce-chatrrlan of the National None
tary Commission, who took as his topic.
Shall We Have e Central Bank?''
Mr.. Freeland, who spoke for an hour and
| twenty minutes, was listened 10 with the
closest attention and was cordially ap-
plauded, vote of thanks being given hin,
at the close Of his speech. He advocated
the principle Of A central bank with the
necessary notifications to fit the conditions
in the United States. but expressed the
opinion that 1t might be wise to defer put
ting such an institution into more than
partial operation until 1890, the date Of ma
turity Of the government 2 per cent bonds
the question Of making provision for the
national banks enormous holdings of whic,
without heavy loss to those institutions
| having been one of the most perpIexins
problems in the working out of plan for
central bank.
Important Questions Coming up.
In opening. Mr. VreeIand referred to =
previous speakers remark that predictions
that the postal savings bank bill would not
become 4 law had failed saying that the
bankers waited until too late TO exert them
selves against the proposal, not moving
until after il had been placed in the pIat-
forms Of the two great parties, being passed
on by the people, and had become a pledge
70 be executed into law. The bill Of year
ago. he went on, would have been injurious
70 the bankers of the United States but he
placed on the statute books would be harm
ful to them. Other questions were coming
I'D. he continued, much more important
than that OF postal savings banks, and on
these the bankers could make themselves
heard
Reform Of the banking and currency sys-
ten. Of the United States Nj vreeland de-
scribed as the greatest question before the
people II his hearers could be assured Of
even level business during the next ten
years their minds would be easy. but every
banker took into consideration tbs posi-
bil.ty Of money panic
There would be depresstons in business,
due 70 crop failures. TO war or to other
great causes which could not be avoided,
but the money psntcs Of 1873, 1929 and 1907
were unne ecessary and were due entirely 70
defective banking and currency methods
The other great commercial nations, with
their better systems, had not had 2 panic
in nearly half century
"Branch Bank System Un American"
The free banking system, Mr.. Vreeland
said under which twenty-four thousand
hanks or twenty-four thousand banking
units have been established, had been of
great benefit in building up this country.
and he declared vigorously against the
branch bank system as n-American. What
was necessary was 70 correct the defects in
the free banking system. which. while II
worked exceIlentIy in fair weather, fell
spart tu time of trouble, when every one OF
the twenty-four thousand units looked after
IFS own safeguardings, without reference to
the others.
Discussing the defects of the system
the speaker mentioned as the first the
lack Of training in finance Of many bank
officers. who living in small towns might
hs physicians or lawyers A leader
needed like the Bank OF England in
Great Britain, the raising or lowering Of
the discount rates OF which was an in
dioation 10 all Of the banks of trouble
ahead or ended. In the second place, bet
ter protection of the gold supply
headed Again there must be elasticity
IN the currency system. for an increase OF
circrIs ton to move the crops and q de-
crease in the spring. after the movement
vas over could never be had while the
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