The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-18

law requires. On the other hand il
is manifest that the wheels of COM
merce and industry would grow still
and silent but for the large volume of
capital which the banks place at the
command of other business interests
over s22.O00,0O
The strength of the reserve is again
brought out in considering the item of
cash assets. These assets, Immediately
available, amount to $S,502.904, or about
80 per cent of the deposit obligation
The standard reserve, except in reserve
cities, is Is per cent. In other words
the banks of Birmingham are at the
present time giving their depositors
about double the protection that the
law requires.
The stock and bond investments of
the Birmingham banks aggregate about
s3,5Oo.000. As Birmingham has only
two national banks, the presumption is
that the holdings of the banks are
largely in state, county, municipal and
industrial securities. rather than gov
ernment bonds, which national banks
would be required to hold. This is a
natural condition, but tends to give
further evidence of the disposition of
the banks to foster the enterprises of
their city. district and state.
Four Years Ago
Indicating that the growth of Bir-
mingham banks is a present condition
and not part of the 1eeting past, a
comparison with period four years
ago will be more illuminating than it
would be to delve further into history.
Indeed, it would not be so far back
to find the date since which the bank
ing capital and resources of the city
had been doubled and not far back of
that quadrupled. But considering the
situation in May, 1909. it is found that
the banks of Birmingham then had cap
ital of $2,375,000. Today they have
81, 100000 more than that sum- an in
crease of well over so per cent. In 1909
the surplus and undivided profits
amounted to s1,452,2S0. Today they
amount to over s32Oo,oO0, an increase
of over 100 per cent. In 1903 the de-
posits of the Birmingham banks
amounted to s15,695,00o. Today they
are more than double-s34, $50, ,976. In
tuiS iIiipoltdht ittiu ti0 iuNl east u
percentage also amounts to over 100
per cent.
Not only the banks but the people
of Birmingham may point with pride
to this splendid record. The prosperity
of the banks. means the prosperity of
every branch of commerce and industry,
for the banks represent and are the
concrete expression of the power which
moves the world and accordingly moves
pose the whole.
Magnificent Banking Homes
With respect to its banking houses
the city of Birmingham is extraordi-
narily fortunate. In addition to the
splendid structures which will stand as
memorials to the captains of finance as
long as Birmingham is city, other
buildings, equally as imposing and some
of them piercing a little more deeply
into the blue, are rising and will arise.
The disposition of the banks of Bir-
mingham leans strongly to the sky
scraper style of construction. but that
is not absolute. The exclusive banking
homes of the city that is, buildings
in which the bank is the only occu-
pant, are as a rule models of richness
and beauty. And in this the banks have
again proved the rule that there is no
beaten path to success, but each man
is a pioneer. Those who have raised
over their heads structure of steel
and stone capable of housing small
city in themselves have typifed the age
of the skyscraper. Those which are
domiciled in homes exclusively their
own have prospered in like measure.
As a matter of fact, the careers of the
principal banking houses of Birming
ham have been synonyms of prosper
ity and success. They still face the ris-
ing sun of southern greatness and have
not yet by any means reached the full
stature that awaits the future.