Arizona republican., 1913-11-01
BANKERS CONVENTION
 OF GREAT IMPORTANCE
National Financial Legislation ot Great Interest-Arizona Bank
 CTS Will Organize.

George P, Edwards. publisher of the Coast Banker of San Francisco. is in the city in attendance on the annual convention of the Arizona Bankers association, of which asso- citation the Coast Banker is the of
 ficial organ.
 '.The Arizona Bankers association says MT. Edwards, lis one of the most effective bankers organizations in the United States. This is un- doubtedly due to the ability shown by it's officers, past and present. It has always had able presidents and it has always had as secretary, Nor
 ris Goldwater, who is man of ex- traordinary ability. Also one of your own towns people, Lloyd Christy, has been it's treasurer for many years
 '"The annual convention this year takes on an unusually important character on account of two great problems that confront the bankers;
 currency revision and the new income tax law. It is going to take banks considerable time to adjust their methods to the new income tax law.
 It has been the custom in the past for persons owning bonds of stand
 ard corporations or municipalities to clip their coupons and present them with their other cash items for de
 posit at their banks, where their coupons were accepted as cash items and immediately credited up to the
 depositors I do not see how the banks can afford to do this in the
 future, because, from the amount paid on some of the coupons the
 government is going to cOnfiscate one
 per cent and as some corporation l~I~ source, in other words the tax will
 be taken off by the corporation and the full amount of interest paid to
 the bond holder, and in other cases it will be deducted from the interest and only the interest minus the in-
 come tax will be paid on the coupon as the banks have not at the present time knowledge of what coupons come under one ruling and what un- der the other There are other prob lems connected with the income tax which will affect the banks also and the bankers will have to learn before they can proceed, hence they must
 go slowly in order to be right.
 "There has been a whole lot of in decision on the part of our law makers as to provisions that should constitute the new currency law. Nearly ten years ago the bankers of the United States agreed that we | should have a new currency system and that our present system was an i tiquated and dangerous in- operation and during the last five years all the 1 bankers of the country, through their | associations, have been hard at work i to secure a revised, sound currency | system. At the last national election | both parties were committed to cur | rency revision and MT. Wilson and | his colleagues in the. leadership of | the democratic party, immediately | upon taking office last March, form ulated a bill known as the Glass | Owen bill'' which provided for com | plete currency revision. The bill was | hastily drawn and contained many I crudities, absurdities and wrong pro- l visions. When I say wrong I mean 1 such provisions as the one which | mandatorially confiscated the bust l ness and property of national banks l previously chartered and established by United States laws. The bill was very drastic in many provisions and 1 very different from the present sys- | tenn. It had some very good features 1 but more bad features. As drawn it l would work very great hardship on | the farmer and other legitimate long | term borrowers. The Wilson admin istration openly said that they be- lieved that there was a financial octopus in. New York whose conduct l was injurious to the country and | that the bill was so framed as to destroy this imaginary octopus. The | whole bill showed such an absolute lack of knowledge of the banking business and of finance and such childishness and ignorance that it came in for the immediate condemna- tion of all students of finance and bankers, the very bankers who for II years had been in favor of currency revision. One very bad feature of the bill was the placing of the control of all the credits of the United | States in the hands of political ap- pointees, who would have no knowl- edge of banking. Irrespective of Il party, every man who thinks, can realize how this power would be
 used in case of political stress by politicians of any party that hap pened to be in power. The bill did
 not give supervisory powers to the
 government but did give managerial powers to this political committee.
 Bankers contend that any revised
 currency system that could be adopt
 ed should give absolute supervisory
 powers to the government, but the
 bankers claim that the management
 of the banking business of the coun-
 try should remain in the hands of the ! bankers, just as it seems wise to
 leave the management of all bus- l nesses in the hands of men trained
 in those respective businesses.
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