The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-24
Banks Busy Getting Money
Ready to Meet the Great
Demand Expected
PROSPERITY COMES
WITH BIG HARVESTS
Only Possible Complication Seen Is
the Adjustment Which May Be
Necessary to Fill Require
ments of Law
by HOLLAND

New York, July 23.-tS pecial. mo infor-
nation from other parts of the country is
more eagerly sought or, when it comes.
more carefully studied in banking circles
than are the private reports which tell of
the promise of the harvest. There seems
to be strong opinion among bankers of
whom Frank A. Vanderlip of the National
City bank is type that the harvests OF
this year are likely to make a new rec
ord The bankers qualify this statement
however, by saying that the latter part of
July and all of the month of August will
pass before anything that can be accepted
as an accurate statement of the abundance
of the harvest will be possible
The American bankers, at least those
in the large cities, look upon the harvest
from two points of view. One is familiar
everybody knows that the magnitude of
our harvests has for years, ever since
American agriculture formed the impor-
tant portion of our exports. entailed spe-
cial preparations on the part of those
who control cash or credit so that the
crops can be instantly, at least so far
as the farmers are concerned converted
into cash or its equivalent For many
years the farmers insisted upon currency
They had to have actual cash in bills of
small denomination so they they could
pay off their harvesting hands In re-
cent years. banking facilities have been
SO extended that it has bene practicable
for many farmers to pay their harvest
hands by bank check, yet the demand
fol currency continues to be very large in
the harvest season. The banks of New
York, for instance, must prepare them
selves in midsummer for the withdrawal
OF the deposits they have received from
banks and other parts of the country.
Furthermore, they must be ready to make
loans to aid in the crop movement, since
it is vital that there be no congestion of
the crops at the harvest fields.
This is what is called a seasonal feat
ure' of American banking life, and the
greater the harvests the more extensive
the preparations by those who have re-
sources in cash and credit for meeting
these seasonal demands.
But there is another point of view with
which the public is less familiar. Mr..
Vanderlip has spoken of it, not pubisly
but to his correspondents, doubtless be-
cause he recollects clearly what the ex-
perience of the fall of 1912 was. It is AK
iomatic that successful harvests mean
business activity. Last fall when there
was certainty that the harvests on the
whole would be enormous and in some re-
spects record making, business men all
over the country began to reflect in their
own activities the energy and triumphs
nf hn AYaaa arfn f.,.- rrI
most suddenly great revival of business
activity consequent almost wholly upon
the magnitude of the crops of last sum-
mer That caused demand to be made
upon the bankers for credit or funds, and
as these were what is known as "legiti-
mate demands" not being speculative for
they were based upon the manufacture
and sale of commodities, the banks felt
obligated to meet them so far as pos
sible