Evening star., 1914-08-12

are marked mot transferable" The
Reichbank of Germany has 5000 stock
holders, and the only restriction upon
the ownership Of its stock is that officials
of the bank may not own shares. The
Bank of Italy has 10000 and the Bank
of Switzerland has 10000 shareholders.
while the Russian Imperial Bank is
owned by the government and the Bank
of Sweden belongs to the Swedish parHa-
ment. Thus the practice of the central
banks of other leading nations is on the
side of wide ownership. with few or no
restrictions. Our own history, likewise.
pointed to public ownership. OF the
s1OO0O,OO0 worth of stock Of the First
Bank of the United States the United
States owned one-ffth and the people
owned four-fifths: while of the S5o,oWoO
worth of capital stock of the Second
Bank of the United States the govern
ment and the public were the owners in
equal proportion.
While. in many respects. the wide
public ownership of the regional banks
would be very
Much to Be Said esirable.
for Adopted Scheme. there is much
to be said in favor of the plan finally
adopted by Congress. For the success
banks. it was necessary that tned'
experienced bankers should guide their
affairs. One of the best ways to insure
the services of the best men was to
make the member banks vitality inter-
ested in the success or failure Of the
reserve banks Again, making the mem
ber banks shareholders in the system
was one of the best ways Of guarantee
ing their hearty cooperation 1or us
prosperity Furthermore, this arrange
ment serves to knit the country'S bank
ing moro closely together. making the
administration of its finances less DIFF
ficult than would be the case with an
ownership by the general
public.
gress put upon the member banks the
prime responsibility of administering
these banks and safe guarding their
own reserves and their own capital
stock, and making them responsible to
the country for safeguarding the well
fare of the national banking system and
protecting the national gold supply
under the safeguard of governmental
supervision"
Congress knocked the props out from
under the argument concerning the
dangers of bank ownership of the new
system by giving sweeping powers of
supervision to the federal reserve board
"a government body-and by leaving
large HuTlDeT Ol important
to the decision of the Secretary of the
Treasury.
All but dozen of the national banks
have Joined the new system. Six state
banks have Joined.
But Few Banks and probably a
p.c hundred others. have
AsoA uso " 0oiA' membership applica-
tions ready for action by the reserve
board. A state bank to be eligible must
have been incorporated by special law
of some state or organized under the
general laws of some state or of the
United States.
1t must comply with the requirements
placed upon national banking associa-
tions as to sufficient capital reserve
limitation Of liability
and regulation of business. and as to
examination and report. In respect to
the first requirement, the national
bank act specifies that a national bank
organized in a place of 5000 or less in
ha bitants must have capital of at least
s25. 900; from 5000 to 5000 population,
a capital of $4,000; from 5000 to $4,000
population, capital of 100000. and
with a population of $4,000 or over. a
capital of 100000 In general, the