The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-30
The Financial Centers of
 the Country Hd0e Shifted
 Widely Tn Past Ten Years
LOCATION OF RESERVE BANKS WILL ILLUSTRATE GROWTH. SOME KNOTTY PROBLEMS COMMISSION MUST SOLVE.
By HOLLAND.


 New York. March 29.-(Special)-Th distinctive commercial and industrial growth of certain sections of the country since 1899 was spoken of this morning bv a man of large financial associations as likely to be better illustrated. more con cretely set forth by the designation of the federal reserve board of the reserve districts of the United States than would be possible in any other way. For some days the report has been current in financial districts that the Secretary of the Treasury, MT. McAdoo. and his as- sociates upon the organization committee have subsequently, agreed upon recom- mendng to the federal reserve board when it is organized, the establishment of 12 reserve districts The boundaries of these districts will be subsequently, outlined. In the case of all but two or three of the dis tricts the reserve cities would inevitably name themselves. It would not be necessary for the federal reserve board to name Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Saint Louis San Francisco and Cncinnatti as the reserve cities in sev- eral of the districts which the organ lization committee will recommend. These cities are the financial heart and nerve of the districts which surround them. It will be necessary to determine whether Atlanta or New Orleans, Dallas or Houston. Washington or Richmond are to be recommended as the reserve cities for districts in which these cities are located.
 | The committee may have some difficult ty in fixing upon the boundary lines which will distinguish certain neighboring dis 1 trlcts. Where. for instance, will the zone | of the New York districts be defined by the boundary line which is to separate the New York from the Philadelphia district? | Some rumors have come to the city ! that the reorganization committee. which was so convincingly persuaded when in | Boston that that city should be named | one of the reserve cities, was neverthe- 1 less somewhat in doubt about the boun- diary which should separate the New York | from the Boston district. At one time the inclination was to divide Connecticut | so as to bring the western part of the i state within the New York district zone. | But recently the impression has been | strong in this city that the committee would decide to recommend to the Ted eral reserve board that all of New Eng land be included in the district of which | Boston Is to be the reserve city. There will be some difficulty in establishing the boundary between the New York and the Philadelphia districts. That part of New Jersey which is included in the so-called | metropolitan district will be. presum- ably, located within the New York dis 1 trict.
 As It Was Decade Ago
 l Had this reorganization committee been called upon to establish reserve dis trists 10 years ago it undoubtedly would 1 have made different choice from the one which it is understood substantially | +o bov oda ThiS hpwayar would have taken place with respect to the south northwest and possibly the Ohio l river valley rather than anywhere in the I east. excepting the sections of which
 Baltimore and Washington are centers.
 The selection of Minneapolis as the re-
 serve city of a district which is to in- | clude presumably much of the north
 west is sufficient proof of the growth of | that city and of the great region which i is tributary to it. It began to be ob- | served some 10 or 12 years ago that Min neapols had become a city of independent | financial strength. It was capable o1 | financing much of the needs of the north | west It has become one of the money | centers of the country, and its growth has
 been constant since the first demonstra- | tion of it's financial independence was made, some 10 or 12 years ago. The selec- | ton of that city as the reserve city for
 one of the 12 reserve districts is of itself | a recognition of the great growth Of the | northwest.
 l As recently as the latter part of the | second administration of President Cleve-
 land, Kansas City would not have been deemed of commercial or financial i'm portance sufficient to justify the estab- lishment there of one of the federal re-
 serve banks had the present law beer put upon the statute books, say In 1894
 In 1902 the men of finance in New York spoke occasionally of the rapid growth oi Kansas City as a commercial center, and of the accumulation there of funds ir large amounts. The yearly reports o1 clearing house transactions throughout the United States have invariably told the story of the steady and consistent growth of Kansas City. How great ar area is to be included in the Kansas City district we shall not know until the or ganization makes it's report to the fed eral reserve board
 One of the best evidences of the com. mercial and financial importance of Gin cinnat is the presumptive selection o1 that city as one of the reserve cities Of the country. Presumably Pittsburg. vast as are Its interests and independent as the community is with respect to fnan- cial resources, Is to be included in the Phila delphia district. Cincinnati was ono of the earliest and for many years tho
 most important of the commercial centers
 west of the Alleghenes. Her relations
 especially with the south. are large anC intimate. Very likely it is for that reason practically decided to recommend Cincin natl as one of the reserve cities. St
 Louis, as the metropolis of that sectior of the country which F. IT. Ha rrima r