The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-10
"Reminiscences of q Banke,
Major w. J. Cameron Who Led the Movement to Organize the Alabama Bankers Association Tells Some Interesting Facts of Its Early Days-How J. H. Pitts Got
 ssAhead' of B. Steiner
By CHARLES H. MANDY

One of the organizers of the Alabama
 Bankers association, which meets Tn an
 nual convention this afternoon at the Iut- wiler. was Mai. w. ]. Cameron. member
 of the board of revenue. According to the
 statement of Major Cameron the associa- ton was organized in Birmingham in
 June, 1889, with J. H. Fitts of Tusca- loosa as the first president. In an in
 terview the major gave out some very in- teresting "reminiscences of the early days
 of the association which will probably be read with interest by the delegates attend ing the present meeting.
 , Major Cameron has been identified with
 banking practically all his life, and prior
 to the election of W. P. c. Harding was
 president of the First National bank of
 Birmingham for 10 years. At present he is state agent for the Pittsburg Life 1nsur-
 ance company and member of the board of revenue of Jefferson county. He was ,, the second president Of the association
 and took an active part in it's work for
 many years.
 I The interview follows:
 The first meeting to organize a bank CTS association in this state was held at Birmingham in June, 1889
 T had the pleasure of writing the call for the meeting, and after securing the
 signatures of William Berney and other Birmingham bankers, l had the invita- 1 ton sent to every bank and banker in ] this state. We had an encouraging re- 1 sponse, and the attendance was good. We l organized and elected ]. H. Fitts of Tus- | caloosa as our first president. l remem- Der well two other venerable Alabama bankers who took an earnest interest in 1 that meeting: W. R. Rison of Huntsville and w B. Shapard of Opelika They to- l gether with many others who attended that first meeting, have passed from this 1 life.
 The second meeting at the Monte Sano hotel, near Huntsville. was well at tended, and we had a good time I had the honor of being elected president at that meeting. l only remember one thing that l did while filling that office that feel especially proud of-I appointed J. H. Fitts as committee of one to pre-
 pare history of banking in Alabama and although he protested against such appointment. I held him to the task, and the archives of Alabama were enriched by paper which showed great skill and research in it's preparation. It is now part or the history Of our State and will be more and more interesting as the l years go by.
 "l presided at the next meeting held I at Point Clear, and read a paper on the Uses and Abuses of Banks This was a good, large subject on which any of the gentlemen attending the bankers
 meeting could no doubt write a long paper any tune. l remember during my presi- dency we spent 500 in securing the arrest and prosecution of a urt,o Ia 1
 tried to pass forged checks on some of our banks. He had complete collection of
 such checks in his valise and was wanted l Tn many states. I have forgotten the re- 1 suit of his prosecution.
 I During my active connection with the
 Ala apama Bankers association recall two
 papers, which 1 read at different times. neither of which is so far out of date. nor ! behind the times, as you might suppose l considering the lapse of time
 | "One of these had reference to an elas-
 JIG currency. As l remember there was an issue of 4 per cent United States l ponds about to mature, amounting prob
 apiy 10 $ooo.OO0,OoO. l suggested the is- sue Of a similar amount of per cent
 bonds to be sold or exchanged. and the
 proceeds used in retiring the per cent bonds. The peculiar feature of the new bonds was that they were redeema bJe upon demand at any time by the Urea s. urer of the United States, but would be
 redeemed in peculiar form of currency.
 when currency should be prepared and Kept on hand at all times. Now this currency was only to be redeemable in the aforesaid per cent bond, and, as all ready stated, the bonds could only he
 redeemed in the special currency so pro vided
 My idea was that when money was
 dull and easy, banks and others would