The Prescott daily news., 1916-04-21
ACCURACY OF BANN
 COMMISSION
Commissioner Davis, Secretary Treasury National AssOcia- ton Supervisors State Banks, Would Extend System |. z.

Little Rock, April 21.-Not until the administration of John M Davis, State Bank Commissioner, worked out the plan, had it ever been possible to determine accurately the banking resources of the state Now statis- tics covering all the state banks in detail are compiled from four to five times each year, and the complete re- cords are on file in the department.
 Mir. Davis, who is secretary-treas- urer of the National Association of Supervisors of State Banks, proposes to extend the system to the whole United States, SO that it will be pos sible to secure as complete and re- liable information as that provided by the Comptroller of the Currency for the National Banks, He will lay his suggestions before the annual meet ing of the Association, in Louisville, ky, June I2-14, and there is every reason to believe that it will be adopt ed. Practically all of the states now have some form of bank supervision. Arkansas being the last, and all of them belong to the national associa- tion. All are making calls for state mcnts of bank conditions, as Arkan- sas is doing, concurrently with the National Banks. As soon as these statements are compiled by each state they may be sent to the Secretary, who will compile a statement show ing the aggregate condition of the state banks for the United States.
 "The result will be amazing,' is the prediction made by Commissioner Davis, "and is SO simple that it must appeal to all The condition of the National Banks as shown by the re- cent Comptroller of the Currency is decidedly interesting, and will open the eyes of the general reader.
 The total resources of the Ma tioual banks oe the United States on March '. 1916, amounted to the stu pcndoua sum of 13,S5S million dol. lars, which exceeds by BIO million dollars the greatest resources ever shown in the history of the National banking system and shows an in- crease of 2,27t million dollars over the resources of the same banks a year ago.
 Another startling fact is that the increase in the resources of tine na- tional banks in this country in twelve months exceeds in amount the entire resources of the Reichsbank of Ger many on Feb. 15. Not only this, but the aggregate resources of the Ma tional banks of the United States at this time exceed by three thousand million dollars the aggregate resour- ces of the Bank of England, the Bank of France, the Bank of Russia, the Reichsbanb ot Germany, the Bank of the Netherlands the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan.
 "The total deposits March 2, 1916, amounted to l0.790 million dollars, an increase of 219S million dollars for the year.
 There are G5S6 nationa} banks in the country, and their total reserve is 2,2S7 million dollars, a surplus of 993 millions above the amount legally required. This exceeds by more than 100 millions the greatest surplus re- serve ever before recorded, It has been estimated that the surplus re- serve now held by National banks would be sufficient to give further loaning power of about 4O0O million dollars, should the growth and devel- opment of commerce, agriculture, or industry call for so huge an enlarge ment of credit"