Arizona sentinel Yuma southwest., 1916-01-13
BANKING BUSINESS IN J. s. IS
 NOW GREATER. MORE SECURE
(By B. F. Fly)

touching upon the annual re- port of Comptroller of the Currency Williams, but little attempt was made to do other than quote some of his very astounding figures, which, taken in the aggregate, show that the United States is the richest country, in dollars and cents, on the face of the earth.
 But, aside from these most gratifying figures the comp trollers report to Congress is Q document that must of nee eSsity command universal at tention and approval.
 He makes many recom- mendations for strengthening the banking laws, in order to give even better guarantees on the part of the banks than they are now required to give.
 The comptroller's principal recon mendation for legislation is for an amendment to the bank law authoriz- ing and directing the Department ot Justice to bring suits against usurers upon information furnished either by the comptroller or through other sources.
 Other recommendations given under A heading "To Prevent Bank Failures, Lropose: To prohibit it's officers from borrowing from their own banks; to prevent loans to directors except upon the approval of the board; to require officers and employees to give surety bonds; to limit direct and indirect loans to one individual, firm or cor poration; to prevent or limit over drafts; to require certificates of de- posit to be signed by two directors; to prevent ensures on the books Of a bank; to limit interest paid on de- posits: to authorize the establishment ot branches in the United States; to permit branches in Alaska and insular possessions; to authorize minimum in- ,erest charges-which ordinarily might De usurious-on small loans and to au- thorize the comptroller to bring pro -eedings against directors for losses sustained by a bank through the viola lon of the bank act.
 The report renews the comptroller's recommendations of last year for other egislation, including the giving of authority to the comptroller to remove directors guilty of persistent violations of the bank act
 Banks" says Mr. Williams, nearly always are broken, not by bank rob- Ders, who have come from the outside, lot by failure of customers to whom they have lent money, but by the tying up or dissipation Of the banks funds through loans to their own officers and directors, or else by direct defalcati0ns and embezzlements by trusted officers. If these evils are remedied-and they an be remedied if certain simple and much needed amendments can be SC cured to the national bank act-fail- ares among national banks can be re- duced to a negligible number, or be absolutely eliminated"
 There may be room for doubt, on the part of some bankers, against adopting all of the comptroller's rec concentrations but to the common, everyday layman they look unusually good and wholesome, and it is safe to assume that the vast majority of them will be enacted into law.
 When we stop to think of what vast country this is, what fabulous wealth is possessed by our people, what untold treasures are yet hidden rom the eyes of the world, it really reads more like a dime novel of the old days than like the facts we know them to be- No other country on the face of the earth with a population of $100, 0,000,000 people can boast of the fact that one out of every ten of it's inhabitants has Q bank account.
 No other country can boast of wealth that totals $200,000,0 ,00G,O00.
 No other country can claim gain in one year of $500,000,00O.
 No other country can boast that it's savings banks have $5,000, 100000.
 No other country can claim crop worth $11, ,OOO,O00,OOO.
 No other country can claim crop gain in one year of $6OO,O0O,OOO.
 No other country can claim a trade balance of $2,000,O00,OO0