The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-20
SimOnson Reports on COndi-
 tiOns He Found in the ! Midwest
BEGINNING TO FIND
 PROFITABLE USE
Thirteen Banks in the United States Now Have Deposits in Excess of One Hundred Million
 Dollars Each
By HOLLAND

By HOLLAND
 | New York, May 19.-GSpecial.) )-In mid summer of last year, William A. Simon son, vice president of the National City bank of New York, was for about six ! weeks in various parts of the west, prin- cipally beyond the Mississippi river and north of Missouri. He had opportunity | to meet many of the bankers of that section and all told him of their un- precedented deposits of money. Some of | the banks were embarrassed by reason of these deposits, not at that time find 1 ing profitable use for all the money. MT. Smonson returned to New York to re- port to his friends of the Clearing House association that banking conditions in many parts of the west, and presumably 1 in all, and also throughout the south ! were very strong and that there were rapid accumulations of money which he
 was sure would in due time find profit
 able employment.
 ! MT. Sinonson was. some years ago, one of the first of the men of his vo cation in New York city to call attention to the rapid growth with respect to
 money resources of some of the cities of the middle west. He spoke particularly ! of Detroit, saying that the growth of
 money resources of that city was making the community independent, so far as ! funds were concerned, of other parts of Pittsburg earlier, and there in the last decade of the past century the city had established practical independence so far as money resources were concerned. The
 growth of Cincinnati and of St. Louis | was of unheard of proportions in this re-
 spect One of the most striking of the l reports made to him was that of Min neapolis bankers, who assured him that l Minneapolis had already become a true financial and independent center for the
 northwest.
 1 MT. Simonson referred to the reports
 which the comptroller of the currency would very likely be able to make in the early part of 1916, which, as a whole
 would tell of unheard of increases in deposits in the banks of the United States.
 THE CONTROLLERS REPORT The comptroller of the currency, John Skelton Williams, was able to make a report on May 1. which confirmed the
 conviction of MT. Simonson
 l It shows that 5S cities of the United States have national banks which carry deposit lines in excess of $25, GOO, GOO: 25 i years ago, there was only one bank
 in the United States whose deposits ex-
 ceeded that figure, and that was the i Chemical bank of New York, with about | $30,00O000, whose growth has been, re-
 latively speaking, less than that of any
 of the banks, it's deposit line being now
 $S9.o0 900.
 A rapid study; of the comptroller's re-
 port, which was made by man familiar I with the growth of national banks since 1 1850, disclosed some pecpliar and very | suggestive features. It was not surpris- | ing, he said, that the National City bank of New York was able to report $562, ,Oo0,- 600, or substantially $200, ,0OO, eco more than
 that bank carried a year ago, because this
 institution was the depository of very
 large funds including those which repre-
 sented the Anglo-French loan. It was
 in the figures reported by some of the
 smaller banks of New York that special significance was discovered. Some of
 these have increased within a year reia- lively or proportionately as much as have some of the banks reporting depos-
 it's in excess of S10OO0O,0OO All of these
 are commercial banks and their increase | in funds tells of a phenomenal accuml1-
 lation of deposits by commercial banks
 almost all of which represent commercial l activities.
 l One of the features of ths report that ! has attracted attention relates to the achievement of two banks of Boston-the Shawmut and the First National These two banks have been keeping almost even l step since they have grown from, com paratively speaking, small banks until now they are of right included in this | remarkable list and also in the list of IS | banks whose deposits are in excess of | SlO0.O0O,000. So, also, two of the banks of l Chicago, one of which, the Continental and Commercial, has kept little ahead of the First National, are in the list, one of them having passed the $20O, ,OO0, 900 mark. 1 How great is the growth of the north
 west in financial resources is shown by the fact that the Northwestern of Min neapolis now carries $46,0O0 900 of depos- its or s12,000000 more than it did a year ago. There are two banks in Minnesota which together carry a little over $1OO,- 000000 of deposits, an increase of more tfldH 9zV,VNU,VVV III d year. lne great strength of Pittsburg is revealed by the figures, that city having three banks with deposits in excess of $25, ,0O0,O00 and the aggregate of these three is about $115, 100000. Cincinnati by it's First Ma tional bank, shows a growth of $4,00O, GOO in a year, the deposit line being some- what in excess of $27, 100000
 One especially interesting feature of this report is to be found in the assurance it gives that this increase is proportion ately maintained throughout the entire country. The south is well represented by St. Louis, where three banks-the Third. the Commerce and the Mechanic American, carry s125,OO0.oo0. There are many banks in the west and in the south which are increasing in this respect so rapidly that if this increase be maintained for another year they will be included in the comptrollers report of like char acter. The record as a whole makes it clear that prosperity and financial growth cover the entire United States.
 An OdiOus Comparison
 From the Pittsburg Chronicle -Telegra ph. A Swede was being examined in case