Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-12-23
The Banker of the Future

Addrss. to Chicago Bankers Club.


II any one OF us were to attempt TO picture
what we would regard as the ideal banker OF the
future in America, We would give such man
much larger equipment OF learning and wider
range OF experience than we ourselves have had:
The ideal banker of the future should be well
grounded in economic principles and in the
theory of banking. He will need a familiarity
with international affairs, and il he is to occupy
one OF the most important positions, that famii-
arity should have been acquired through per-
sona contact with the problems OF finance IN
the great financial centers OF the world. One
OF the most important things that branch bank
ing is going to do for America is to serve as
a school to educate the bankers OF the future.
1t is going to give q new generation OF bankers
an understanding OF international relations and
knowledge of International practice; II VIII
give us at least few bankers who are lingusts,
because they will have acquired practical facility
with languages by residence In foreign capitals
as managers of American branches.
The ideal banker OF the future will know the
practices and personalities OF the worlds imam
cial ccntcrs, and with that broader experience
will form habits of broader thinking. With such
wider experience and broader knowledge will
go hand-in-hand great modesty about our rela-
tons to the financial affairs of the world. Our
ideal banker OF the future will not be boasttu
concerning the~ ability of America ito dominate
world banking, because he will better know the
difficulties to be encountered in the worlds bank
ing field and more clearly apprehend the lmita-
tions that are upon US. One OF the best things
about the ideal banker OF the future, knowing
his own country and the world better than we
do, will be that he will escape provincialisn, he
will avoid sectional prejudices, and upon such a
foundation he will develop such fair reminded pol
icies will attract to him confidence and friend
ship and repel suspicion and antagoniSm. With
such an equipment, he will become more than
an ideal banker and will more nearly approach
being an ideal citizen, because he will have the
equipment and experience which will lead him
to think clearly and on the broadest lines in
regard to the relation Of his business financially
economically and socially, to his community and
to his country. &
great influence in international financial affairs, il
we are truly to merit 4 leading position as world
bankers, we must do . good deal more than
merely create hugs totals. Obviously, we must
grow generation of bankers thoroughly COM
petcnt to handle problems Of international finance
Not ali bankers win need that training, but
those who are engaged with the responsibilities
OF developing our international position will, in
one respect at least need the helpof every banker
in the country Wevcan have no great interna-
tional position y. finance unless we have at home
bankers who will rise above sectionalism. There
must be no provincial jealousies Of one section
by another, OF one city by another, If we are to
exert our best force in the field OF international
finance. Almost any intelligent man would rec
ognize the fallacy of community in the interior
Of the country Directing to shoulderng just
share OF the responsibility for military prepared
ness because it happened that the borders Of the
country were far away from that community
and the danger Of invasion of such community
therefore was remote. In just the same sense
the banker In the small interior town should
comprehend that he is as vitality interested in
the international exchanges as is any great bank
in New York. The truth of that seems to me
perfectly demonstrable. The state Of the inter
reserves are related to the whole credit structure
Of the country. There are put iH action forces
directly affecting the interests Of d bank in Okla
homa the moment that gold demand affects
reserve in New York
purely agricultural community should un-
derstand that It may have as real an interest in
the development Of foreign trade as do indus
trial ccnters directly concerned with the matter.
In like manner, labor ought to see that its wei.
fare Is as truly related, if less Directly to sound
finance as are the fortunes Of the capitalists
concerned We are all interested in what is
right what Is fair and what is efficient. The
loafer the Stacker, the incompetent, hurts us all
An unwisely conceived and badly directed enter
prise does not stop with causing loss to the
people who put money into It. 1t indirectly in
jures every workngman, every class of society.
Unsound fnapce,s inefficient industry, unwise en-
terprise, may each in their way be as wasteful
to nation as war itself The restrictive rules of
union labor, which may cut in half the unit of
days work, or the restrictions of unfair trade
combinations, prevent the economics of free
play of business will both bring in their trade
real hardship to be borne by society. Bad gov
ornamental policy that unwisely interfcres with
business may be as costly as the preparation to
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