The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-08-06
FACILITIES FOR
 BUSINESS TAXED
By HOLLAND

4NeW 1Orh, August o.-(Speclal )-In the
 August circular of the National City
 bank it is stated that the country is | trying to do a greater volume of cur- rent business than it has the facilities for doing" Opinion of this kind has i been heard in the financial district for sometime. The United States, with it's industries and agriculture is carrying on such an enormous amount of busi- ness that. even with the aid of the gov ernment there is embarrassment because the facilities for meeting the requNe- | ments are not equal to the demands A few years ago the statement was made that the west or at least that part of the west which is chiefly occupied With agriculture, was gaining in pros- perity so greatly that it would soon be able to finance it's own needs during the harvest season. Prediction was
 made in 1900 by the late Frederick D.
 Tappan-who. as chairman of the clear
 ing house committee, in times of great
 financial peril, and as president for years of an important New York bank, had opportunities for learning accurately what money-market conditions were in various parts of the country-that with in 10 or 15 years the farmers of the United States would be able Themselves to finance the movement of crops to the markets Mir Tappan thought he de- tected good evidences of the coming of the day when the long established crop moving rule in this financial center would be terminated After the United States gained importance an exporter of agricultural products, the custom was in New York city and to some extent in other financial centerS to begin prepara. tions in June for meeting the call which would come late in the summer from the agricultural regions for funds In the aggregate large amounts were re-
 served for that purpose One of the Secretaries of the Treasury in the early years of the present century decided to make advances out of the present federal
 treasury in order to faci.,tate the financ-
 ing of the crops.
 The movement of money from fnan- cial centers. especially from New York to the west, represented after while in the aggregate a very large amount.
 After the farmers had financed their crops and received pay a great deal of this money was returned by Qut-o town
 banks to those of New York city.
 When the European war began the western farmers were in such prosper
 ous condition and the banks in the agricultural regions were so well forti- fled that the demand for advances from the east became very small. It almost
 seemed that Mr. Tappan's prediction was about to be verified by the event.
 MOVING THE CROPS
 Now, in addition to the stupendous financing which is in progress through out the United States and the certainty
 that before the end of September the
 people will be asked to subscribe to the fourth issue of Liberty Bonds, there comes call for aid in moving the wheat
 which is now being rapidly harvested to the markets or elevators. These are
 exciting days for the wheat farmers, especially in the northwest, for it some times happens that early in August the first frosts come. This is sure to result
 in impairment of crops. Therefore the farmers are anxious, hoping that the frost will be delayed until all the whea. is harvested. There are various esti
 mates as to the amount of wheat Tn bushels which will be harvested this year. The opinion commonly held is that unless frost impairs the harvest in the northwest the amount will be ap-
 proximately 900,00OO.00O bushels. In vlew of the fact that the price for wheat has
 been fixed there remains no reason for farmers to hold back their wheat, as il.
 the past they have done in some in
 stances ill the hope of receiving later
 in the year higher prices. Therefore, it
 is presumed that as soon as the wheaa Is harvested it will be sold by the farm CTS. Of necessity there arises demand for funds or credit with which to facili- tate this movement
 One incident associated with the financing of the wheat harvest is con- sidered or such importance that refer ence is made to it in the National City
 bank circular. Presumably in the win
 ter wheat territory there should be at
 this time a relaxation of pressure for
 funds and yet according to the City bank authorities, no evidence of relaxa- ton Of this kind has yet appeared.
 The banks. by reason of the appeal of
 the Secretary of the Treasury, are pur-
 chasing treasury certificates, which Will
 be available hereafter for payment of Liberty Bonds This entails great de-
 mands upon the resources of the banks. Fortunately there remains the federal tain to be made; in fact, is now being
 made by the banks. so that they may be able through rediscounting, to give all the aid that is reasonably asked for by their clients. The situation is not critical. The managers of the federal reserve system and the leading bankers
 Of the United States will undoubtedly be able fairly we'll to meet the situation until after the subscriptions for the fourth Liberty Loan are made