The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-01-31
Our National Banks in War Time.

Our National B2nkS HI war IiAhS-
 The year which just passed was the
 most momentoUs in our life as na-
 ton. our country has been subject
 ed to supreme tests in many direc-
 tions and has proved equal to them
 all.
 No nation in history has ever con
 verted so speedily its raw recruits
 into an effective Army and Navy of
 nearly for million men. admirably
 equipped and So trained as to meet
 and overcome an enemy which
 vaunted itself to be invinCible and
 which, until our entrance into the
 war, had been successful on every
 front. And our country. while per
 forming this gigantic task. was also
 raising the food, producing the mu-
 nitions, and transporting across the
 ocean the vast supplies essential for
 the support of our allies.
 To carry on these colossal under
 takiugs required expenditures of cap-
 ital on a scale which no nation had
 ever attempted The actual dtsbur5e-
 ments by the Government for the last
 few months of the war was at the
 rate of about $60,000, 900 per day; and the estimates of expenditures for the ensuing year reached figures yet more enormous. Every industry con tributary directly or indirectly to war opposes, whethe for ourselves or for the allies, including those engaged Tn agriculture. manufacturing. and in ternal and external commerce, was P,,I the capital and banking resources If
 the country have been unparallel- ed.
 The financial strain upon us would have wrecked and crumb.ed any IT. nancial system not founded on sound economic laws and governed by con servative and established principles of finance; and no system. however meritorious, could have survived such strain had not it's component parts been operated and directed by men of character and experience, willing and able to rise to the supreme de- mands of the hour.
 Through these trials and tests the 1 national banks of the country and our Federal Reserve System have passed triumphantly. Their resources have risen steadily during this period 1 of stress and strain them in this past i year of peril and extreme trial. Real ] izing that the fate not only of our | own Nation but of our civilization | at stake, these banks, generally, have, I am happy to say, with very few ex- 1 captions. done their utmost in provid- l ing, both directly and indirectly, the l revenues and the financial a nmuni- l ton without which the glorious vic | tory which has been achieved would i have been impossible. More than 1 this: From the desks and counters i of these banks there have gone forth ! thousands of noble youths who have : freely shed their blood in the cause ] of human freedom. On land and 1 sea these men have proved their de- i votion to their country and to high i ideals and many of them died the ! death of heroes for the land they 1 loved.
 1 on November l, 1918. our national , banks were employing altogether ] 69, SO6 men and 27,539 women clerks, a total of s6.S45 employees, and from i these banks there had gone into the 1 Army 14,292 and into the Navy B. 22s men. The official reports show 1 that up to November l. hundreds or 1 these men had pielded up their lives | and there were many more casualties | among them to then unreported With no hope of immediate pc
 cuniary profit from the handling of | the vast Government bond issues, but at material cost to themselves, our
 national banks have labored inde- 1 fatigably. as each loan was announc- l ed. to insure its success. Tn numer-
 ous cases where local investors have | hesitated to subscribe the amount al- lotted to their communities, the | banks freely and ungrudgingly have | assumed the burdens themselves and have taken up and paid for the fuil | allotments of each issue