The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-01-16
RECENT GROWTH OF
 NATIONAL BANKS
By HOLLAND

| NeW York, January 15.-(Special.) )--J ohm
 Skelton Williams, comptroller of the cur-
 rency at Washington. is authority for
 the statement that the resources of the | iatlonal banks that are established in the
 southearn states are today greater than the aggregate resources of all of the national banks of the United States as tnese were reported 20 years ago. In that statement, contained in a few words. is
 disclosed one feature, hitherto unobserved, ! or the recent growth of the national | banks, especially since the establishment ] or the federal reserve system
 m longer and official statement the comptroller reports the resources of the national banks of the United States in
 the aggregate as these have been dis closed by the annual reports of these | banks. The figures themselves with e,iT | any explanation, are sufficiently large to
 TX the thoughtful eye upon them. For
 MT. Williams reports that the resources
 Of the national banks in the year 1919 were in the aggregate almost exactly
 s22, 44S 900, 900. These resources are so great, If 1t were practicable to segregate them ana apply them to the extinguishment of ] the debt of the United States as the Sec
 retary of the Treasury Mir Glass. has recently reported. it would almost liqui- date that debt The resources have been
 growing since the end of the year 1918 so rapidly that today they are e;ett i,uEdred and twenty nine hundred million
 dollars greater than the increase re- I sources by the national banks in any l previous year.
 | The influence of the federal reserve system in bringing about not only won | derful aggregate resources, but also in | tempting capital to make investment in bank stocks in which new banks have
 been established. is made plain by Mir Williams statement. Eight thousand hanks are now under the supervision of the government, and since the federal reserve system was established little more than thousand banks have been I chartered and in operation.
 1 Another feature disclosed by MT. Will 1 liaps is the fact that under governmS.- supervision and regulation these national banks have been so operated during the past year that there was no failure that I involved the loss of single dollar to a depositor during the fiscal year. WHAT THEY HAVE EARNED " These figures are not made exclusively possible by the great growth of some I Of the banks in the New York financial district, and in one or two other finan- cial centers, although one of the New York banks now reports resources in ex-
 cess of billion dollars. and two or three others are gaining strength so rapidfy
 that within year or two the number of billion-dollar banks in this city may De -four or five Nevertheless. the increase in deposits and in the aggregate resources ] or the banks has been made throughout
 the entire country. Every section mas
 gained proportionateiy with the gain in
 the New York financial district. In fact,
 the aggregate gain in resources of more than. $S0,000000 is almost exactly e-e
 gain in the resources of the national
 banks in what are called the country districts, or in other words. those which
 are not in the financial centers.
 l A NOTION-WIDE CONDITION The earnings of the banks reflect the prosperity of the corntry. They show I that the prosperity did not begin to de- cline after the armistice was signed, all
 though many apprehensiops were voiced
 that there would be falling off with.
 the close of the war They represent stu. pendous domestic commerce of the United States. as well as our foreign trade. This | domestic commerce Is estimated to have reached in money $5, 900, ,O0Q. .0Q0. The banks
 have earned in the year 1919 about
 billion dollars, represented in bookkeeping
 as gross earnings, while the net earnings have been approximately at the rate of
 a million dollars day, not including l Sundays.
 l KEEPING STEP WITH BANKS 1 A day or two before Comptroller Will Hams published statement wnose ii'paraIlel has not been recorded either rel atively or absolutely in the banking his- tory of the United States. the superin- tendent of the banks of New York state, George A. Skinner. sent to the legisla-
 ture report which shows that the state
 banks have been keeping step m the progressive advancement with the na-
 tional banks of the United States Csins
 round figures. Mir. Skinner's report snows that the resources of the state banks were $500, ,00o0Oo. almost exactly lOo per cent increase over the resources or these 1 state banks as they were the year ne- I fore the European war began. Therefore kif we add to figures which were riven by Mir. Williams. those which have ueea