The Crittenden press., 1920-07-27
BURIED TREASURE

credit with which To carry on thei
customers business without u stric
rationing Of funds is that an un
usually large proportion Of the cir
culating medium has been withdraw
from daily use. This credit shortag,
is SO acute that in most parts Of tn,
country bankers are every day com
PEELED TO refuse 10 make modcrat,
loans TO clients whose personal stand
ing is beyond question.
In times Of panic the selfish ant
timid draw their money out Vt thu
bank in gold or currency ard secret,
their boards about thclr person o,
premises. Socks stuffed with coin ar,
concealed in socks or tcapOtS full OF
money are buried under countless
hearthstones
No such conditions exist today. The
buried treasure whose absence bank
ers mourn is not concealed in socks
or teapots, but in the pocket Of the
owners. Financial authorities say
that the average American is carry.
ing about in his pocket any where
from five to eight times the amount
that be used To carry before the war
Millions Of workers whose incomes
amply justify the use Of banks and
checking accounts still court the risk
and inconvenience Of keeping large
sums about them. Rich men, on the
other hand, are notorious for the
lightress Of their pockets. Five or
ten dollars and blank check or two
often meet their daily requirements
when they are not away from home
Men refrain from opening check
ink accounts not because they dis
trust banks and bankers but sim
ply because they have not outgrown
that boyish feeling that a palpable
cylinder Of bank notes on hip or
thigh confers deeper sense Of be-
ing well heeled than few figures
in book and the power TO check
against the sum of those figures rep
resent. Such men are usually quite
unaware that the matter is not a
purely personal one; and they would
lie sincerely puzzled if they were
told that their pocket boarding work
ed injustice upon their friends and
neighbors who are finding 1t hard
to borrow at the banks.
The banking power Of a nation is
not only by the amount Of
money outstanding, but also by the
rapidity with which the circulating
medium moves. II we were asked
how many trolley cars would be re-
quired to permit a five minute SER
vice on a route given number Of
miles in length We should have to
know the speed at which the cars
were to move. II they could make
but ten miles an hour twice as many
would be needed as il they could do
twenty miles Furthermore, IL the
president Of the company were an
eccentric old pocket hoarder who in
sisted that one-quarter Of his cars
always be kept in the barns where
he could gloat over their vanished
beauty, that fact would have to be
allowed for his whim would cost the
public twenty-five percent Of the ser.
vice 1t might otherwise enjoy.
On the same principles, money in a
bank multiplies its financing power
In direct ratio TO the speed with
which il circulates; and this fact
gives enormous banking and COM
mercial advantages To population
that banks its income and pays by
check over people whose money
spends most Of its time in boarded
dleness.
London became the money center
II the world not by great prepon-
ierance Of financial resources over
hose Of Continental neighbors, but
by the willingness with which En-.
,lishmen allow bankers TO keep their
money for them. The bulk Of En-
ylish funds being mobilized under the
command Of bankers could readily
De Unanswered, deployed. recalled or
sent hither and yon at will, whenever
is use would command the highest
return. 1t was only natural that the
nimble sixpencc outran the stay.at-
nome franc or the slow footed mark
and made its power felt in every
quarter Of the globe. II American
dollars will do likewise they can
beat the sixpence at its own game,
when once that game is well learned.
There was never a better time than
today to dig up our buried treasure,
open bank account and set our
Stacker dollar to work for ourselves,
our neighbors, and our countryside
hrday Evening Post.
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