The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-02-11
NATION is SOUND;
FACES RICH ERA
Comptroller. of the Currency Re-.
ports on Conditions.
LABOR HAS A PART TO PLAY
Review Says Country ls en- Firm Basis
With SIS, ooo, ooo, 900 in Bank Re-
"a .sourees-Lower Prices Hinge
on Middlemen.

Washington, Feb. S.--The country
is now in many respects on sounder
basis, economically, than it has been
for years, Comptroller of the Currency
John Shelton Williams informed con-
gress in what he described as his
seventh and last annual report"
DefiatiOn, obviously inevitable
year ago, has come, he said, and prices
Of many basis commodities and raw
materials have returned to pre-war
levels or below.
1T now remains for the middle
man." the comptroller declared, Ito
adjust his profits to the new prices
before the ultimate consumer will re-
ceive the benefit of the reduced cost
of living"
Labor Must Help.
Labor, however, Mr. Williams said,
must soon determine whether a shut
down and idleneSS are to be preferred
to lower wage scale which takes into
consideration the lower living charges.
Mills and factories cannot afford to
modities at prices the public can afford
to pay, he asserted, and it is better
for the manufacturers to operate and
produce goods at cost or at a very
narrow margin of profit than to close
down entirely.
Participation by labor with capital
in the profits he suggested as the
only principle to restore business.
when conditions abroad become
more settled or stabilized" Comp
trOller Williams declared in a summary
of the present outlook, "and when
at home much needed adjustments are
effected in the costs to the consumer
Of steel and iron products, which are
still quoted at twice their prewar
price, and when coal for which the
government itself has paid in recent
months as much as four times the pre-
war prices, and certain other cOmmOdi-
ties which are now being kept up arti-
hclally or as a result of mOnOpOliStic
control far above the prewar figures,
get back TO normal. our country. reSid-
ing on solid foundation. will be pre-
pared to enter upon "a new, and. let us
hope, long enduring era of prosperity
and healthy progress
During the fiscal year ended June 80,
1920, the comptroller said, there we're
S,157 national banks III operation. the
highest number ever reported, and de-
spite the difficulties encountered. they
made the best record in immunity from
failure in about 40 years
The percentage of the capital of
failed banks to the total of all banks,
he explained, was about 2-1OOO of | per
cent, or 16 times better than the aver
age for the entire 81 years since the
inauguration of the system.
Combined Resources $50, 153, 7o4 900.
Combined resources of all banks in
the country on June 80 1920, includ-
ing national, state and federal re-
serve, the comptroller said, aggre-
gated $59,153, 100000.
Figures showing for the first time
the business Of the principal borrow
ers from national banks were present
ed by the comptroller. Loans and dis
counts on November Is, 1920, he said.
aggregated 3,764, 100000, of which
loans to farmers and live stock raisers
amounted to 81, 99S, 100000, or IA per
cent; loans to manufacturing concerns
Appropriated $2.S62. 100000, or 81 per
cent; to merchants. mercantile con-
Germs. individuals in the jobbing BUSH
ness and trading wholesale and retail,
1851. 100000, or 26 per cent.
During the last fiscal year, the
comptroller reported, three presidents,
eight cashiers of banks and 80 as
sistant cashiers, tellers, bookkeepers
and others of national banks were
convicted OF criminal violations Of the
banking law and sentenced to terms
Of Imprisonment running up to six
Sears and varying fines.