Evening star., 1921-09-25
BANKING DEMANDS ABILITY iii!
AND UNQUESTIONEp; HONESTY
No Royal Path to Wealth and Ease.
Shareholders, Depositors and Com ''.
munity Must Be Considered.

, thanks to the federal reserve banking
act.
d. r. Crissineer. controller of the
currency. has taken laudable stand
IN the matter of the granting of char
ters to new banks.
If the field is occupied if there is
! palpably no need or demand for an
| other bank in city or a neighbor-
hood, he refuses to give a charter TO
an applicant. He has refused large
number of applications, generally TAX
| ing the word of the bank examiner
Of the district regarding the necessity
for additional banking facilities.
But new banks may be organized
under state charters ad lib. and the
controller Of the currency has nothing
to say regarding them. In Washing
ton, fortunately, the controller has
surveillance of all banks; state. ma
tional and trust companies. Every
one agrees that there are too many
banks in Washington, but the sue
cessful institutions need not worry.
The operation of taking a WORTH
while account from one bank to an
other is not performed every day or
every week, and the other kind of
accounts are not sufficiently profit
able to warrant any serious attempt
to win.
A new bank must go far before
daylight sends shafts of sunshine
through the windows, with profits
worth while.
few fixtures. desk. typewriter.
records and a bookkeeper and re-
ceiving and paying teller do not make
@ bank.
Brains. character, a record for ac-
complishment, experience in minor
positions in banking. gradual ac-
emulation of great experience and
the establishment of reputat ton for
upr ghtness. veracity and ability.
with the proper business associates
~ Il
time for a measure of success.
A banker should be trained to the
business.
May Lonn On Real Estate.
Under section "a of the federal re-
serve act, national banks may make
| loans of real estate for one year up
to so per cent of the assessed valua-
tion of the property.
This section of the reserve act will
enable property owner to make
t m,yorary loan on property, when
necessary, or when the going interest
rates are likely to come down within
year or less and lons-term loan
does not look especially inviting.
The Payment Of a Check.
going on for many days on the Ques-
tion of payment of checks before and
after banking hours. Frequently
checks given for gambling losses
have been paid just ahead of the ap-
pearance of the maker with intent
to stop payment.
Not infrequently the payment on
checks of this character have been
stopped. and many checks are dis
honored on the advice of the maker,
for diverse reasons.
Judge Patton, the very able counsel
of the American Bankers Association.
has decided the question of how and
when bank may cash a check, leav-
ing it entirely at the option of the
banker, so long as it is cashed. if
presented in business hours, but it
may be cashed at the option of the
banker before or after business hours.
This is broad Interpretation of
the law in the case, although the
conservative banker will hesitate to
take advantage of the right to make
payment out of regular business
hours, unless there is mighty good
reason therefor.
Multum in Parv0.
when the toilet sign is put up in
the League of Nations headquarters
the logical new tenant will be the
Anti-Saloon League.
The Railroad Sieuatfon.
The Guaranty Trust Co. of New York
city has been facing facts lately and
dares to tell the truth on other mat
terS as We'll.
In its review of the railroad stu
alton it calls attention to the fact
that larger net earnings of the rail-
roads of the country for the last few
months do not mean that railroads
are on a profitable basis, for they
are not"
Attention is then called to the fact
that apparent betterment is the result
of drastic economies in operating eX-
penses, reduction in working forces
and the postponement of repairs and
maintenance. 1t is estimated that
i: the total deferred maintenance item
amounts on ways and structures to
$500. 100000 and on structures to
$175, 100000. The freight carried by
; the roads during the first six months
of the year amounted to 780,000,0Oo
tens, as contrasted with l.020,000,00o
tons during the corresponding period
last year Fewer passengers were
carried.
And it should not be forgotten
that, despite efforts of railroads to
increase by every possible means
their net earnings, they are not max
ing, by a considerable margin, the IL
per cent return, as contemplated by
the transportation act, on the Inter-
state Commerce Commissions tenta-
tive valuation of their properties"
The review suggests as the best
available aid to Unemployment
funding of the existing Indebtedness
of the railroad companies on account
of capital expenditures while the rail-
roads were under federal control.
This would give the roads $500.000,eo0
financial position and make possible
much needed expenditures for main
tenance, improvements and eXpan-
sion."