The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1922-07-22


monte" signifying a Joint stock fund.
The Germans were influential in italy
during the middle ages, especially
about the time when a forced loan Of
one per cent was levied by the city Of
Venice in III on all the property OF
all citizens. Their name for a Joint
stock fund was banck, meaning a
heap or mound, which the Italians
converted into banco and used as
term for an accumulation Of either
stock or money.
Hence our word bank has come to
US almost intact from the early Teu-
tonic word banck but with q different
Interpretation for today it means the
place where the money is kept and
not the money itself.
Banking and Commerce
Throughout the centuries of de-
velopment, banking has furnished the
motive power for commerce. And it
IS interesting to note that those coun-
tries where banking had its greatest
development were without execution
leaders in commerce and military
power. Greece, Rome, France, Ger
many. England and the United States
it sounds like a catalogue Of the lead.
ing military nations Of history. Then It
IS only a natural conclusion that
banking development has been great
est during periods Of war activities.
Napoleon formed the Bank of
France in 1900 to make more solid the
financial backing for his military am
billions. The Bank of England was
formed in 1884, for the purpose OF as
sisting the fiscal operations of the
government in its war with Franco
The Bank Of North America, the first
bank Of importance on this continent,
was founded by Robert Morris at
Philadelphia in 1881 in the hope that
it would give financial support to
the young republic. His task at that
time was TO untangle the financial
web left by the revolution.
Our present system Of national
banks came into existence in 1864 az
direct result Of the unsatisfactory
financial conditions which prevailed
during the Civil War. Then again
our latest development In modern
banking. The Federal Reserve Sys.
tenn, came during the earlier stages
of the World War.
The Modern Banker
The American banker Of TO-
cay has written for him on
the pages Of history the mis-.
takes and strong points Of all past
banking systems. He knows what
to avoid-what to use out of that his.
tory as he reads. That is why the
dollar is the monetary standard of the
world today and the United States is
in the lead among the financial
powers Of the world.
But to the person who stands be-
fore the teller's window Of a modern
bank and looks in at the complicated
yet smooth working machine the
bank has an appearance of mystery
He adrnires but he does not under.
stand il. Many business men fail IN
utilize the banking resources Of tbfs
city to best advantages because thew
do not appreciate the true relation
which banking bears to business. As
a matter of fact the fundamental
work Of a bank is extremely simple
IL Is merely taking the funds which
have been paid in by stockholders
and deposited by provident people and
turning them over to the enterprjsine
men Of the city for productive use in
the building of industry.
My understanding of the purpose
Of this series of talks on banking is
that the writer's are to treat Of the
banks from without. to show how
they touch the interests Of the CITY
and to get the point Of contact from
the customers viewpoint 1 have de-
waited from this purpose because I
believe that in order to appreciate
the modern bank-you have to stop
and consider the extended growth of
banking and the powerful nations
that have arisen because their banks