Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-12-07
Branch Banks Foster
Trust, Says Sol. Levitan
ASSERTS CHAIN SYSTEM MEN,
ACES COMMUNITY AND AIDS
BIG RING
Solomon Levitan)

Branch banking is a system of suck
ing money from many communities in
to few financial centers 1t is the
'eech system of banking. 1t means the
substitution of "a few all-powerful
chains of banks for the thirty thous-
and independent banks now in this
country Branch banking is the first
overt act toward the creation of
monopoly.
The centralized control over money
credits is the most insidious, the most
1ernicious, the most arrogant trust
hat can foist itself upon nation
Any money monopoly is the overload
If all other monopollies, The group
hat controls money and credits can
-ule or ruin any industry, any individ-
al, any community, any nation. No
.lIst, no combination of trusts, can
lisobey the dictates of a money trust.
1yen though the financial tyrants
mikht exercise their power benevol
entity, they would still possess the
utility to demand, exact, and coerce;
md this country should tolerate no
accumulation of power, commercial or
political, that has strength to imperil
economic or political freedom
The fight against branch banking
las already commenced, but the fight
will progress slowly until the people
re aroused to the magnitude of the
menace. The fight is not against
weak, Sinking foe; it is against
powerful militant, encroaching in
titution. Twenty-Five states permit
ranch banking. The Comptroller of
ablish branch banking offices in
tates permitting branch banking, on
,hory that National banks cannot COM
etc without branches startling adj
mission of the inability of indepen-
lent banks to compete with branch
,anks. One bank in California has six
y branches. A New York bank has
orty branches. In Canada there are
eventeen banks with nearly five
thousand branches. Thirty-nine banks
4 the United Kingdom control about
line thousand other banks. In Ger
many and France there are a few
anks but numerous branches.
The pdependens bank extends the
63D1ng -landy tie branch bank reach
5 forth the grasping claw. The indie
endent bank seeks to build up the
community; the branch bank seeks
merely to abstract the community's
money. The independent banker lives
the community, pays his taxes and
ponds his earnings there; the branch
anker is usually a stranger, pays lit
,,e taxes, and the, earnings are distrib-
ted among stockholders residing
niles away.
3rs and local directors, wastes no time
n making loans The manager of 8.
)ranch bank, however has power to
make only small loans without consult
1g the parent bank The time con-
umed in gaining the approval of the
parent bank to a substantial loan fire
luently means the difference between
uccess and failure to the prospective
borrower. The truth is, of course, that
branch banks are more interested in
eceiving deposits than in making
esif1 cd IN
financial CENTER has a sufficient de
nand for loans without attempting to
upply the demands of the outlying
istricts. The parent bank will natural
Y cater to the voracious appetite of
zig industry for credits rather than
assist the farmer or the working man.
Your banker should be your friend
md your neighbor, not the imperson-
IL representative of a group Of finan-
3ial buccaneers. When you approach
1our banker in quest of loan, your
character is of far more Importance
han your balance-sheet.. Your local
banker knows you and your family,
appreciates your problems, and re-
joices in your success. A bank director
tie a hundred miles away, when pass
ng on your application for loan, can
consider only your balance-sheet; and
he decision is based on the papers in
jtead of on the man.
Branch banks are more for power
than for profit. Any bank operated
with honesty and diligence can make
a reasonable profit on it's capital with
only one banking house. Branches add
to the profits, perhaps, but more i'm
portant, they add to the power. They
get at the source of credits many de-
posits.