Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-01
BANKERS GATHER
FOR ANNUAL MEET
Woman FinanCiers to Num-
Der of 100 Also to Hold SeS-
sion in Philadelphia.

BY the Associated Press.
PHIL ADELpHTA. october 1.-Several
thousand bankers from all parts Of the
United States were here today for the
opening of the fifty-fourth annual con-
vention of the American Bankers
Association.
Nearly 100 woman bankers, represent
ing practically every. State in the Union
we're also here for the sixth annual
session of the Association of Bank
Women. Many of the woman bankers
are DELEGATES to the American Bankers
Association meeting. Miss Jane Arnot
Reid of New York, who is serving ner
second term as president OF the ASSoCld-
tion of Bank Women, will pr2Slde al
tho opening session of that organization
late TODAY. She entered the banking
field after the World War and prior
to that time had wen distinction as
portrait painter of miniatures.
See Good Business Outlook.
Visiting bankers were almost unan-
tmous in expressing the view that the
general business outlook in the country
was good.
II think the Nation is economically
q,
dent of the Hamilton National Bank OF
Chattanooga, Tenn, and president OF
the American Bankers Association.
Agricultural prospects are good; in
dustry and employment, except in one
or two lines, are active and commerce
is vigorous. Inventories of goods are
not swollen and, although prices gen.
erallv are somewhat higher than a
year ago. l do not think they have
reached the point Of imitation.
THE stock market presents a mixture
Of sound and unsound speculation, ana
it is to be hoped the better phase will
prevail. The political campaign has not
been an unSettling influence in business.
Prosperity Well Distributed.
81 feel the present era may be con-
sidered one of reasonably well diStribHt-
ed prosperity and that the year will
continue along the same lines"
Howard Wolfe of Philadelphia, presi-
dent of the clearing house section of
the association, at the opening session
of that section, stressed the Importance
of extending regional clearing houses
and a system of voluntary examination
as an important factor to guard against
bank failures.
A. ]. Veigel, State commissioner of
banks of Minnesota, recommended
reduction of interest rates paid on
deposits when necessary. Some banks,
he said were slowly committing
suicide" by paying more interest than
they can afford.
McFadden's View of Reserve System.
The Federal Reserve system faces a
grave responsibility in dealing with the
imitation in the stock market and real
estate transactions, Representative Louis
II. McFadden, chairman of the House
committee on banking and currency,
told the clearing house section of the
American Bankers Association, which
opened its f1fty-fourth annual conven-
ton today.
The risk of producing business slump
without intending to do so, Mr.. McFad-
den said, could have been obviated six
months ago if the Federal Reserve
management had been more drastic in
in the stock market. Brokers' loans at
present are greater than the credit ex-
tended to the agricultural industry, our
foreign trade and our automobile in
dustry he told the bankers.
Outlines Aim of System.
1.-THE primary thought back Of the
establishment of the Federal Reserve
system in 1913 was credit for produc-
ton, with special reference to our
domestic situation McFadden went on.
There is ample credit Of all kinds
in the United States for normal and
legitimate use in necessary tools of pro-
duction and in creating an adequate
method of distribution, in addition to
producing all we can consume and ex-