Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-09
GROWTH OF TRUST
BUSINESS. TRACED.
Bank President Says Service
Has Increased With
Public Demand.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


ATLANTIC CITY, N. j.. October e.
ment from public demand and not OF
financial institutions seeking a new ave-
nue. to profit, ]. Stewart Baker. presi-
dent Bark OF Manhattan Trust Co.. New
York. pointed out to the trust company
division of the American Bankers Asso-
citation at its meeting at the convention
here this afternoon The public Gre
ated the trust business" said Mr.. Baker,
1t was not business extension device
conceived by financial men and foisted
upon the public in order to gain more
proftS. The order was the other way
about-humah need required a service
that virtually compelled the creation OF
institutions which could render it and
they came into being 1t Is no affectation
TO say that the perfectly legitimate mo-
tive OF business profits has been rather
remarkably subordinated in the develop
ment of trust service. Its social values
nave been SO much more conspicuous.
Public interest is intrinsic in everything
that you DO"
Mr.. Baker traced the origin of the
modern idea Of the trust to Capt. Robert
Richard Randall, founder of Sailors
Snug Harbor in New York, who with
his lawyers. Alexander Hamilton, first
Secretary OF the Treasury of the United
states, and Daniel D. Tompkins, who
became Vice President OF the United
States, took steps to make certain that
ms property should function indefinitely
IN the future. 1t was many years. how
ever, before this new and vital principle
began to be applied to other affairs, he
said.
The corporate fiduciary idea was not
sold to the public by any aggression OF
the institutions rendering it-not until
comparatively recent years" said Mr.
Baker, because il rested almost inert
through the era of small affairs before
the advent Of the railroad and Of steam
power in industry. but when public need
called for its services it arose. Techni-
celly, 1t may have been invented by
Hamilton and Tompkins. but generically
IL was created by the public. Therefore.
to the public as a whole. as well as to
It's individual trUstCrS or beneficiaries, it
owes its real allegiance
Mr.. Baker said that in this machine
age, when the trust idea mas developed
so rapidly. one very human call Is in
creaslng, the call for confidence Trust
service. he said. however much its eff
hciency may suggest the machinery.
must be human at its very ccre in that
II must be true to its name and inspire
human trust. He pointed out that so
thoroughly segregated have been the as
sets OF the trusts, so careful has been
their administration. so complete their
safeguarding by law that the thousands
OF financial institutions rendering this
service have preserved their trusts in
violate during the present troubled Pc
Rod. Even where the affairs CT the in
stitution itself have become involved,
he noted, its trusts have remained Sc
cure.
Trust service is really based upon
looking ahead and cannot avoid this
responsibility, Mr.. Baker declared. It's
duty is that of reducing contingency.
He said that at time when depression.
shrinkage and distrust have lain like a
pail over the face of economic affairs.
Irust service has shown a growth that
would be calculated to attract attention
even in period of prosperity.