The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-23
Statewide Branch Banking
 Advanced As Main Solution
 Of Present Credit Shortage
Authorization By Federal Statute For National Banks To Establish Branches Throughout States Where Located Offers Least Chance of Loss to Deposi- tors Claims Credit Association Executive.

there is no national or state bank
 regularly transacting customary
 banking business. no such asso- citation shall establish q branch, except by taking over an exist
 ing unit bank, or an affiliate or such association"
 "rhc purpose of Section ID, aa quoted above. Is. fundamentally. to authorize by law the continuance of banking facilities in communi- ties where, duo to economic req sons, small unit bank is finding 1t difficult 10 survive; and to au- thorize tho establishment of some sort of banking facilities in cities. towns, or villages which arc now without any banking facilities whatsoever. The line of reasoning which has led the Committee on Banking and Currency of tho Uni- ted States Senate, and q large ma jority of the senate itself, to ap- prove the limited .kind of branch banking referred to above, was clearly and comprchensiyely stated Ly Senator Arthur II. Vandcnberg, of Grand Rapids, Mich, in hls ad-- dress in the senate of the United States on May 12. 1o32, as fol- lowg:
 "Mr Vandenberg ..I have
 been one of those, and still am.
 who feel that the preservation of
 decentralized community life IS
 absolutely essential to the pre-
 seryation of the traditional Amer
 ican community character. feel,
 furthermore, that decentralizcd
 community 1ifo is impossible
 without q practical degree of de-
 centralized commercial ana
 banking independence.
 "But we confront Q condition and not theory today, and, even
 in defense of decentrnlized com
 munity life, situations readily
 may arise in which limited
 branch anking might be the
 only community salvation. Ger
 tninly 1t wonld not protect de-
 centralized community welfare,
 Mir president, to close tho door
 on a banking, facility which
 might prove to be the commun-
 ity's only way of saving the solvency of it's banking resources
 Branch banking might De this solo available facility. Neither
 does 1t protect decentralized
 community welfare to close the
 door on n banking facility which
 may be the only such facility
 available after all other banking
 facilities have failed or becn
 withdrawn. Indeed, 1t might well
 be argued that under certain
 circumstances Il recourse to Nm-
 ited branch banking may well
 prove to be the means of keep
 ing alive many decentralized
 community which otherwise
 might disintegrate through It's
 very inability to secure any
 banking facilities whatsoever"
 "In this connection, 1t may be of interest to quote Senator Carter Glass of Virginia speaking in the U. s. senate on May 10, 1892, as ollows:---"Mr President, have been now for nearly 32 years e member of the banking and cur- rency committees of the other branch of congress and of the Aen- ate. have been an intent listener and observer to all measures of importance that have been consid- cred and I assert hero that never in the whole period has any mcr- chant or business man having re- with banks ever protest ed against branch banking. No man who has wanted credit. no man who wa..ted to borrow funds with which to conduct his business has eyer fin that whole period raised ilis voice against branch banking. 1t has only been done by the bank which wanted q monopoly Of credit in its community.
 If, therefore, banks are not do- ing what they should do to take care of the credit needs of small 1t is apparent that their hesitancy has considerable in tho light of the demonstrated weakness of our structure. If tho smaller producer or manufacturer is now unable to obtain sufficient bank credit, his proper course iB to Dtrike at tho root of credit strin- gency by supporting legislation which will strengthen our banking remove the fear of an- other epidemic of bank failures, and permit the banker to pursue q normal lending policy.
 As to the criticism which has bcen directed against banks in thir possibly 1t iB Justified to Q greater or lesser extent, but lt has becn mistakenly pointed at as n symptom, rather than as an cause"