White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-03-10

particular time the best financial judgment ex-
poets that while further losses may accrue,
sometime the general level Of good standard
properties will rise, so that some of the present
losses will be reduced. Future prices at which
property will sell are always uncertain
There is no one to be blamed for what is I'M
avodably true The great fact of life is I'M
certainty. The only thing do is to recog-
nize the uncertainty and govern ourselves &C.
cordingy.
1t is true that considerable number of peo-
pie have suffered through bank failures In
time Of declining prices the banks that have
not been well managed always have difficulty.
Some also that through no fault of their
have met losses have been compelled to close
But that does not mean a total loss to depositors
Sometimes the loss is heavy, but sometimes pay
ment is made in full. In any case, funds are
tied up and much inconvenience results.
Our national banking system Is as sound as
generations Of experience have been able to
make it. Most of the states follow similar
system The nature of investments is regulated
by law, and most banks are carefully super
vised, rgidly controlled, and frequently exam
ined by government agents. While absolute
safety has been impossible to secure, it is prob
able that the records of money deposited in prop
erly regulated banks in this country would show
a series Of years that it has been in the
safest place to keep funds
Banks are an absolute necessity for the trans
action of business If it were possible to con-
ceive of all Of them being closed, starvation
would face most of us inside Of ten days They
exist to facilitate the process of exchange,
which is the basis of all business They are one
Of the main sources Of credit, on which our eco
nomic welfare largely depends.
It is apparent that if their source of currency
were cut off by people taking money out of
banks and boarding it, locking it up or hiding it
away, banking system soon would become
deranged and the whole nation would begin to
suffer losses. Loans would have to be called
mortgages Cancelled, prices would fall wages
ND
would be produced.
If all the people attempted to draw their money
from the banks, all commerce would be reduced
to barter, and universal bankruptcy would pre-
vail
While particular banks may become unsound
feel adequately certain that our bank
ing system as whole will not become unsound
If 1t ever did, we should find that the money
we had hidden away had become unsound ALSO
1t would not be possible to buy anything with
it. All exchange would be at end Even pay
ments by the federal government would have
to be suspended. While keeping money in
banks involves some risk, because possession of
property always involves risks, it Is a risk that
must be taken. Compared with the certain ca
lamity that would result If the people drew all
money out of banks the risk can be considered
as negligible
Those who are engaged in boarding currency
are probably safer class than those who
keep their funds in the banks. They are injuring
themselves and everybody else. They are in the
life and are trying to make themselves safe by
letting others carry their risks for them.
90
1t might be great personal comfort If we
could lay all the blame for our misfortunes upon
some source outside ourselves. That is why it
Is easy to convince some of US that we have not
failed but society has failed OF course 1t would
follow that If society were to be blamed for our
failures that some society must be credited
with our successes. If we want to look at it
that way we shall have to admit that on the
whole, society in this country has done very
we'll by us. Our country, over Its span Of his
tory, has been considerable Of a success
But while there is relationship Of all of us,
which we term society, that differs from each
of us, just as house differs from the individu-
al bricks in it, yet people are not bricks and
moral responsibility cannot be shifted to others.
It must rest with the individual. The same So
ciety produced Paul and Judas, Washington and
Arnold, Lincoln and Tweed, Edison and the
gang leader.
II we are to be free to make our own choices