Evening star., 1934-10-25
.HE text of President Roose-
yelt's address last night be-
fore the American Bankers

YeltS ADDRESS lhst uiShs Sc
fore the American Bankers
Association:
am glad to be here tonight at your
invitation to speak to you informally
about some of our common problems.
AS many Of you know by personal ex-
perience, it is not a new thing for me
to talk with bankers. I have been
seeing many of your number almost
daily during the past year and half.
And let me make 1t quite clear that In
these meetings I have not done all
the talking.
I have been q good listener and I
have asked many questions. have
found there is the striking lack Of
unanimity of opinion among bankers
that characterizes many other groups
in the country. 1t has been my pur-
pose to seek out underlying agreement
in the opinions that bankers have
expressed.
Unity of Purpose Aim.
A true function of the head Of the
Government of the United States Is
to find among many discordant ele-
ments that unity of purpose that is
best for the Nation as q whole. This
Is necessary because Government Is
not merely one Of many coordinate
groups in the community or the Ma
ton, but Government is essentially the
outward expression of the unity and
the leadership of all groups.
Consequently the old fallacious no
fjny1 ~ tha hnv,Iavc tI1a ctln
and the Government on the other as
more or less equal and independent
units has passed away. Government
by the necessity of things must be the
leader, must be the judge of the con-
f1ictiug interests of all groups In the
community, including bankers. The
Government is the outward expression
of the common life of all citizens.
What is a bank and what are its
relations with the people? Why do the
people, through their Government, su-
perviSe banks? The people put their
money into banks They do this in
order to protect it and in some cases
to have 1t earn a small income. 1t
costs money to provide this service,
and therefore the banks are permitted
to invest these deposits in order to pay
their expenses and to provide a rea-
Sonable profit to their stockholders.
The public has no means Of knowing
whether the bank is making safe in
vestments, so it turns to its Govern
ment to supervise the bank Govern
ment has accepted this responsibility.
Purpose Threefold.
In its relation with bankers the
purpose of Government should be
threefold. First, to promote the con-
fidence Of the people in banks and
banking in view of the important serv-
ice that banks and banking may per-
form for the people as whole. Sec
ond, to make this confidence a real
and living thing by assisting banks to
render themselves useful and worthy
of this confidence through wise super
vision. A third purpose now offers
itself, and wish with all earnestness
to press this point tonight.
Government should assert its lead
ership in encouraging not only the
confidence of the people in banks. but
the confidence of the banks in the
people. In March, 1888, I asked the
people of this country to renew their
confidence in banks. They took me
at my word. Tonight ask the bank
ers of this country to renew their con-
fidence in the people Of this country.
I hope you will take me at my word.
need not recount the situation Of
the banks in the Spring Of 1888.
found that the restoration of banking
activity itself was my first RESPONSE
bility on assuming office. 1t was nee
eSSary that the Government throw
itself squarely into the task of bring
ing back to the banks the deposits Of
the citizens of the country. As a re-
suit of my appeal the people responded
by restoring their confidence in the
banks Of the United States.
Built Banks Strong.
The primary purpose accomplished,
it became necessary that the Congress
and the administration enact measures
to build up the banking structure so
that 1t could once more provide sup
port for the economic life of the coun-
try. Moreover, it had to be built, and
we built it strong enough so that it
could resist future stresses and strains.
Government found it necessary to
create and get under way new emer-
gency credit agencies and to use to
the fullest extent the already existing
Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
These credit agencies moved with he
roic energy, and it was source of the
Utmost satisfaction to find that when
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpo-
ration went into operation the bank
ing structure had regained a very
considerable amount Of its strength
and its vitality.
I think it is only fair to say that
never since the formation of our Gov
ernment has such task been achieved
in so short a time. Happily, the pres