The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 23, 1903, Page 6

THE SA FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1903 PROSPERITY OF AMERICAN NATION IS EXTOLLED BY COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED MEN OF FINANCE Hon. W. B. Ridgely| Presents Able | Address. i Deals With Money| and Business Situation. ROSPERITY and the enormous esources of the 1 d States themes discussed at the | X an Bankers’ t the Cali- wes & and visitors here large attendance of dele- President Cald- vention to or- 1 desire to hear jam B. Ridgely, o Currency of the United | “The Business Situa- | and the paper an, cashier of Bank, Hous- Supply of the president of Wells- Francisco, was to ress, but he was not | was evinced 1n which is a feature ¢ the Bankers' Asso- selects a speaker, five minutes, and state- f the conditions in the the section of country from which he mes. Tk was but one keynote to | the statements yesterday, All told of | ndiess prosperity and enormous in- re business and products | e quest s to whether the banks association should do the bonding | es in place of accepting | and guarantes com- | brought before-the Cun~4 as been under considera- | the last five years and on Wed- | a committee presented | oring the association taking | steps f bonding branch. A vig- | orous fizht ensued on Wednesday over | mmittee’s report and it was de- s recommendations to amend t falled to segure a required, from the n was introQuced mittes o nued for vesterday be The resolution revailed RIDGLEY EPEAKS. le ess Is Delivered on Busi- | ness and the Currency. listened to nd at 1 d its close were given to the speaker. was renewed agaln and 2 Comptr Ridgely was m and bow his wledgments. es : to the able Comp- e Currency was carried by a . g the 3 ¢ very ve and pros- . wing of 1893, there has arke ment in the funda- | the amount have produced y true among the | asses. who have not | t of debt have | operty of all kinds | r before. There | | n the volume of a great in circu 3 ke period and | nt of this increase has been in | > add about $80,- | circulation and ¥y in business has ' ) very best foundation. It s been the result of most legitimate | roes, and all these are mot only | E ration. but give every evidence of uance As Is always the this m ase, however, of activity has amount of spec. bonds and eec vement ore and more expanded. In n and promotion espec we | with the Inevitable result apse, and such & decline in re becoming alarmed and it not end the | This causes | business for financial ation, or Governmental aid uation &s it exists at the While these fmportant ques- more or less connected and in- usiness situation is not to any due to currency or financial is not to legislation we should anent relief. If we had & a more elastic, currency have been spared from some penc’ ok for perm o s e o e | s P out of genc . e’ it be so much | T oney market. But, on the there had not been the most ab- te confidence in the soundness of our cur- bances in the markets for se- ast two years would proba- 4 very much farther, and doubt- a serfous crisis with severe in- commercial depression. If there | large surplus revenue and in the United States Treas- ary might mot have been able r the mssistance he has to the money market on several occasions when he checked - to causes eni e that y or Governmental finance there are some changes in our ancial system and paper cur- h are needed and which might be | very great advantage. If they were these changes might mow be very this situation is mot due to the | em. We should make such & change rely apart from all | | | the co on and disbursement of the na- | tional revenues as will prevent the with- | rawal of vast sums of money from business n most meeded. t Government f There is nothing so ds that they sacred - 4 mot be hundled through the banks like people’s funds so they would produce the ast possible derangement of business. If any the great corporations should handle its nds .as the Treasury of the United States - such & vast sum of cash in sk up legislation would immediately to stop it. We should at once egislation as is needed to have the stop it and let money and business me as much as possible. The Jess the Gov- rnment has with business and business the Government, the better for both. Y REFORM NEEDED. ever in_currency reform who wish to see the silver withdrawn down t is practically subsidiary leaving nothing in cireu- s ‘coin or certificates, and q | tion by gold reserves or tssue and redemption th tter of indifference to the | r credits remained with were circulating as notes mand th Thit is the only true solution of our currency matters, #nd 1 hope to see it some day accom- plished. This, however, is & thing which can snly be gradually dobe, and has little or me | try are doing business and lending or borrow- | tion. Every one has been living and working | 3 e an 1s w on th present business situa- very different sy we have to meet ai ith it nt problems. It has t tages. Our people are used no experience with any which resists such at all country, cal change ans in business rememb Its greatest advantage is ste sa d soundness 4 s has meant in the last year or last few months. It ightest doubt or uncer- ny of our currency, our our national f the ar stood so well woulc that would have ing rhin and di ¢ is a very good syste and there is great this §8 not the time if we should now What is needed now is good judgment, not legls 4 currency legislation as we but it is not to meet is use lude n th that legislation will uble _due to overex- n. We need all the we can get, but legislation will not produce it. We lation of gold, the will be no real hel increase in bank would think of & greenbacks. No le capital to pr v a question of time but to wa't for tion and p ness condl tion of the ing the some one else: blame another; ns_on country Wall stre they are glad to s cause they alone the people will nof be any is no man warld g0 poor, be more or ments in the finan I have known personall world has been redi if they have ever he themselv ence, ha of their wages and their products thousands of simila he is not concerned more mistaken woman less affected These must wait for the accumu- nly real reserve money. It p to make a further large ote eirculation and no onme volume' of the can_change fixed That is merely re is nothing to do ding to the gislation e capital and tl y toward recrimina. blame for the present busi very foolish people gay ee the speculators lose be- to blame and the rest of be hurt. There can hardly view than this. There or child in the clvilized sote or obscure as not to by the large move centers. Very recently of enterprises in the in California, in er pountains of North Carolina, Howail. in Alaska and in the Philippines whoss | proposea pperations have been curtailed on ac- Pount of the uncertainty of the money market The result is that the amount of money to be spent for wages and supplies among people so Widely separated in different parts of the uced and these people who, ard of such matters, regard s as far beyond their reach and influ- e been directly affected In the amount comes and the prices of are only examples of r cases and DO one can say MONEY MARKET SENSITIVE. The ramifications the world are 80 that what affec large way reaches there has been ov wild and foollsh; dishonest. It does blame the spec and participates In ways will untii hu purely gambling spe a necessa misunderstand me cusing thie specula much of it and to0 sional men, some of bankers of business in all parts of intricate and far reaching the money market in any us all. It is true that er-speculation, much of it it fraudulent and no good, however, to scold culator. such a movement and ai- man nature changes. The sculation on margins is only nge of the great trading and dealing in | stocks and securitie part of modern business. s in_Wall street, which is Db not as defending or even ex- tion. There is entirely too many business and profes- and _bank officers, have been tempted and acquired the habit of specu- Jation during the last few years of rapidly ad- vancing prices. It is way to do can do as much to it as suy one can. however, is not by ing factor in_the s ment since the been more or less business has been undul lower than they sho to the other extreme. ulators are perhaps blame than the rest revival should be stopped if there it, and_you, as bankers, discourape, if not prevent, This eort of speculation. any means a chief or lead. jtuation. The whole m in business came has speculative, and just. as depressed and prices uld have been, we have gone Wall street and the spec- not so very much more to of the country. Where s the man or the bank entirely free from sin to cast the on the Stock Exc tions, but it will whose first stone? You may not speculate nge, or underwrite promo- hard to find the bank officers or chief customers are mot in some local promotion or combination which is more or less speculative. erhaps, for it is o in many cases the best services a Properly egough, too, en one of bank can render its own community to encourage local enterprises which are legitimate and and _competent bal which are to be In honest nds. The strongest claim Which is made for our system of locally owned, inGependent banks is that they develop locai institutions and are able to lend their credit to worthy local ents Where personal knowledge of the moral erprises and deserving men risk justifies credit which would not otherwise be granted. The interests of the whole country re 50 bound up together that no one section | can truthfully say we have plenty of money and can take care of ourselves no matter what happens in Wall street. The manifestations, of course, come in the financial centers, where there are daily quotations of prices and rates of interest and wy conditions, but peoj kly statements of bank e in all parts of the coun. for one sec- | for the | West to say it is all the fault of the Bast and | Some | He alwaye follows | peclally | ing money in the financial centers in New York. Every day there tr | tions and negotiations there affecting”widely scattered parts of the country, and no one. can tell how soon or to what extent these may in- fluence his own business, the returns on his in- vestments, his savings account, or his insur- ance policy, the market for the products of his farm, bis mine or his factory, the sale of goods from’ his store or his wages and the CO8t of ing for his family. No one is go isolated or self-contained as to be entirely free from effects of any important financial change or urbance. i is is no time for any feeling or discussion between different sections of the country, classes people or lines of trade as to who is mos to blame or who can stand it best. = We are al face to face with the situation and equally in- | | ai terested. It 18 no time for paselon or excite- | ment, panic or fear, but for quiet, calm con- sideration, courage and firm action based on good judgment nd conservatism, Considering | all the circumstances and the pace at which Ix‘u-mn has been going for the past few years | it 1s not so surprising that there has been suc a decline in the prices of securities, but rather that the country has stood it all so well, and that there has been no panic, so little trouble | with the banks and so few fallures. There | could be no clearer demonstration of the in- | herent strength of our conditions and of the absolute confidence in our currency and Govern- ment finances. g with the stock panic in May, 1901, | . Begin | there have been repeated and tremendou slumps in_the prices of stocks and securities pses and failures in railroad and indu {al syndicates, combinations and underwrit- | ing, any one of which, had our situation been | less strong, would have produced a.bad panic and a disastrous commercial depression. That we have stood it all so well is the best possibie ground for the belief that it need go no further and that there is no reason for its reaching | into general business and producing any great depression. As Secretary Shaw has so well “'% NO LIGN OF DISASTER. | ““There exists to-day no ome fact, and mo | combination ot facts, ‘tne loglcal sequence of which suggests disaster. If disaster comes it will be peychological and not logical. The microbe, If it exists, is In the mind; It is not elsewhere.” | Tt has been evident to any careful observer | for more than a year past that our bank loans | have been expanding too fast. | ing capacity of the banks of the country, as | & -whole, is limited by the amount of cash | avaflable as reserves f the deposits created The credits loaned by the banks | stay in the bank as deposits. The money may be transferred from bank to bank, but, as a whole, the money stays in some bank and the deposit* continues as a deposit. In the report of the Comptroller of the Currency for 1902 there is a table given showing the amount of coin and all forms of currency in circulation i and the proportions held in the United States Treasury, in the banks, and now in either the treasury or the banks; in other words, in cir- | culation among the people. Except ‘in unu- sual years like 1893 and 1896 these propor- | tions ‘do not vary much. The treasury holds | 12 per cent tc 13 per cent; the banks 32 per | cent to 33 per cent, the people 53 per cent to | by the loans. 55 per cent of the cash, and these propor- tions have hardly varied at all, while the total money jghteen hundred million to twenty-seven hun- dred million dollars. The great bulk of the oans remain as deposits in some bank, and the chief limit to loans is the reserve for these deposits, and the total loaning power of thy banks. therefore, depends upon the amount of deposits for which they can supply reserves. In the article I read before your convention | in New Orleans, a year ago, I gave the fig- ures showing the decline in the percentage reserves in all the national banks at the fol- lowing dates: December, 18068 per cent October, 1807 per. cent September, 1898 per cent September, 1899 per cent September, 1900 per cent September, 1901 per cent September, 1902 .. per cent At the date of the last call, September 9, 1003, the national banks showed 26.60 per cent. Exactly similar figures for all the banks, State and private and national, are not so ac- curately compiled, but about the same propor- tionate decrease in percentage of reserves has taken place in all the banks of the country. In this same period, while the percentage.. reserves to deposits was continuously on thé decline, the amount of cash held by the banks increased from $974,000,000 in 1806 to $1,411,000000 in 1902 In about - the same time the total loans of banks increased from about four billlon to over seven and one- half billion dollars. This available loaning power was a very potent factor in the great businesa revival which we have seen in_the last few years. Its existence could not have produced the revival without the aid of favor- able industrial and commercial conditions, but | without this available expansion of loans and | credits the revival would not have taken place, | There has, however, been another and perhaps | more fmportant change in this loaning power | than increasing loans and the lessening per- | centage of reserves and (hat is the way in which it is now employed. The loaning power still exists; in fact, it is in operation, as the loans are now outstanding. Tn 1897, When the expansion began, we had" passed through period of most drastic and thorough liquida- e transac- | The total loan- | in circulation has increased from | | | | TREASURER OF UNITED STATES | SPEAKSTO-DAY HE convention of the | American Bankers’ Asso- ciation will close with to- day’s session. There is sure to be a large gathering of the delegates to hear the address to- day of Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, Treasurer of the United States, who will speak on “The Effects of the Inflow of Gold.” A paper on “Education of Bank Clerks” will zlso be pre- sented by J. B. Finley, president of the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburg, Pa. There will be a discussion on “Practical Banking Methods” by the delegates, and the committee on nominations will make its report and the elec- tion of officers for the ensuing year will terminate the proceed- ings. This afternoon a special ath- letic entertainment will be given at Sutro Baths for the amusement of the delegates and their friends and the Cliff House, Seal Rocks and Sutro Heights will be visited. Elaborate entertainment of the visitors will be given to-morrow by the bankers of San Francisco, and will consist of special trips to Del Monte, the Italian Swiss Colony vineyards at Asti, Stan- ford University and San Jose and Mount Tamalpais. An invitation to visit Los An- geles has been extended to the bankers, and large numbers are expected in the southern city next Monday and Tuesday. Many of the bankers and their friends have arranged to visit points of interest in California and the Pacific Coast before re- turning to their homes. The bankers who came out on the palatial train of the New York Central Railroad will visit Del Monte, Santa Barbara, Los An- geles and the Grand Canyon of Arizona, leaving San Francisco to-morrow morning. b - economicaily and paying his debts. Not only the total amount of loans, but the portion of loans absorbed for fixed capital was at a min- imum. The loaning capacity was, therefore, avallable for employment in any way which promised safety and profit, and perhaps we were for a while more intent on the profit than the safety. Now, bowever, we have had a period of extravagant living and working, and prices of all kinds are high. It takes more money or credit, which is what is used in business, to do the same volume of busi- ness. What {s more serlous, a vast amount of this loaning capaclty has gone into fixed improvements, which are either unproductive or very slowly becoming productive. FARMS AFFECT LOANS. There is one fleld in which the loaning power has been absorbed which s not so fully appre- clated because there are no figures to show its amount and the facts are not o widely know: and that is in the purchase of farming lands It bas been very largely a movement from some of the older Western States, where the prices of farming lands have become com- paratively high, into the States farther West or into Canada, where & man can buy two or ot . ¥ i ; NPT G FTTZ L TN | AIIT SECRE AR ANEECIN ZINALZES IO ITL | T DISTINGUISHED FINANCIER | ADDRESSING THE BANKERS, AND PROMINENT OFFICIAL. * + three, or even five or ten, acres of the cheaper lands for the selling price of one acre of his old farm. ' This movement has not only. taken accumulated savings out of the older commu- nities, but large sums have been loansd to make these purchases of land: This is a very important factor to-day in many of the Mid- dle Western States. It s not an unusual thing to hear from a local banker or from 4 bank examiner that fifty to a hundred thou- sand dollars has thus been taken from a small town, and the total ameunt of this must run up into many millions of dollars, Much of the loaning power of the Western banks has been thus absorbed which was formerly used in the purchase of brokers’ commercial paper and loans on collateral In Chicago and New York. Another large proportion of the loan- ing power is absorbed in carrylng increased quantities of old and new securities, some of them of more or l¢ss doubtful value. This is the situation which has called a halt and set us all to thinkinrg—not the lack of a compar: tively few miliions of currency to move t crops or the accumulation of the surplus the treasury. Of course, in those are factors of great importance, but they are not the leading or_controlling factors in this situation. The power to loan still exists, the money is stil] In the banks for reserves and there i8 as much money as ever in circulation outside of the banks and the treasury. The question now is not so much the power as the disposition or willingnees to o ow far will the country go in the tenden to contract these loans? That Is a_question for the bamkers mainly to decide. Kor about a year there h. been a steady, almost uninterrupted decline in the prices of all stocks and bonds. It has, however, bean 0 comparatively gradual that there have been no bank fallures and very few gtock exchange fallures as the result and so far general buginess has mot been seriously checked. From a strictly banker's standpoint his situation has been in one respect much improved. However hard {t has been oa those who have made the losses, the bank loans on stock exchange collateral are now readjusted upon the much lower basis with at least as much margin and probably more than on the higher range of values. A break in prices which if a banker knew it was coming would be terrifying is now not been hurt by it. The explanation of this is that most of the peopls who have made the | losses had the money to lose without losing the money of the banks. Many of them made it on the rise in prices and only have given up part of the profits. There probably never was a time before in the history of the country ‘when such a decline in stock prices could have happencd and found the people so well pre- pared for it and the whole country with such DOwers of resistance and recuperation. We are in an entirely different condition and this is what gives such foundation for hove and firm falth in the future. The way business has”stood the decline in stocks s an evidence of strength, not wedkness. There may be and doubtless will be some hesitation and curtail- ing of other lines of business as the result, but there 18 no-accasion to be nervous or hysteri- cal about it. We should keep cool. and where our calm judgment aoproves be bold and courageous, If we have been too hopeful, do ot let us all at once become too, pessimistic. Tet cach bank stand by its cuStomers and stand by the country, as it deserves. It never Was in better condition when facing any such tion. e onst the position of the rallroads to-day ‘compared with a few years ago, when amore fhan & fourth the mileage and many of the most important lines were in the receivers’ Pands. You have no more of railroad receiver- &hips. The roads are on an entirely different b-.'i:. country has filled up so that they have a vastly Increased volume of permanent traffic; thelr tracks, machinery and organiza- tion are s improved that they can handle their Dbusiness tar better than ever before. There I8 no comperison which can be made of the condition of the country to-day with what it ‘was only & few years ago which does not show the surest foundation for enduring prosperity, and there is no part or section of the country of which this s not true. BALANCE IS FAVORABLE. During the last ten years the balance of trade in favor of the United States has amounted to over three and three-quarter bil- lions of dollers. For the single year 1901 this .was $679,000,000, Although the alarmists complain of a considerable falling off for the year 1902, it Was. still almost half a billlon past and the banks have | | | dollars, or about twice as much as it had ever been in_any year of our history previous té 1808. The aggregate wealth of the COuURtry has increased fully 50 per cent since 1590 We are producing and adding to our stock of gold every year about $80,000,000, and almost an equal quantity of silver. The annual valge of our farm products steadily increases add for the year 1903 it will be at least five billion dollars. " The deposits of all banks in the United States have increased since 1585 from 4800 milllons to 9526 millions, almost double The deposits of all banks in the State of Texas for this same period have increased from $35,000,000 to over $50,000,000, about 228 per cent. In the State of Iowa the increase has besn from $78.000,000 to $211,000,000, over 270 per cent; in Kansas it has been from 000,600 to $84,000,000, or over 230 per cent: in Nebraska from $35,000,000 to $81.000,000, or 228 per cent; in California from $200,003.000 to $406,000,000, or per cent. In Oklahoma and Indian Territory, where, In 1895, the total deposits were considerably under $2,000,000, there are over $27,000,000 on deposit in the banks. The aggregate deposits In all the in the States west of the Mississippi River have increased from $701,000.00 in 1505 $1,700,000,000 In 1903, or per cent. The three States of Minnesota, Towa and Missourt have more bank deposits mow. than all the States west of the Mississippi had In 1800, and the States of Washington, Oregon and California_have $40,000,000 more bank deposits than all the other States west of the Missis- sippl had in the year 1890, But it Is almost unnecessary to quote figures and statistics to you who are the custodians of the funds and gorgughly familiar with all the business of your Kome communities. No one knows better than you bankers what a great increase there has been in the wealth and prosperity of your own people at home; how many of them are out of debt and have money in your banks who ten vears ago seemed hopelessly buried under a burden of debt they could never pay. You of the South know that the change in Southern conditions is a revolution, and that with good crops of corn and cotton your people ars better off to-day than they have ever been before. You of the farming States, the West, the mountains and the Paeific Siope, have seen whoie States Which were apparently bankrupt, where farms would not sell for the mortgage on them, raise year after year record-breaking bumper crops and many of these mortgages paid off with the proceeds of ome or two vears' harvest You have seen farms produce in one year crops of greater value than the land would heve sold for before the crop was planted. You have seen your people pay off their mort- gages and your bank deposits double and treble within the last few years. You of the reserve citles, who are at the centers of business and commercial life, have seen equal prosperity among your merchants and manufacturers. You know how your country bank customers have pered and how their balances have increased with you: how many of them who used to have to borrow of you aré competing With you and lending money to your own city customers! Every State in the Union, every section of the coun- try. has shared In all this. It is no sudden eftervescence or bubble of speculation, but the natural, inevitable result of potent existing and continuing forces. It is not going to dis- appear or vanish in a day because of a slump in ‘stocks or the collapse of a few underwriting syndicates. It may be necessary to pause a little to get our breath after the pace we have gone, but if there is any serious check it will only be because we have lost our nerve | The course of business to-day very largely depends upon the banks continve to act wisely and econ- servatively, as they have, they can avert any. thing like serfous trouble and keep the coun- try in shape for a continuance of very pros- perous times. In doing this they can perform a most patriofic service to the country. and, as is usually the case, the patriotic thing to do s the wise and sensible business course as well. The banks have only to stand by and logk out for the best interests of tiejr customers and stockholders. If each bank takes care of its own business and own people and stands by them now there need be and Will be nothing more serfous than a perfod of waiting and perhaps some readjustment of and courage. the bankers. It prices which might in the end be & good thing | promations | for every one. The speculations, and combinations which have run their wild course were caused by and were not the cause of prosperity. Prosperity came as the result of the productivity of our flelds and forests, our mines and factories, the tremendous energy 2nd activity of our pecple applied to the most Wonderfully productive country in the world. It should not and will not cease because the speculative attempt to discount the future and Over-capitalize earning power has met with fore-ordained and inevitable failure. NATION’S MONEY SUPPLY. J. E. McAshan of Texas Deals With Important Financial Question. The second paper presented yesterday was by J. E. [cAshan, cashier of the South Texas National Bank, Houston, Texas, his subject being “The Monéy Supply of the United States.”” The speak- Bankers Tell of Conditions in | States. | iR S g S ’GladTidingsFrc')m the Entire Country. s digion HE latter part of yesterday's sion of the bankers' convention was taken up by the “call of States.”. As the va of the Union were called pointed delegates arose and lauded the prosperity of their sections of the coun- try, some of them going into statistics showing the resources of their home States as to finance, agriculture and man- ufacture, Almost every speaker was thoroughly convinced that his particular State was the greatest in the Union. Some spoke at length, and if any State was specially noted for any one particular product, whether it was men, finance, corn, wheat or sugar. the convention was made aware indis- of the fact. In many instances putable evidence in the way of lengthy statistics was hurled at the listeners Most of the facts produced, however, had to be accepted, out of courtesy if for no other reason, the enthusiasm of the speak- er being considered. It was evident from the remarks of the first few speakers that those who came afterward would not be able to do tooting of their trumpets without ring some of the pictures painte predecessors. ; One old gentleman representing a Wes ern State dwelt at length upon the telligent and beautiful women which home produced, all other chances to prestige for it as a producer having been completely eliminated by his predeces- sors. Time and again so enthusiastic over his State that he falled to hear the chairman’s all 4 “Time’'s up.” As a consequence the me his aim some delegate waxed ing had to adjourn il 9:30 this morn- | ing. so that the remainitg States might | be heard from | The call for the report of Alabama was | responded to by Pains B. Farley, cashier | of the M. and P. Farley National Bar Montgomery, A He sald Alabama |1s in a very prosperous conditi The labor question is one that n perplexes | wages being good. The « s have b exceedingly good this 3 Mo plentiful and the banks end | our Eastern friends. T has increased by thr | Wildcat banking is now | Alabama.” | "To the call for Alaska there was no | Delegate Jacobs o ““The ple of Ar There is only one hange | we would like to 1 like | to get oyt of our » and | join the great | Arkansas was represented by John G Fletcher, Te dent of the German Na- | tional Bank « » Rock. He sald: * bring you good tidings. We have more fertile land than any other State in th | Union. There are 200 banks in the Stat | Every village has one or more banks, all | in a reasonably prokperous condition. Ar- | kansas is the center of the United States | and one of the main pillars of the Union.™ | President J. M. Eliot of the First Na- | tional Bank of Los A ivered an | address of welcome th ) | ple of California Colorado was not he | Connecticut was represented by A. JT. | Sloper, president of the New Bri Na- | tional Bank. He said: “Connecticut is a | State of steady habits. We are in a very | prosperous condition. Our banks have & capital of twenty-five lion dollars, a surplus of eighteen millions and a de ait of sixty-five millions. Eighty per cent of |all the hardware manufactured In the | country is made In our State. We make | nearly all of the t ply of the United | States, 6 per cent of the carpenters tools, 60 per cent of all the cutlery, 55 per cent of the brass work and many ogher Lm.m appliances. Why, when you are | dead, the coffin you occupy will be bound with brass and the lid screwed dc with screws from Connectk for | produce per cent of all the Union | Serew supply. Our savings banks have a | deposit of $225,000,00 for a population of { 1,000,000 people. 'The Delaware delegate was absent | The District of Columbia was o | sented by M Ailes, vice e | the Riggs National Bank of Washington. | In part he said: “Of course, the District |is prosperous. Washington is the most beautiful capital of the world and in the | greatest country in the world. We have no strikes and have the best paymaster in the world, Uncie Sam, who.never de- faults on pay day Delegate Engle lauded the merits of Florida. He said: “It would be bad taste for me to dwell on the products of our State, as the fruits are the same as those raised here in California. I would say, however, that our orange groves are re covering from the severe freezing of 1 We produce one-half of the United States supply of spirits of turpentine and res The State Is In a prosperous condition | Colonel Robert J. Lowry, president of [the Lowry National Bank Atlanta. Ga. | responded to the call for Georsia. fHe | said: “The crops of the staples, corn, cot- | ton, tobacco and fruits, are y good | this year. Our cotton crop ti will |be over a quarter of a million bales. | There are 125 cotton mills in Georgia | manutacturing from the raw product. W | raise tropical fruits and considerable livé. | stock, and are the foremost State in | manufacturing in the South.” - | “It has been a prosperous vear,” said | Willlam George of Aurora, Il. “The | wage-earner is prosperous and is putting money in the banks. The farmers and stock raisers are wealthy and the banks | are in good condition. Ilincis boasts of | the largest Bankers' Association of its | kind in the United States. 5 According to R.»pr»semath'« Smith from Indianapolis, Indiana is In“a prosperous condition, as is evinced by the fact that she has 600 banks. all doing weil. and of them are members of the Bankers Association Indian Territory's cail none to laud her Frederick Heinz of lowa spoke at length on the many and varied resources of his s‘éffimm Carroll, cashier of the Leaven- worth National Bank, dwelt upon the glories of the Cyclone State. He said: fKansas produces from thirty-five to fifty | bushels of wheat per acre. There are 650 | panks in the State, most of them mem- | pers of the Bankers' Association. They have over $105,000,000 on deposit, or a rate | of over $10 per capita. The State has no | debts, no labor strikes and no trusts.’ | Kentucky’'s manufacturing and mineral | wealth was dwelt on by Revresentative | Henry C. Walbeck, cashier of the German | Insurance Bank of Louisville. | “Louisiana seems to be in the height of | a prosperous year. H. H. Youree, vice president of the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport, sald: “Laborers g $3 a day for six hours’ work, and the the negro laborers are striking for more money. Our State produces more rice and sugar than any other State in the Union. brought forth Continued on Page 7, Column 2. Continued on Page 7, Column 1 *