The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], July 18, 1914, Page 3, Image 3

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

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I I
•SHOWN BY DEPOSITS
Nine National Banks Report
Having Over One Hun
dred Million Each
CITIES OF THE WEST
FORGING TO FRONT
IK Forty-nine Banks Are Each Found
to Have Deposits of Twenty
Five Millions or More—A
Fine List
By HOLLAND
New York, July 17.—(Special.)—From the
reports which were made to the comptrol
ler of the currency at Washington by the
national hanks of the United States on
the last day of the fiscal year which
ended June 30, it was possible to glean
.information which shows the magnitude
not only of the growth of the deposits
carried by the national banks of the
United States, but also of the growth of
the banks in some of the larger cities. For
instance, nine national banks reported,
eaoh of them, gross deposits in excess
of $100,000,000. Of these nine, two do busi
ness in Chicago, the rest in New York
city. The largest grass deposits carried
j by any one bank are $274,000,000, round
/ numbers, and no other bank carries as
much as this by $100,000,000 excepting one
in Chicago. Two Boston banks carry
gioss deposits which are Just under the
$i(K),000,000 class. One of these, the Shaw
mut, reports $98,000,000 of gross deposits
and another, the First National. $83,000,000,
and these are fine demonstrations of Bos
ton’s financial strength.
Only a little over 2 years ago the high
water mark of gross deposits was that
which had b?en secured by the Chemical
bank of this city. When it was able to
report that it carried groas deposits of be
tween $26,000,000 and $3‘t.OOO,OOU it was recog
nized as the leading American bank.
Its latest report to the comp
troller of the currency shows that it 1ms
just about maintained its own. It Is in
the list of 49 national banks which carry
gross deposits of $25,000,000 or more, but
ii is far down in that list. Its deposit
line has varied very little for 20 years,
presumably because it has refrained from
tempting deposits by promising to pay in
terest on them.
The leading American bank so far as de
posits are concerned, the City Bunk of
New' York, has not obtained the suprem
acy by absorbing other banks. Another
lbtr*k of New York, the Chase, which is
| fourth in*the list wjth $151,000,000 of gross
f deposits, has not .pained its high posi
tion through the absorption of other
! banks, nor has the Park National bank of
J New York, wii *se gross deposits are a
little over $100,000,000. But the banks cf
I Chicago end the banks of New York, ex
cepting the three just named, which have
reported to the comptroller that they now
carry deposits in excess of $100,000,000.
gained some part of this prestige by
means of absorption of other banks.
A Fine List
That at the close of the fiscal year,
v hich has ben presumed to be a season of
considerable business depression and
financial sluggishness, 49 banks in the
United States should be able to report
gross deposits ranging all the way from
$25,000,000, round numbers, to $275,000,000 is
regarded here as furnishing fairly good
proof of business activity during the past
fiscal year.
After all, the most interesting of the
statistics reported to the comptroller of
the currency are those which disclose the
great growth of the* west and the north
west with respect to banking resources
and the accumulation of deposits. New
York, Chicago and Boston are pre-emi
i.ently the leading cities in the United
States so far as national bank deposits
are concerned. That is to say, so far as
large figures tell the story of deposits. Yet
there seems to have been within a few
years, relatively, as large a growth in
banking strength and as good a revela
tion of commercial activity in other parts
of the country and among the cities of a
lesser rank in population and wealth than
j ■■ 11 11 11 —11 I
' ^OME men could afford
: O to wear silk britches, :
but they don’t, ’cause
J wool makes better L
britches. The men
: that smoke VELVET :
-I don’t do it ’cause it’s
- economical :
i j VELVET, The Smoothest Smoking Tobacco, is made of
-■ the best tobacco for pipe smoking. It is Kentucky Burley
deLuxe, the tobacco in which Nature put the finest smok
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T with VELVET.
Hi w inr ii irr_
ATTRACTIVE EASTERN TOURS
i VIA
LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE R. R.
/
r j y.
I
j/i
j, /hNn /t N Covering tour from Birmingham to New York,
J Lake Champlain, Montreal and return, thru the
J intermediate cities shown in above map. Tickets
A * on sale daily; return limit sixty days.
^ Other similar attractive tours, taking in eastern and northern cities
l and resorts, are available,
f Liberal stop-overs allowed on these tickets.
Stop-over en route at Mammoth Cave,
the World’s Greatest Subterranean Wonder.
For further information, schedules, fares, sleeper and boat
reservations, etc., call or address
* J. H. SETTLE
District Passenger Agent
Phones, Main 977 or 5813 !■!
t, SUMIV^._
) Chicago.$26.90 St. Louis _$20.35
Detroit .. $30.25 Niagara Falls -$34.10
Battle Creek.$28.50 Buffalo. $34.10
Petoskey.$37.85 Toronto.$34.10
Mackinac Island ..$40.25 New York . . $41.35
Musk<«on . $31.15 B $44.20
Frankfort . ).90 _ , ..
Denver. ).00 Atlantlc Clty.$39.15
I Salt Lake City 5.00 Saratoga
I / Los Angeles, Si St. Paul
Ll Francisco ... F2.50 Portland, Seattle
|i( to hundreds of other ideal
Wnk Let us plan your trip.
' I ANDERSON, Dist. Pass. Agent
) I First Avenue
1
—
Great Number of Planters
Making Success of Diver
sified Farming
Moulton. July 17.—(Special.)—Notwith
standing the fact that a great number of
i .a wrence farmers are very pessimistic
at present because of the unusually long
drouth, yet there are a few who have
been making a special study of their busi
ness and in a way have made preparation
for such a year both by better methods
of farming and by laying up a bank ac
count in the past. .
It has Just developed that one man tn
the tvestert) part of the county has been
clearing over $1000 a year on his [arm.
This man does not care to have his name
made public. He is making a special
study of crop rotation and stock rais
ing. Another very successful farmer, Ed
Stewart, Just south of Moulton, has made
more than 16 bushels of wheat on eacli of
five acres sown last fall. He is following
diversified farming and making a decided
success of It.
A few years ago 17 farmers bought out
the Farmers' Ijnion warehouse at Hills
boro when it had to be sold by that or
ganisation. By skillful management these
men have realised 8 per cent on their in
vestment In the past year. .
New York, Chicago and Boston.
It does appear a little strange that so
ls:ge a city as Philadelphia should be, so
far as Its banking strength represented
by gioss deposits is concerned, well down
in the list. The largest of Philadelphia
hunks reports only $66,000,000 of gross de
posits, and in this respect It Is only a lit
tle ahead of Pittsburg.
In the last year of the nineteenth cen
tury observing bankers of New York be
gan to take heed of the growth in de
posits and resources of some of the
smaller cities of the United States,
smaller in comparison with New York,
Chicago or Boston. The reports then re
ceived seemed to demonstrate that many
of tlte cities of tile west were beginning
to become rich in money resources. At
tention was at first fixed upon Pitts
burg. The reports of the banks of Pitts
burg as long ago as 1896 demonstrated
that Pittsburg was rapidly becoming a
city of great and independent financial
strength. The colloquialism of the day
In the Wall street district was: "There's
lots of money In Pittsburg." At first this
Was presumed to be due chiefly to the
Carnegie Steel properties and some of tile
other large industrials of Pittsburg, so
that it was though that tills growth
might be for many years confined to that
city. But after aw’hile it was observed
that Cleveland was reporting large in
creases in bank deposits and the report
made on June 30 to the comptroller at
Washington showed that one Cleveland
hank Is carrying gross deposits of $35,000,
000, an amount which 20 years ago would
have been called phenomenal were any
New York bank of that time to have re
ported It. It began to be said of Cleve
land early in the present century that
•'There is a great deal of monev in Cleve
land.”
Detroit, In this latest report to the
comptroller, gives good demonstration of
the possession by its banks of very heavy
lines of deposits. One of the ' Detroit
banks reported $45,000,000 of gross de
posits, a sum practically equal to the
largest gross deposits reported by Pitts
burg. This is In part attributed to the
growth of the automobile industry.
Buffalo is shown by this report lo be
In a very strong position and to be the
center of very large industrial and com
mercial activity. It has become a money
center. Two of Its banks report gross
deposits, one of $46,000,000 and another of
$25,000,000.
Kansas City gained recognition some 10
or 12 years ago as an influential money
city, a city rich In its own independent
funds. That Is attributed here in part
to the packing interests. It is the small
est city of the United States in popula
iiorr to report that one of its banks car
ries $15,000,000 of gross deposits, with a
single exception—Albany, N. Y„ one of
whose banks carries a like amount This
is explainable probably bv the fact that
Albany Is the capital of a state and the
state treasury department collects large
funds.
In the Northwest
Not the least gratifying of the reports
received by the comptroller which shea
the great growth of banking Strength and
therefore the growth of Industrial and
commercial activities were the reports
received from the vast region of which
Minneapolis is the center. That city has
become rich in money possessions. One
Of Its hanks carried $32,000,000 o,f *tors
deposits and, another $25,000,009. while a
bank in the neighboring city of St. Paul
carries $27,000,000. Disclosures of this kind
which the reports that were made to tile
comptroller of the currency have fur
nished are indisputable proof of the rapid
™»Y'f *hp west and. It may he added.
Of the Pacific slope, which contains three
hanks that are in the $25,000,000 class, with
respect to hanking power and the rapid
accumulation of money capital reflecting
industrial and agricultural activity. It
should be reported in connection with this
matter that many of these western hank
ing institutions furnish great markets fin
eastern commercial paper. Some refer
ence should lie made to the growtli of St.
Donls, one of whose banks carried $42,
000.000 of deposits, another $32,000,000, and
still another $31,000,000. figures which of
themselves demonstrate the Industrial ac
tivities of the vast legions of which St
l-iouls is the true metropolis.
CITY OF EUFAULA MAY
BUY AUTO FIRE TRUCK
Committee Coes lo Atlanta to Inspect
Fire Apparatus There—School
Census Completed
Eufaula. July 17.-(SpeciaI.)-The city
council is considering the purchase of an
automobile fire truck for the Eufaula de
partment. In order to Recure definite In
formation on the subject. Alderman A.
M. Brown, chairman of the committee on
the fire department, and Chief D. H.
Jtlley have gone to Atlanta. The value
of the automobile equipment will be dem
onstrated there and It Is probable that
the change will be made by the city coun
cil. It is thought that fire insurance
rates would be considerably reduced in
the city by this move.
1 here are 1778 persons of school age in
Eufaula, according to the censu, lust
.completed by Ban Mabry, who w-as named
as enumerator by the -ity council This
census show j an increase of 172 over that
cl last year and will mean an increased
appropriation from the state und county
school funds. Of the total number there
are 906 whites and 828 colored. Of the
whites. 784 are able to read and write,
while 121 were classed as illiterate. The
colored children showed 442 literate and
381 illiterate. The detail work required
several weeks being done by J. S. Grubbs
and Fred Mabry.
The annual reunion of the Confederate
veterans of Barbour county will be held
Friday, July 24, at Blue .Springs, and the
committee in charge of the arrangements,
headed by George W. Zorn of Baker Hill
is looking for a big crowd.
Arrangements are being made to move
the office of the city light and water de
partment from its present location on
Eufaula street to the courthouse. The
city clerk's office will be used by both
departments, while other rooms in the
building will be used for the mayor's
court and the sessions of the city council,
p .
f r 1
Fight Comes up Every Year
But Result Always Proves
the Same
ALL ARE WILLING
TO TAKE THE MONEY
Saving Would Be Only $100,000, But
Millions Are Recklessly Voted
for Unworthy River
Projects
By C. E. STEWART
Washington, July 17.—(Special.)—The
House of Representatives has again been
humiliated. The Senate forced the House
to accept the views of the Senate with
reference to mileage for members of Con
gress, much against the will of the
House, and the item stands in the legisla
tive, executive and judicial appropria
tion bill at 20 cents, just as it has stood
since the beginning.
For 15 years this question of mileuge
has agitated tlie House, according to Rep
resentative Fitzgerald of New' York. An
nually, when this appropriation bill is
brought u]f, the question is raised, and
the same old ground :s covered by some
ambitious member, who either wants hon
estly to economize, and believes this a
good way to do so, or needs the adver
tisement in his district, and proceeds to
attack the mileage item.
The total mileage paid to the entire
membership of Congress per annum is
something less than $260,000. The legisla
tive, executive anti judicial appropriation
bill alone carries $37,000,000, and the net
saving if the mileage was reduced to
actual expenses of members of Congress
and their families would be perhaps $100,
000 a year.
The public buildings und grounds bill
recently passed by Congress carried over
$40,000,000. It provided for postoffice
buildings in some towns in the country,
which will be erected at a greater cost
than any throe other buildings, perhaps,
in the town. It provided for sums for
the purchase of sites for postoffices at
a sum fixed in the appropriation, in cer
tain small country to.vns, where the choic
est real estate offerings in the corpora
tion limits of the town would not bring
half the sum designed for the government
to pay for these sites. Not a member of
Congress, in either branch of it, but who
contended for recognition of some kind
in the public buildings and grounds bill,
1 i'd not a member but who had some de
velopment plans for .he rivers of his dis
trict of the highest impoitance to naviga
tion, on the rivers and harbors bill.
Demands of Constituents
In tl is members of Congress—they free*
ly admit it is private conversation -are
j merely yielding to the demands of their
constituents. Development of waterways
and public buildings appropriations by
Ccngress are the greatest menace to
economy; beside them the insignificant
question of mileage amounts to absolute
ly nothing. Questions of votes in sup
port of these measures to insure their
passage througn Congress, it has been
raid, make the real needful work of the
government toward development of water
ways actually cost double what it should
because of the money wasted on work un*
necessary in sections of the country where
the work is not needed for navigation and
to aid commerce, but *s needed to insure
the sufficient number of votes to pass the
appropriatioi s.
Members of Congress who annually cap
italize the mileage question and will delay
the passage of the appropriation bill car
rying that item for weeks in a vain at
tempt to reduce the appropriation for that
item, thereby saving the government—if
successful—whicli they never are—$100,000
perhaps—will vote for an appropriation of
$500,000 or more to dredge or build locks
and dams in some stream in their dis
tricts that would have hard work In float*
ing a boat that could carry the appro
priation In silver dollars.
Representatives Underwood and Fitz
gerald had to finally come to the rescue
of the legislative, executive and Judicial
i appropriation bill. The House leader
himself has always consistently stood for
‘actual expenses" for members of Con
gress in the matter of mileage. He real
ized that the House must have its an
nual spasm over the question of economy
on tliis bill. He left them to wrangle over
it for a couple of weeks, and seeing no
| end to the controversy, he quietly stepped
in and told the House that the bill must
be passed, ample opportunity had been
[given them, hut a great appropriation bill
must not be held up for weeks over one
little item. The House took its medicine
like little men and voted to accept the
Senate amendment having thus reversed
Itself on the question of mileage not
less than three times.
All Accept the Money
There are, of course, many gentlemen
in the House who do not believe that it
is right for the government to pay 20
cents a mile for their transportation to
Washington. They are not so absolutely
convinced, however, that this is not right,
that they have refrained In large num
bers from accepting the 20 cents per
mile. So far as is known no one has
turned down the money. It has been
designated as graft, robbery of the peo- ,
pie, and all that by excited members on i
the floor, but as Representative Mann
said, they usually take the money. More
over, the same gentlemen who get so ex
i cited over this “robbery of the public
treasury" remain away from their post of
duty in the House for weeks and weeks
at a time, but take pay for all the time
they are away despite a rule to the con
trary on the statutes.
Representative Fitzgerald of New York,
who has carefully studied the question of
appropriations—being the head of the
great appropriation committee of the
House, is firmly convinced that Congress
can never control properly the appropria
tions along the Hoes of economy de
manded by the democratic party In Its
platform declarations, until a new sys
tem of appropriations is adopted by the
House. A plan suggested by Mr. Shirley
of Kentucky. Mr. Fitzgerald of New
York, and Mr. Underwood, for a budget
committee, was turned down over a year
ago by a caucus of democrats, the first
real defeat of a matter that was close to
the heart of the present leader of the rna- .
jority. However. Mr. Fitzgerald is de
termined to continue the fight for some |
'such plan. Until he gets it through al- ;
most any Congressman will admit that |
Congress will continue to spend all the
money the treasury collects and then
some—If not checked.
Cantaloupes
$1 .00 the
J- Crate
100 crates just received fresh
last night. Choice stock.
Take your pick at $1.00 the
crate—just half price. None
charged, none delivered.
Garrett & Hines
2118 Morris Avenue
At Porter’s—
A Sale Wherein You
Get What You Pay For!
THE money YOU spend for clothes is
YOUR good money and you are right
in expecting and DEMANDING satis
factioa for it.
You want DEPENDABLE QU ALITY. of course.
You want COMFORTABLE and WELL FITTED garments.
You want CORRECT and BECOMING STYLE.
YOU’LL find ALL these features in Porter clothes with
the added attraction of these big reductions in price.
$15 and $18 $11 £A
Suits.V-lAwv
$20 and $22.50 (M 0 CA
Suits.
s2Jtsand $2S.$18.50
Others as high as $40 at equally attractive cuts. Our
entire stock; mohairs, crashes, tropical worsteds included.
EVERYTHING MEN AND BOYS WEAR
I
1922-1924 First Avenue "In The Heart of Birmingham"
Money Changing Seems to
be Important Industry in
the Occupied City
Vent Crus. Mex., July 12. (Special Cor
respondence.)—The "Espagne," the French 1
ship that carried the delegates to Niagara,
was in the harbor today, as well as the
"Alfonso 13," from Barcelona, Spain.
When the ships of this type mine in the
best people turn out to greet friends that
arrive, and for the first time 1 saw' some
Indies that we would consider pretty back j
home. I made friends with a little boy i
that was with his mother awaiting the ar
il'al of relatives. He was a baseball en
thusiast, just like my boys are, and wrote
his name down for me. *1 knew a few
wc i ds of his language and he had picked
up a little English, so we got along tine.
There Is another "muchaeo" here 'hat
v.orks for a hank that is a friend of
mine, and the way he is picking up our
language is wonderful.
Speaking of hanks, 1 note in today’s
"l istamen" that one of the banks in this
city has declared an 8 per cent dividend,
payable August 1. Just how' they can do
this is a mystery to me. for conditions
have been so unsettj »d that no one could
to.I when a loan was safe. Another thing
is that the price of Mexican money
varies greatly. Today T got three for one
for gold; four days ago it was 3.20; so 1
do not see hov^ they know when they have
made any money. Speculating in ex
change Is a big thing here; nearly all
< lassefe engage in it. Everywhere you go
you see the sign "Cambio de Moneda."
which means change money. A peculiar
thing is that English gold docs not
bring quite so much as ours. The Eng
lish sailors, when paid off, first convert
their money into United Stales, and then
cl ange it Into Mexican. They tell me they
get better rates that way. I know the
cashier of the bank that "ill mako pay
nit nt of the 8 per cent dividend, and I
Itarn from him that they carry a heavy
rcierVe in actual gold, and that theil*
leper money is sougnt after, and is more
valuable than that of any other bank in
this section. They have branch banks,
and a most peculiar name for it. They
use the word “sucursal" to denote a
btanch bank It is written after the name
of the parent, bank is given. In tlie best
banks they always have one man that can
Bixak English. One thing that has helped
the banking situation here has been the
great amount of gold that has come in
with the United Stat s forces. Business,
hewever, is practically null, and unless
the milway Is soon repaired so freight
can be transported there will be no bank
dividends or anything else.
When the non de plume of "Bill Sikes"
was adopted I wondered how many Age
Herald leaders would recall Dickens. One
from far off Fljrlda has written protest
ing against its use, but he overlooked
that it was not "Sykes." but plain Sikes
taken from a character I knew back in the
states. BILL, SIKES.
State Geologist Finds Valua
ble Deposits of Superior
Quaity
Jackson. Miss., July 17.—(Special.)—Dr.
E. N. Do we, state geologist, has been
spending the day at his headquarters in
Ja< k.son. looking after his correspondence.
He has recently made a trip through the
northern tier of counties and into the
northeast, where his land survey parties
are at work, and reports that during this
trip he ran across a large deposit of
iron ere In Winston county. His attention
had been called to this outcropping pre
vious to bis visit, and while in that lo
callty he took occasion to investigate. Ho
found that the ore is of a very superior
<iuulit>, about like that In Marshall ami
Benton counties, but has not made thor
ough investigation as lo the extent of th*
deposit.
Speaking of the deposits of ore in the
vicinity of Pottscamp and Hickory Flat.
Dr. T^owo says the small smelter built
thfre a few months ago has converted
Into pig Iron about 125 tons, which »■
said to hr worth $86 per ton at Pittsburg,
but the freight rates are so high the pro
moters of the Industry have so far re
fused to ship what they have ready for
market. A great quantity of the sam«
or«> lias been mined and is ready for melt
ing hut the plant has oeon shut down for
s metlme, and nothing has been done to
bring results to the stockholders.
/
You’re missing the main
point when you itemize
the sports that Colorado and other
places offer and compare the length
of the lists. It isn’t what you do in
Colorado, but the keen pleasure of
doing it in Colorado, that makes this
playground beyond comparison.
Frisco Lines
thru sleepers to Colorado
Frisco is the short-cut, cool route 10 Colorado, via Memphis and over
the Ozark hills. Splendid electric lighted Pullman sleeping cars thru
from Jacksonville. Atlanta, Birmingham and Memphis to Kansas City
and Denver, and from Hot Springs, little Rock and Memphis to Kansas
City and Colorado Springs. Modem electric lighted chair cars and din
j j ing cars serving Fred Harvey's nationally-known meals.
If Find out how low the fares are to Colorado and how little a vacation
n there need cost. Write or call for a beautiful book about Colorado,
W and full information about fares.
| J. R. McGregor, District Passenger Agent,
1 105 N. 20th Street, Birmingham, Ala.