220 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February, 1, 1912. 



could get the largest banks in New York — any one of them— 

 to accept your note, any other bank in the United States would 

 be glad to buy that note, and would buy it, and would buy it if 

 it were a short time note, instead of loaning its money on the 

 kind of collateral which it must loan it on now. In other words, 

 it would have a piece of paper which would sell current at any 

 time, in any place. You would have a broader credit, every one 

 of you, and you would get your money at a lower rate of 

 interest. 



You may say that that would reflect on the prosperity of the 

 banks ; but the fact is that France and Germany and England, 

 where interest rates are very materially lower than they are in 

 this country, the banks make quite as much money as do our 

 banks ; because they are enabled to keep their money at work all 

 of the time in this way. The rate of the Bank of France, for 

 instance, has not fluctuated more than two and a half per cent, 

 for twenty years. 



In the Boer War, and in our 1907 panic, the rate of the Bank 

 of France did not get above four and a half per cent ; it has 

 been as low as two per cent. That certainly has not averaged 

 higher than three and a half per cent, during this time. Now, 

 while I don't anticipate that in a developing country like ours 

 we would get as low interest rate as you would get in France 

 or Germany or England, we would get more or less lower rates 

 for business men who had good credit — would get materially 

 lower rate, because the method would be followed if we adopted 

 this system. 



Then, we have provided for foreign banks. There is not a 

 bank south of the Isthmus of Panama under American control ; 

 there is not a bank in the Orient, e.xcept in the Philippines, under 

 American control. There is not a bank in Europe under 

 American control. There are some branches of private banking 

 houses of New York in Europe, but not in the other parts of the 

 world. The result is that our foreign business is financed by 

 European banks. It costs more for you to do that, and it takes 

 away from us the prestige which goes with financing our own 

 business. You know perfectly well that if you buy rubber in 

 South America, that transaction is financed through a London or 

 a Paris or a Berlin bank. If a tanner in the United States buys 

 hides from the .\rgentine, the purchaser in the United States 

 arranges for an acceptance of the draft through his own bank 



with a London bank, which goes through the South American 

 bank to the London bank, and commission is paid to the South 

 American bank and paid to his own local bank in this country, 

 and a larger commission is paid your London bank. Millions and 

 tens of millions of dollars are paid by the business men of this 

 country to the bankers of Europe, simply because we haven't 

 any means of financing ourselves in the Orient, in South 

 America, or up-to-date means of financing ourselves in Europe. 

 There is no American Exchange in South America ; there is 

 no American E.xchange in the Orient. If we are going to develop 

 our trade with these countries, as we should do, for we are only 

 doing a small percentage of it, we must liave suitable banking 

 arrangements, and that is our reason for establishing these 

 foreign banks. 



Now, gentlemen, I have talked half an hour. As I said, it is 

 an endless subject, but I want to impress upon you that, in my 

 judgment, and in the judgment of every man who has given it 

 consideration, it is the most important public question we have 

 before us to-day, and it will remain the most important public 

 question until you get behind your Representatives and Senators 

 and compel it being put on the statute books. 



Mr. Furman. the President of the First National Bank of 

 Chicago, one of the ablest bankers, in my opinion, in this 

 country, stated, in a public address the other day, something 

 which I fully endorse. He says, "I am convinced that the Na- 

 tional Reserve Association will become the largest, the strongest, 

 the safest and the best financial institution in the world." I 

 cordially endorse that statement. 



If w'hat has been proposed is done, we need have no more 

 currency banks in this country. We will have financial depres- 

 sions, as w-e always have had and always will have as long as 

 business men over-e.xpand and have to contract. Those will 

 come at certain periods, but the currency bank will be a thing of 

 the past. A financial bank, such as we have known, will be a 

 thing of the past. Labor will not be thrown out of employment; 

 capital will not be idle ; the enormous losses which we have had 

 as a result of the almost numberless panics since the Civil War, 

 will be things of the past, and we will go on in the even tenor of 

 our way, doing business as do our commercial rivals in foreign 

 countries, being able to compete with them, because w'e have simi- 

 lar or equally good tools to compete with. (Great applause.) 



THE MEMBERS AUD GTJXSTS PRESENT. 



At the speakers' table: 



F. H. .\ppleton. 

 Hon. L. D. Apsley. 

 Ex-Gov. A. O. Bourn. 

 Charles W. Burrows. 

 J. H. Flint. 



G. B. Hodgman. 

 F. C. Hood. 



\V. H. McEIroy. 

 H. E. Raymond. 

 Robert L. Rice. 

 Homer E. Sawyer. 

 Hon. J. W. Weeks. 

 E. S. Williams. 

 At the other tables: 



G. E. Alden. 



J. V. Alden. 



F. H. Appleton, Jr. 



C. B. Archer. 



H. G. Armstrong. 



C. H. Arnold. 



Harrv C. Arnold. 



W. H. Arnold. 



B 



Robert Badenhop. 

 C. J. Bailey. 

 Robert L. feaird. 

 T. W. Baird. 

 W. T. Baird. 

 F. D. Balderston. 

 Wm. E. Barker. 

 Chas. W. Barnes. 

 W. F. Bass. 

 T. W. Bassett. 

 E. A. Bates. 

 J. E. Bates. 

 H. H. Bedell. 

 A. O. Bourn, Jr. 

 W. Browning. 

 A, W. Brunn. 

 Ira F. Eurnham. 



E. F. Carpenter. 

 C. C. Case. 

 J. H. Chadbourne. 

 J. J. Chandler. 

 R. L. Chipman. 

 E. H. Clapp. 

 J. H. Clark. 

 Henrr Z. Cobb. 



Chas. .\. Coe. 



A. E. Cole. 

 D. S. Collins. 



-A. J. Conlin and two guests. 

 G. T. Cottle. 



B. H. Currier. 



D. A. Cutler and one guest. 



Chas, J. Davol. 

 J. P. Devine. 

 E. F. Dewing. 

 Roy Dorr. 

 J. A, H. Dressel. 

 J. Frank Dunbar. 

 H. T. Dunn. 

 H. W. Du Puy. 



R. M. P. Eagles and two guests. 

 C. F. Edgarton. 



Eberhard Faber. 



D. F. Feinberg. 



H. K. Felton. 



W. F. Field. 



Frank Fox. 



H. W. French and one guest. 



H. P. Fuller. 



C. A. Gilbert. 



W. H. Gleason. 



A. A. Glidden. 



F. S. Goodall. 



W. L. Gough and one guest. 



Frederick Gove. 



N. Lincoln Greene. 



Mr. Grentert. 



Geo. E. Hall. 

 Richard C. Hall. 

 C. F. Hamilton. 

 .T. T. Hawkins. 

 Geo. D. Hazen. 

 H. T. Hering. 

 E. H. Hicks. 

 S. T. Hodgman. 

 A. N. Hood. 

 "\r. G. Honkins. 

 ^^r. Hopping. 



H 



W. C. Howard. 

 H. B. Hubbard. 



E. E, Huber. 



F. H. S. Hyde. 



Ernest Jacoby. 

 J. T. Johnstone. 



E. B. Kelley and three guests. 



W. J. Kelly. 



C. Kenyon. Jr. 



Harry L. Kenyon. 



Geo. Kenyon. 



Wm. Keves. 



E. H. Kidder, 



E. Krum. 



F. T. Lahey. 

 Harry Laird. 

 Dwight C. Leeper. 



S. G. Lewis and two guests. 



P. H. Loewenthal. 



R. AL Loewenthal. 



Clarence H. Lowenthal. 



R. A. Lowenthal. 



J. S. Lowman and one g^icst. 



G. A. Ludington. 

 J. P. Lyons. 



M 



L. P. Mac Michael. 



Warren MacPherson. 



Ed. Maurer and two guests. 



A. N. Mayo. 



John J. Meacham. 



Otto Meyer. 



W. H. Miner and one guest. 



Henry Montgomery. 



H. Muehlstein. 



N 



E. F. Norton. 



T. E. Odell. 

 Mr. Onthank. 



W. G. Page, 



W, H. Palmer. 



John S. Patterson. 



F. H, Peaty. 



Henry Perlish. 



Geo. W. Perry. 



E. F. PfafF. 



Wm. Poole. 



W, L. Proctor. 



Geo, E. B. Putnam. 



Arthur Reeve. 



Edward R. Rice. 



W. G. Ryckman and two guests. 



R. P. Sachs. 

 F. F. Schaffer. 

 F. M. Schwab. 

 H. D. Scott. 

 J. A. Scott. 

 R. F. Spencer. ^ 

 Chas. F. Spratt. 

 H. B. Stedman. 

 Harold Stimpson. 

 Everett Stone. 

 Griswold Stowe. 



A. B. W. Tallman. 

 L. H. Thomas. 

 A. D. Thornton. 

 O. S. Tweedy. 



J. C. Van Cleaf. 



w 



E. E. Wadbrook. 

 H. F. Wanning. 

 Mr. Warner. 

 A. W. Warren. 

 Herman Weber. 

 Ceoree Weis, 

 W. Williams. 

 Chas. T. Wilson. 

 T. W. Work. 



A. Zeiss. 



