4 8o FRANK A. VANDERLIP 



would be warranted by the present actual conditions. It is 

 safe to say, however, that we are to-day in a sound financial 

 position. Bank reserves are ample — at least national bank 

 reserves are. Bank loans and discounts are not of a character 

 to offer grounds for any general criticism. We have probably 

 fully paid off the foreign indebtedness in the shape of finance 

 bills which two or three years ago had reached large totals. 

 We are in a position to command international credits and to 

 bring gold to strengthen our reserves, if we should need it. We 

 have every year a corn crop that is worth a billion dollars, a 

 cotton crop worth $600,000,000, and a wheat crop worth 

 $412,000,000. The value of these three crops alone every 

 year is fully $2,012,000,000, which compares with the value of 

 these same crops ten years ago of $1,067,000,000. 



We have learned some valuable lessons in finance, and the 

 memory of recent years reminding us of the results of the mis- 

 takes made at the height of the boom period is still keenly 

 enough in our minds to warrant the belief that we will admin- 

 ister our financial affairs with a fair degree of common sense 

 for some time to come. We have learned that there is not a 

 new political economy, but that, in spite of our vast resources, 

 our growing wealth and our recuperative power, we must obey 

 the same old sound laws of finance and commerce that have 

 long ruled. 



