ANNIVERSARY NUMBER 1919 



The Philippine (ational"*Baffi 



DEVELOPMENT of the Philippine Na- 

 tional Bank depends entirely upon the 

 development of the Philippine Islands, 

 said the founders of that institution, and upon 

 the confession of faith they builded so well 

 that the bank today is the richest of the mem- 

 bers in the Philippine financial brotherhood. 



The bank started out to create wealth in 

 order that its banking business might thrive. 

 There was none of the little gold-framed and 

 time-honored motto business adopted at the 

 birth of the bank, and there hasn't been any 

 since. There has been no uncanny decimal 

 diagram system devised for telling whether 

 John Doe is "good" for the money. But 

 there is an astonishing amount of investiga- 

 tion into whether a loan is going to increase 

 the wealth of the country or not. If it is, 

 nine chances out of ten a way is found for 

 making the loan, and, thus far at least, 

 the bank hasn't lost anything through its 

 policy. 



Then the bank developed other eccentric- 

 ities that set the tongues of various Mother 

 Grundys agog. Strangely enough, and in 

 violation of staid and immemorial precedent, 

 the bank officials were not half so anxious and droves, and the only exchange which oc- federal farm loan system in the United 



cupied its serious attention was the regular States was arranged for by special legisla- 

 commercial exchange of produce and manu- tion, the Philippine National Bank, was 



lending money, almost if not actually, on 



RECEIVING AND PAYING TELLER WINDOWS 



to plaster healthy mortgages on nice new 

 business blocks as they were to provide the 

 means for making something grow in uncul- 

 tivated spots. There was lots of money to 



factures for coin of the realm. 



The result of this policy is that this institu- the color of ratoon sprouts and the phraseol- 



be made in exchange, and, incidentally, it is tion, which is unique in many ways, now has Ogy of the weather forecast. A man who had 

 wonderful just how nearly synonymous those as many agricultural experts as it has ac- started to raise a crop on small capital was 

 words "exchange" and "banking" have be- countants, and these men can figure out able to go to the bank and, if his representas 

 come in certain quarters of the Orient, but next year's crop of sugar cane faster than tions were correct, to secure a fair portion 

 the bank, somehow or other, rather hankered any teller at any one of the dozen or more of his prospective proceeds in good cold cash, 

 to see ships coming into Manila Bay in flocks wickets can count silver pesos. Before the whereas before he was left entirely to the 



tender mercies of the usurer and the latters" 

 forty percent a month. It is not hard to 

 imagine what the result of this policy has 

 been. Hundreds of Philippine agricultural 

 enterprises that could never have been launch- 

 ed but for the availability of cheap credit 

 are now well on the road to success. 

 While the American congress was scratch- 

 ing its head and sitting up nights in an effort 

 to devise an effirient medium of communica- 

 tion and information that would make the 

 farm loan scheme workable, the Philippine 

 National Bank already had a government- 

 controlled corps of agents in the various 

 provincial treasurers, who could make prompt 

 and accurate recommendations concerning 

 the placing of farm loans throughout the 

 islands. This was possible because of the 

 fact that the Philippine government owns 

 51 per cent of the stock in the bank, and its 

 officials in the field are thus made available 

 as an advisory force. The organization of 

 the National Bank resulted in the absorp- 

 tion by that institution of the Agricultural 

 Bank, which had led a precarious existence 

 CREDIT AND COLLECTION: DEPARTMENT for a number of years, and so acquired the 



