56 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



about to undertake the management of industry. In so far as it can 

 society should seek to minimize the temptations incident to the banking 

 business. 



There are two kinds of temptations in banking. Those incident to 

 the fiduciary relationship, and those due to competition under modern 

 conditions of life. 



Banking is largely a fiduciary occupation. The banker possesses 

 the confidence of the community and has on hand a large amount of 

 money belonging to other persons and this he knows will not be called 

 for during a considerable period of time. He also knows of many 

 promising opportunities for investment of which the general public is 

 entirely ignorant. He is familiar with the gigantic schemes of the pro- 

 moter, and he is also acquainted with the tricks of corporation finance. 

 In consequence, he is tempted more than other classes in the community 

 to engage in speculation. Brokers in the larger cities say that it is 

 not uncommon for bankers in the smaller places to furnish them money 

 with instructions to go long or short on certain kinds of stocks. 



Under modern conditions of industrial and social life competition is 

 fiercer for the moneyed classes. The banker belongs to these classes. 

 There is a certain cleavage in society between these and other classes. 

 The financial interests are sharply defined. Standards are set by the 

 leaders in financial and banking circles. The small banker tries to live 

 up to the standard set by the great banker. This is conspicuously shown 

 in the modern race to build elegant bank buildings. In the advertise- 

 ments that are now running in the banking magazines it is quite the thing 

 to have a picture of the building. Especially is this the case if the build- 

 ing is a fine one. Everyone is familiar with instances where one bank 

 in a city has put up a fine building and the other banks have not been 

 slow to build also and to try and surpass the buildings of their competitors. 

 What is true of the buildings applies also to the interior furnishings. 

 A series of articles is now running in the Bankers^ Magazine showing 

 the interiors of the more important banks in the larger cities of the 

 United States. Nearly all the illustrations are of interiors finished in 

 marble. Formerly bank fixtures were in some sort of wood, but with the 

 increase of wealth in the country it seems that only marble will answer 



