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BANK STOCKS Wellesley Hills, Mass. 'Oct. 21, 1922. There has been much discus sion regarding branch banks at the annual convention of the American Bankers' Association which was held last week in New York. Owing to the controversy whicl this discuss ing has developed, Roger W. Bab son was today interviewed regarding the. probable outcome. "Of course the discussion is the natural outgrowth of the establish ment of the Federal Reserve Banks. Before the days of the Federal Re serve system, "says Mr. Babson," a branch bank organization practically P ted, altho it was an unconscious invisible organization. Fog in stance, the small bank in Indiana took orders from its correspondent bank in Indianapolis; and the Indian agolis bank took its orders from a still bigger bank ini New York. The heads of a few of the New Ycrk banks would hold a co,1ference at the home of the late J. Pieriont Mo-rrzn or at the home of Mr. Baker o: the First National Bank, andl decide upon a policy. This policy they would pass along to the large banks ot Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, St. Louis, New Orleans, and other large cities. The banks in these large cities would in turn pass the same policy on to the small banks in their districts. There were no contracts or stock control existing between the banks, but there was an invisible con trol which was very powerful. With the organization of the Federal Re serve Banks, the clearance of checks at par, and the legislation against interlocking directorates, this control s given a tremenduos jolt. No longer is it much of an object for a country bank to keep a deposit with the large city bank. Thus there has been a gradual drifting away on the part of the country banks from the city banks. The large cities have become more independent of New York; and the country banks have become more independent of -the large cities. As long as the money rates were high, this did not worry the city banks, but during the past year, when money rates have been declin ing, the large city banks have dis tbitly felt the loss of their former power. Hence, they are looking a round for some plan to gmt tner country following back again. "There is no hope of breaking up the Federal Reserve system whieh is functioning very satisfactorily. The men connected with the Federal '-Reserve Banks are active and amb; tious. They are building permanent and substantial banking houses and are accumulating great resources. They are issuing reports and other publications which appeal greatly to the country banks. The larger city bank are distinctly worried about this and ai-e looking for some other means of recouping their prestige. They first turned their attention to Foreign Trade organizations. 'For eign Trade' was the key note at the American Bankers Convention two years ago. The foreign trade busi ness, however, has not panned out as well as the banks had hoped it would, and our recent tariff has given al most a death blow to what little new foreign trade we had. Thus, the bank's hopes in this regar:1 are noi very sanguine at the moment. An other attempt has shown itself in the organization of separate "Invest ments" - companies and separate "Ac ~nce" companies. These have Sorganized by many of the larg ean ks and most of them are oper ating successfully. Banks are find ing these Investment companies more profitable at the moment than their foreign adventure. The banks are gradually coming to the opinion, however, that they can recover their influence with the country districts only with organiza *of branch banks. Hence, there i drive at present to have the Na tional Bank Laws amended so that a city bank can own a system of branch banks in the surrounding cities and towns. Whether or not this is in line with Democracy, is a very debatable question; but the drive is on and my guess is that such branch banks are as inevitable as the chain store. "All the banking systems of Eu rope are developed on the "branch bank" idea. The big banks of Eng land, France, and Germany have their branches in hundreds of cities and towns. One of the finest branch systems in the world exists in Canada, just over the United States line. In Montreal there are several big banks, and each of these have from one hun dred branches in different Canadian cities and towns. As alr-eady stated, I doubt seriously whether the branah bt-nk system is as 'good for the cooin try as the present system. the other hand, wve know that the~ pr-ecnt tendency of eliminating the mai! farmer and substituting the renter i'n place of the owner is not for the good of the country. The develoomnent of chain store systems ivhich are slow ly crowding out the individuid remail is not good for the co:mry. SOne Christmas Mr. Henzy~ Ford ' sent e a n autographed phomErd.' on which he wrote these wor Is: 'E iminate absentee ownership and in dustrial problems will solve them selves". He is correct in that absen tee ownership is a present difficulty with our industrial organizations. As the chain store grows, a similar dif ficulty will develop which we do not now have with our individual retail system, and as a system of branch banks grows, there will be that same difficulty with our banking xsyswn. Yet I believe these changes are in evitable. Branch banks will be esab lished thruout the country, and Con gress will enact such legislation as is needed to make this possible." "Mr. Babson was then asked what the effect of this would Le on bank stocke and he replied that it should be a benefit to bank stocks. There are enough banks in the country dis tricts at the present time. Hence, the city banks will be wise enough not to start new ones to serve as 1iheir branches. Instead the city banks will buy control of the better country banks. This will develop a new and active market for country bank stocks. Small banks irt growing com munities will be in special demand. Their stocks will surely sell higher. At the present time most bank stocks sell on "book value" with out any consideration of the value of "good will". As soon as city banks bid a gainst one another for the country banks, the "good will" feature will at once be of value. With banks of small capital stock, this will at once become a valuable asset. Banks which have a small capital stock and banks which have a virtual monopoly of the bankirig interests in a com munity, will be in special demand. A community which has four banks will have these four banks purchased by four big city banks so that each of the four big city banks will have a branch in the smaller city. When, however, there is only one bank in the community the four big city banks will compete and bid against one an other for the stock of this one bank. The stock of many of these small banks, which today can be bought around par, may later be purchased by some city bank at $200 to $250 a share. All the country banks need to do or to bring about these conditions is to buy good securities, avoid risks, and to keep themselves in a strong position. The city banks will be will ing to pay a good price for good will and will not especially care about im mediate earning capacity; but they will want to be sure that the assets are sound and that the -bank has not many me ducks." Gene I business as reflected in the Babsonchart continues to improve. 'Its present position-but 3 per cent below normal. The highest point in two ~years. WEEKLY COTTON LETT'ER BY SAVANNAH COTT~ON FACTOR AGE Co. All cotton markets have been ad vancing this week due to settlement of the Turkish question, lighter offer ings in most sections Qf the belt, pri vate reports of a smaller yield than the trade expected, and a good de mand from southern mills. Sales in foreign markets have also increased. This should be followed by a better demand from abroad. The Consumption Report for Sep tember was published to-day show ing 495,344 bales, against 484,718 bales last year. The total consump tion of cotton during August and September amounted to 1,022, 748 bales, against 951,777 bales last year. Exports to date are slightly less than those of 1921. This is due toi unsettled conditions in foreign coun tries. As stated above, sales of cot ton in foreign markets are increasing and exports from the Gulf ports have been much larger this month than last. Most of the crop has been picked, offering are lighter, the demand is good, and unless something unfor seen occurs, the market should con tinue to work higher. MT. ZION WINS FIRST GAME OF SEASON Mt. Zion opened the foot-ball seas on in Rock Hill against Winthrop Training school last Friday, winning it by the score of 6 to 0. The two teams were about evenly matched in weight. Mt. Zion scored in the first five minutes of play on line bucks and end runs. Mt. Zions goal was n'ever in danger thruout the entire game. To mention the stars for Mt. Zion would be hard to do. The whole team played good ball and showed that they had been well coached. Johnson at quarterback was the best ground-gainer for the local Hi. He ran several punts back in fine style. The local team will play Kershaw here Friday on the College Campus. Last year Kershawv defeated Mt. Zion and this year the locals are out for revenze. Everybody be on the Col lege Campus to 'cheer the home boys ADVANCES MONEY TO MEMBERS Columbia, Oct. 16-Over $3,250,000 has been paid out by the South Caro lina Cotton Growers Cooperative As sociation in advances to its members, officials of the association announced. An average of well over $100,000 is being paid out daily. The association is advancing 12 cents a pound on short staple and 18 cents a pound on long staple to its members. This repre sents merely the initial advance. Heavy deliveries are reported from every section of the state. Members of the association are standing loyal ly behind the organization, officials said, and thus far only one violation of the contract has been reported. In case legal proceedings have been in stituted. Contracts were received (luring the past week from many large farmers, and enthusiasm for the as sociation is declared to be sweeping over the entire state. The banks and business men of the state are not on ly cooperating actively with the mem bers of the state but are urging their farmer customers who are not already members to join at once and market their old and new cotton through it. KILL 1923 WEEVILS NOW One of the most effective steps in boll weevil control is the early de struction of cotton stalks. Just as soon as the cotton can be harvested, go into the cotton field afid either turn under the cotton stalks or rip them up with a plow. The object is to destroy the cotton plants. ' Weevils can not feed on dead cot ton stalks. When their food is de stroyed they migrate to where they can feed or else go into winter ':uar ters. Whether they are thus driven away fromyour farm or driven into winter quarters the probabilities of their damaging you again next season are greatly reduced. Over most of the cotton belt it is possible to gather the cotton early enough to permit of the destruction of the cotton stalks three to four weeks before a killing frost will de st:."y them. Thrpc t. foji weeks ear lier in going into winter quarters means that death of weevils from starvation and cold will be greatly increased. It is the last weevils that go into winter quarters that cause damage in the cotton crop the next year. If all of these were starved out by destroy ing cotton stalks early there would, of course, be an end of the weevil. While one can not expect that cotton will ever be destroyed early and com pletely enough to accomplish a com plete eradication of the weevil, it is true that to the extent that this is done the number of weevils and their damage will be reduced. Chopping down stalks leaves stuhs that sprout new growth on which the weevil can feed, therefore, the only safe way is to uproot the stalks or else, with the aid of a drag chain, to turn them completely under the far row Siice. Knowing that many cotton farmrers do not plow deep enough to, cover tip cotton stalks, the safest general ad vise is to uproot the stalks with a plow and to watch that no new grow th starts up. As long as there is green cotton grcwth left in the field, the weevil will be found. It will crawl into a locic of co:on or half opened bur to keeo warm an i ccome cut when the sun shines ; o feed on the green stuff. Don't burn the cotton stalks. 'Let them lay on the ground. When the ground is plowed they can he turned under where they w'ill (decay and add the organic matter which the scils so much need. Why not ortmi e a comrmunity wide, or county-wide miovemnent for the early dlestructi-m of cotton stalks. It means less trouble from the wee vijs ne'.t 'Par WANTED-To hear from owner of good farm for sale. State cash price, full particulars. D. F. Bush, Minneapolis, Minn. 28-29pd e.+ D ADMSSION 50 Exclusive Modes in etATS TNDIVIDUALITY, style and exceptional quality. .LJn materials and workmanship are the character istics of every hat bearing the famous "Lady Bahi more" label. Leaders at the Baltimore Fashion Show, I "Lady Baltimore" Hats are the creations of master designers. Our showing of this season's newest and most popular effects is inclusive. MISS LIZZIE JOHNSTON w Price Reduction OBER 17th, 1922 in price in history of Ford pany. A gian*nie nodels of $50.00 per car. V PRICES F. 0. B. DETROIT, MICH. AIN ..........-...... ......*........ -.....-- ...- ------...... $298.00 GLF STARTER _....-..............-.-.--....368.00 I'H STARTER AND DEM. 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