Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

IDAY, FEBRUARY T, im BANKERS IN NATIONAL MOVE FOR UNIFORM . PRACTICES d Promote Greater Consistency Among All the State Laws in Respect to Banking Conditions—Uniform ity of Practice and Understanding Will Make for Greater Convenience, Efficiency and Safety for All Business. I V i ic i i SO HIGH By 8. J. HIGH a / President State Bank Division, American Bankers Association R APID interchange of business and the quick transporta tion of goods in the United States, coupled with almost in stantaneous means of inter-communication bj^ telegraph, tele phone and wireless; have/welded the coun try into an economic unit. The nation is not, in a business sense, coptlucting its affairs ii^ water-tight compartments, as in a measure 1 it did in the days of slow travel and remote places, but styles^ methods, commodities and business practices flow freely today in all directions. /Therefore it is desirable that finance, trade and industry throughout the country operate along generally uni form or at least consistent lines, so that a contract or an agreement or obligation in connection with business transactions shall mean virtually the same thing in all parts of the country. Particularly necessary in this connection is the establishment of uniform financial and banking practices so as to fa cilitate the flow of trade along accepted and nderstood lines. , Banking in the United States is recog nized as a semi-public type of business and is therefore sub ject to laws to define the scope and character of its activities. These laws at present set up a great diversity of conditions aOkii bank commissioners in some states Is found In laws giving them complete charge of Insolvent banks and their iquldation as distinguished from mors costly liquidation through the courts. In the Public Interest Distinctly In the public Interest are laws prohibiting or limiting an officer or director of a bank from borrowing from his own bank unless his col ateral security Is approved by a ma jority of the board of directors of tho bank. Also there is recent legislation noted providing for closer supervision and regulation of building and loan associations, credit unions, finance companies and private banks. In some states measures have been enacted broadening the field for In vestment of funds of savings banks and trust companies, which have ma terially enhanced the service that these Institutions can render, parties- larly in the way of co-operation with their customers In personal financial management. Another type of legis lation, Important fspeclaily to bank ing In view of the frequent efforts to defraad banks, Is that which makes the issuance of worthless checks a misdemeanor with apeclflc penalties. The State Bank Division of the American Bankers Association en dorses In the fullest degree In princi ple the development of banking laws along the foregoing lines and is active ly engaged in fostering the spread of such legislation wherever Its services are considered useful both to banking and to the public. Uniformly sound banking Institutions and practices, to gether with common methods and un derstanding, will materially add to the convenience, efficiency and safety of business in serving the well-being of tbe public In all parts of the nation, especially in those transactions Invoiv ing dealings between different local! ties. under which banking Is conducted in 3>- various parts of the country since tey come from both state and fed- 1 authorities. The national banks all chartered by the federal gov- ?7hment and therefore operate on the. same lines fn every state of the Union, but there is no such regu larity In respect to the conditions under which the state banks chartered by the respective ,forty-eight -states must conduct their business. All state banking codes, while they have simi larities, also have many great dissimi larities in respect both to the na tional bank laws and the banking laws covering state bank operations in oth er Jurisdictions. _ Bankers Move for Uniform Laws The State Bank Division of the American Bankers Association, which latter Includes in its membership banks of all descriptions throughout the country subject to all the varia tions of state and federal banking laws, is committed to the effort to bring about greater consistency and uniformity among the statutes of all these various Jurisdictions. This body Is conducting a vigorous nation-wide campaign urging that active steps be taken to secure greater co-ordination In banking legislation, more equitable conditions and more uniformly effi cient public supervision of banks In the several states. The organisation Is particularly con cerned with fostering this movement to bring about more uniformly desir able conditions throughout the United States in respect to the public super vision of banking Institutions by the state banking departments. It is on record as favoring tbe policy that the Important office of state bank commis sioner should be kept as free from entangling partisan politics as the ju diciary itself and should be complete ly detached from all other functions of state government. It Is also on record as favoring the ^Molicy that the tenure of office of state ^^Bank commissioners should be made ^^bore secure and lasting than Is now the case in many state jurisdictions and that this important public officer be granted sufficient compensation and discretionary power so that the office shall attract and retain the serv ices of men of outstanding executive ability and successful banking expe rience. It Is also a part of this policy that the bank commissioner’s ability to serve well should be strengthened by providing him with adequate forces of bank examiners, selected on the basis of merit from men having the requh site qualifications of honesty, ability, training and banking knowledge to carry out the duties of their offices on the highest plane of usefulness to the public as well as to banking. ^ The Trend of State Laws The Association’s State Bank Divl slon has recently concluded a nation wide survey of state banking legisla tion and conditions and in general has discovered a definite trend along the following lines: There is a distinct tendency among the states to raise the minimum capi tal Vequired for banking Institutions to $25,000 and also to give the bank commissioners or the banking boards sole power as to the granting of char ters for new banks, thus enabling them to use discretion as to the need or desirability of added banking facili ties or the fitnefcs of the organizers' td enter the banking field. In this con nection many states are creating banking boards to act In an advisory capacity with the state bank commis- loners. - , r _^ There has also been observed tendency to Increase the compensa tion of the bank commissioners and to lengthen their terms of office and to give them power to appoint necessary deputies and examiners so as to build up an adequate force to carry out their responsibilities and duties. An impor tant augmentation of the powers of * AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD IN SAVINGS The past year saw the greatest gains in savings In a single twelve- month ever recorded In the United States, bringing the total savings de posits in banks to over $28,400,000,000 on June 30, 1928, held in more than 53,000,000 individual accounts, it Is reported by the American Bankers As sociation. These are the biggest fig^ ures in this field shown by any coun- try In the world. These figures are Indicative of pros perity more general than any time since the business depression of 1920, the report declares. Only three states failed to show a gain and the 1928 volume of savings constituted an In crease of more than $2,327,000,000 above the 1927 figure. The gain per inhabitant for 1928 over 1927 was $17 and the gain in number of savings de- of 5.2% as against a growth in the population of the country'of 1.2%. The gain in savings per inhabitant In New England and the Middle At lantic states over the previous year was $36. These groups of states, with 29.9% of the population of the United States and 52.8% of the total savings deposits, have the largest savings rate. $461 per inhabitant, of any area in the world. The per capita savings for the United States as a whole this yea? stands'at $237 as compared with $220 last year. "An acre of alfalfa for every cow Ir Howard County, Iowa,** is the slogan adopted by the county bankers as* elation there after watching sever* hundred thousand dollars go out % their county last winter for feed. r , ^ RECEIVED! A New Supply of TYPEWRITER RIBBONS FOR Remington, Royal Underwood Machines. ALSO Real Estate Titles and Mortgages A Supply of Chattel Mortgages, Rent Liens and # Other Legal Blanks Always in Stock. If you need any Letterheads, Billheads, Envelopes, or printed matter of any description, get our prices * % before placing yonr order elsewhere. u Reasonable Prices, Prompt DeKvery The People- Phone No. 89 Barnwell, S. G /