! Federal Reserve Branch Now Assured for Salt Lake Giy i James K. Lynch, in Address Here Before Utah; and Idaho Bankers, Declares It Will Probably Prob-ably Be Established in Three Months. SALT LAKH ivlll hare a branch of trie federal rrfcerve bank. Ttila as- : sura rice AT'Vfii tho bankers of ( 'fall ajid southern Idaho yester- ! day afternoon by .fames K. Lynch, ornor of the fodei-ul ren-'TVC brink of lihe Twelft li l iMt rict, of San l'ra ncisuo, :who addrc:iH-(J Lhem Jit tiie Commercial club. Jt will lie established, Mr. Lynch naid, just as soon as the federal reserve bank board a t. Wahini; t on can take up the matter on r-ro:iinicndat ion of ilr. Lvrn-h i, nd f,n fbrmal petition by the l;ink-rn of Ibis section th went. It Is probable. aci.,rdnu to Mr. Lynch, that the Salt I,ake branch u ill he established wiihln tiie next two or three months. On the. su.Krsllon of Mr. Lynch, IYank II. 'loodiii, tormcr governor of Idaho, who pieMd.d over 1 he nie 1 1 iir. appointed a committee, of nine to draft resolutions, sotting forth the need of a branch federal fed-eral reserve bank and petitioning for its f-siabbshmeiit. Thone on the committee axe : W, W. Kit er, president of the Dcs-e.rel. Dcs-e.rel. National bank, Salt Jake; W. W. A rmsl rontf. pro-ldeiit of tile Xa 1 ional ( 'nppf-r bank, Halt LaJiv ; L. Ii. b'arns-worlli, b'arns-worlli, pi'esidenl. of Walker Brothers Bankers. S;i It Lake; V. A. Valentine, president of the fdrst N'atlonal bank. I'o-'atello; I'o-'atello; i I. .. t'limntuck, president of the Kirs l .National I rink. Require Idaho; F. If. 1'arsoiiH, president of the Pacific National Na-tional bank, Boise. Idaho; J. G. N. Barnes, president of t lie Jtate bank of Ouden ; tlrawford Moore of Boise, Idaho, and II. K. Match of Jx)R"an. 6ank3 Represented. Nearly all of the larp'or national and state banks of Utah and southern Idaho were renreseuted at tho meeting. Pledpes were made that nearly all of the stale and private banks, not now members of the federal rcsevo bank, would become members, particularly if a. branch Is ea-i ea-i abl i shed in .Salt Lake. AH of . the national na-tional banks, in compliance with the federal fed-eral reserve bank law, already aro members. Mr. Lynch reviewed the establishment and purpose of 1 he federal reserve bank, and said that the coat of maintaining' any branch bank should not exceed ? 21,000 a year. While the national banks have a pre-eminence over statu banks as members mem-bers of the federal reserve bank, he said, the last session of congress made provision provi-sion by which the state banks could become be-come members. Ke ui-R-ed the latter to appreciate the benefit of membership, explaining- that while the national banks ran relincpilsh their memberships through li( initiation, the state banks are permitted permit-ted to retire from membership after six months' experience if they desire. On the ground of patriotism, that the ha nds of the povernmcnt may be strengthened by a concentration of business busi-ness in t he reserve bank, Mr. Lynch made an appeal to all banks to come In. There never was a time, he said, when I lie country was in such actual peril as n t. present, nnd with the war fur from beini? ended, if peace terms should be concluded with Kn gland, the entire resources re-sources of the I'niterl States, financial and natural, he said, would be necessary to continue the war against Germany and protect this country from the enemy. Salt Lake Handicapped. Mr. Lynch sa id that if every state bank in this section of the country would s ism if i v its in ten Linn to become a member mem-ber of tne federal reserve bank, the board at Washington would have to stretch Its authority If It failed to authorize au-thorize the establishment of a branch in Salt Lake. Mr. Lynch conceded that because of the great distance from Salt Lake a great handicap existed in dolus business with the federal reserve bunk in an Francisco, Fran-cisco, and he sa id that he believed Salt Lake was entitled to a branch bank. Lmpbasizinif the urgent need of a branch of the federal reserve bank in Salt Lake, James K. Oosfrrif f. president of the Continental National bank, said that he could not think of any portion of the country bo unfortunately situated, from a geographical standpoint, as Salt Lake for doing- business with the main federal reserve bank. Because of the fact that so many of the men employed at the mines are foreigners, and with a payroll of about 52.000,000 a month, it is necessary neces-sary that the banks keep a iarpre amount o'f ready cash on hand, he said, to be safe against immediate demand. This, he said, is proba bly a matter concerning which the federal reserve bank board had not given much thought. Because of trade conditions, also, he said, nearly all feeing with tho east. the reserve re-serve requirements in Utah and southern Idaho, instead of being- less, are more than in any other section, and to meet them the federal reserve bank should be close at hand. Bankers Pledge Support. Mr. Cosgriff said that it is utterly Impossible Im-possible to collect checks through San Francisco, as the possibility exists pf them being returned In thirty days marked "no funds." In this case the banks have to resort to "swapping checks'1 through the clearing- house. To ive Salt lAke a branch federal reserve hnnk would onlv be placing it on the Hrrif basis cenpetitive citi--. "The expanse should in-L be coujU'1." ha id Mr. (.'"sci i''!", "and if it is. rek-ase ns from t .: T la el :'t!i federal tr.a-r: e diM net a rid do not p a ( us in the a s k ward no-sition no-sition (.!' being attached to tan F;an-cisco." F;an-cisco." V. W. ArnistnHig pledged the support (jf the banker:- oi I'tah and southern ldalio to do ' cry tiling nc'-essary to secure se-cure a hiaiich federal reserve bank for Sail Lake. ( '. A. Valentine of Pocatello said that Ii had always believed in tlte federal reserve re-serve bank system, nnd that h tavorci Sail ,ake for a branch hnnk. as it would reiiH'se many of the present obstacles now handicapping the country hanks. The siii -cess of the wa r, said ( i irv !". Paiii-nnan of St. Anthony. Idaho, will ilc-i ilc-i pend hugely on tlie unification and coordination co-ordination of the bankers cf the coantrv. jlle said that besides exercising a patrl-, patrl-, otic duty the state banks .would benefit immeasurably by becoming members of the federal reserve hank. W. W. Riter, president of the T"eseret National bank, opened a new phase in the importance of esra hiislnn? a bra nob bank In Salt I ,ake when he said there I are so many customers who pay a note when Inclined rather than when the obligation obli-gation Is due. In dealing with the federal fed-eral reserve bank In San Francisco, he said, "wa do not know whether we are in disgrace or not, and may have to pay the note ourselves. If we had a branch here the conditions would be different and wo would have less hesl tancy in negotiating negoti-ating our paper and in the matter of rediscounts." re-discounts." Would Prevent Runs. L. H. Fa ms worth, president of Walker Walk-er Brothers Bankets, said that he believed be-lieved it of tlie most, vital importance to the government and to tlie bank, that all banks, whether national or state, to become members of the federal reserve bank, "It is Tip to ns to give the government gov-ernment stability,' said Mr. Karris worth, "and speaking for the Walker Brothers Bankers, we shall at once put the mutter of membership before the stock holders" Fjvery effort should be made to secure a branch of the federal reserve bank for Salt Lake, was the sentiment expressed by James Pingree, president of the Pin-. Pin-. gree National bank of Ogden, who said that under present conditions it takes at least ten days to provide available funds from San Francisco. If a run on a bank should start, he said, It would be serious, nnd it would be necessary for all the banks to get together to save the situation, whereas, if there were a local federal reserve branch, relief would be instant. When the government is In danger, said Judge J. II. Richards, of Boise. Idaho, the banks must respond, whether national or sLate banks, because they are American, in strengthening the. power of the nation and of the financial world. ' T. W. Boyer, cashier of the Continental National bnnk, placed stress on the fact that with the establishment of a branch of the federal reserve bank in Sa.lt Lake, all of the banks of this section would have more money at command with which to conduct their business, and the delays In securing rediscounts would be obviated, obviat-ed, and such matters as taking care of the Liberty loan and war certificates would be facilitated. Sees Pressing Need. Errors which now are frequent because of distance would be obviated, said (J. C. "Beelie, cashier of the Zion Savings Ba.nk Trust company, who favored membership on the part of state and private banks. Speaking fov the Zion bank, he said that it would take out a membership just as soon as a branch is established , in Salt Lake. In his final discussion of the matter of establishing a branch of the federal reserve bank in Salt Lake. Mr. Lynch said that the bankers who had attended the meeting to greet him had shown to his complete satisfaction that there Is a pressing need for a branch bank in this section of the country. While there are many cities larger than ShH Lake which have no branch federal reserve bank, he said, there Is a difference in this city, because it is isolated from the main bank at San Francisco by a much greater distance than any other large city. He said that the management of the San Francisco bank had every desire to render ren-der perfect service, and in view of this determination he said that he could assure as-sure the bankers of Utah and southern Idaho that Salt Lake would be designated designat-ed as a place for a branch bank within a reasonable time. The federal reserve bank today, he said, is the most vital thing in the financial fi-nancial life of the country, by simplifying simplify-ing clearings. While to meet the requirements require-ments of the federal reserve bank the banks in the system may have to change their methods to a slight extent, said Mr. Lynch, the benefit accruing will more than compensate. He decried the system of permitting some customers to liquiciate at their pleasure, declaring that everybody should do Borne liquidating every ev-ery year. Any bank holding paper, 25 per cent of which is sure of prompt liquidation, liqui-dation, he said, will receive the benefits of the federal reserve bank. No bank does its duty to its customers, he de-calred, de-calred, ii It does not join tho federal reserve re-serve batik.