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Show TI!E ETHICAL SERVICE BUSINESS RENDERS BY J. H. PUELICHER President of the American Bankers Association I sometimes think wo lay too mucli stress on tin) technical clllclency of our business lust ru im-n t n lit tcs and r"' too little on their moral services. Ih It enough lo nay to our nullail opponents oppo-nents of 1 1 1 present ca pi In list ic order tluit it effectively feeds mid clothes nnd houses nnd furnishes us with physical com- J. H. Puellcher tl"-'s ,"ml, l'11" and therefore It la pood? That la not enough. They can rightfully tell us thai, even though a system may minister to our phy ideal well-being. If It stunts us morally, If It does not positively make us better ethically, It Is an inadequate, system.1 The general answer to this assertion asser-tion Is obvious. The very fact that our Industry, commerce and flnanco serve us so rmply with tho materials' and means for physical well-being ' gives us the opportunity to build nndj support our churches, to foster the j arts, to develop our great educational system, to be kind to one another, j But need we deal In generalities?! Do we not find in the direct effect of our business upon the individual much to Improve his ethical standards? stand-ards? To toughen his moral liber? Is It not good for the personal character char-acter of the race to do business as we are now doing it? Let us take tht business of banking, bank-ing, for example. Is it a mere mechanism mech-anism or Is it a vital moral force? Does It do more than, by facilitating! production, raise the physical stand-! ard of living, or is there anything ! Inherent in the manner and methods of banking that raises the moral j standard of living as well? Nine-tenths of our business is done by means of oredit. The great bulk of that credit is obtained from the banks. It is obtained from the banks because men have character, because be-cause they are honest, because they keep faith, because they can be trusted. 1 If they did not have these qualities they could not do business with credit, they could not do business at the banks. We say banks deal In credit. That Is but a way of saying they deal In honor and honesty. They build the business structure with tha faith of man In man. ! The part banking plays in our bust-; ness life is growing. That means that the faith of men In each other is growing. The more men who come to the banks with characters that entitle en-title them to credit, the more- men who realize that to gain credit at the banks, they must possess themselves, with characters that win them unquestioned un-questioned trust, the higher becomes the ethical standards of the nation, j Is not this a great moral service ( that banking renders? It is a greater justification for our present financial system than even its wonderful efficiency effi-ciency in providing us with the material ma-terial things of life. No greater serv- I ke could be rendered the nation. j |