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Show NATIONAL BANKS DESIRE LIBERTY. i REPORT OF COMPTROLLER DISCLOSES DIS-CLOSES INCREASING EXODUS FROM U. S. SYSTEM Total of Ninety-Eight Failures Are Chiefly Accounted For In Weat and Livestock Centers Of The Country Washington, D. C. National banks throughout the country are feeling more and more the restriction laid around them by federal statutes and greater freedom for them was described describ-ed as imperative in the annual report of J. W. Mcintosh, comptroller of the currency just made public. The comptroller cited detailed statistics to show an increasing exodus from the national banking system and he predicted it would continued until the national banking laws are amended. To accomplish the needed relief, Mr. Mcintosh strongly urged enactment enact-ment of the McPadden bill, a measure which was passed by the house last congress, but which never was reached reach-ed by the senate. "It is a well known fact," the report re-port added, "that many national banks are anxiously awaiting enactment enact-ment of such a bill as that which failed fail-ed at the last session of congress. If they cannot at this time obtain some amendments to their charter powers as are therein proposed, there will be a still greater exodus from the national na-tional system." Mcintosh said that although the resources re-sources of the national banks had steadily increased from year to year and the condition of the individual banks remain strong, the relative increase in-crease nevertheless in the total resources re-sources of the national institutions has been slowly falling off as compared compar-ed with the resources of state banks and trust companies. He mentioned that during the forty-year period ending end-ing July 1, 1924, the total resources of national banks had fallen from 75 per, cent of the total banking resources resour-ces of the country to about 47 per cent. The last eighteen months, he said had witnessed a further shrinkage shrink-age in the proportion of the total resources re-sources held by the national banks. "These facts present a serious situation sit-uation for the consideration of the congress," the comptroller said, "and I am directing attention therefore at this time chiefly for the purpose of showing that the bank operations are becoming daily accentuated. The national na-tional banking system is a time-honored federal instrumentality. The charter powers of the individual national na-tional banks are derived solely from the congress. Twice in the history of the United States, namely, immediately immed-iately preceding the World war, the lately preceding the World war, the federal government was able to enforce en-force a banking policy at a time of great financial stress through its authority au-thority to use the national banking system as an instrument lor the public pub-lic benefit. "The individual national bank is always al-ways ultimately able to take care of itself in meeting the competitive condition con-dition due to more favorable state laws by giving up its national character charac-ter and going into the state system. But the gradual loss of national banks and the consequent decrease in relative rela-tive resources of the national banking bank-ing system is of primary concern to the national gov-ernment, not only because be-cause of the national banks from the logical and permanent basis of the federal reserve system, but also,' because be-cause only through the national banking bank-ing system can there be maintained throughout the United States a standardized stand-ardized system of banking subject to the visithorial powers of the federal government and subservient at all times to the will of congres." |