Show A BANK REFLECTS THE LIFE ABOUT IT loans and investments investment on which condition of a bank depends depend determined hy by the kind of business surrounding it 9 POLITICAL and popular Phen hen slona toward banking or ar duo du to little else elie than failure allure to realize that it li 16 what the people themselves 4 do that the condition of banking reflects ind and that banking cannot of 0 itself reflect events and conditions other than thoi that actually originate from surround ur round ing circumstances circumstance francl francis 11 II sisson president of 0 the american bankers banker association A says in an article in forum magazine the character 0 of an notes and investments indicates indicate whether it li Is in the farm arm regions ret ious ft a manufacturing center a mercantile ll neighborhood or a great financial dis erict he says ays and furthermore besides identifying the institution as to its III locality a study ot of its notes will equally clearly indicate the economic conditions surrounding it it a farm arm district banks banki note history shows hoai that its loans loan rise and tall fall with the normal cycle ot of production and marketing of the products product ot of the th region it may be taken as an index ot of economic good health for or the locality he says but it if over a peri period odthe the loan volume shows a dwindling trend it may mean a region that ti Is losing ground becoming exhausted or being robbed ot of business bu alnesa by another community or it if a large proportion ot of the loans are not paid at maturity but are chronically to r dewed or it stocks or bonds or real estate have hare to be taken as a additional security these too have economic ill ances reflecting perhaps crop failures overproduction over production or inefficient high cost farming methods in a highly competitive national or world market such as wheat inevitably all these facts acts are reflected in the condition ot of the ib local banks city banks banki too it the loans of 0 a bank in a manufacturing or merchandising flold field show a smoothly running coordination with production and distribution they too mirror a healthy economic situation or there then may be here also signs that reflect growing unfavorable conditions condition such as excessive loan renewals and therefore over slon sion of credit extended to makers or dealers in particular products and aim lm liar ilar circumstances similar conditions apply to banks engaged in financing the tb activities of the securities markets the foregoing Is merely suggestive of the infinite aspects ot of the ufa life outwardly surrounding the th banks which form and control their internal conditions although these facts seem obvious enough the discussions and criticisms that have raged about the banks often appear to set them apart us as somehow separate iron from the lives live 0 of our peo pie casting forth a malignant influence upon agriculture industry and trade from forces generated wholly within themselves the tha truth of the matter Is that the fate of the banks Is in inseparably interwoven with the fate of the rest of the people and of the nation what hap bened to the country happened to the tb banks and what happened to the banks is in no way di derent or detached from what happened to the people they are all part of the same pattern of the situs saiu continuous stream of events no one element in that stream can be called the cause of business depression it if the banks caused trouble to some of our people it was because they were irresistibly forced to pass on troubles that came to them from other people these troubles impaired the values of their securities and customers notes and rendered some unable in turu turn to 10 pay back to other customers their deposits that had been properly used to create those loans and investments unless these truths are kept continual ly in mind there Is no such thing is as approaching an understanding of the th banking problem or of properly safe guarding the very heavy stake of the public in that problem |