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WAXKEK'S DUTY AS KDUCATOH.
[ By Win. C. Cornwall , Iiuliann Bankers' A so-
ciution Convention , Indiaimpolis , Oct 25 , ' 09. ]
Nnturo in nil its operations empha
sizes the principle of benefit endowment
resultant from life work. The silk
worm spins laboriously its cream-white
cocoon and , goes out of it to a new life ,
leaving its priceless threads to adorn
beauty in salons and palaces.
I suppose every worker is bound to
teach something of what he knows to
the people ho comes in contact with ,
and so leave the world a little bettor off
in knowledge , when he goes out of it.
The laborer , at least by his example of
uncomplaining honest industry , certain
ly teaches something. The mechanic ,
the inventor and the scientist each
pushes world knowledge up several
notches from one generation to the next.
The doctor teaches hygienic care. The
lawyer teaches hope of ultimate justice
if not here at least hereafter and the
minister certainly is a teacher , more
than anything else.
I do not think the banker has been
much of a teacher in this country. If
he had been , I do not believe the preva
lent ill-will against banks would have
existed. It is a prejudice which is not
directed against any other class of busi
ness institutions. It is without founda
tion. The facts are that banks are the
greatest benefit , not only to the people
who use them , but to all the people ,
inasmuch as they make it possible to
carry on with facility all the operations
of the business world , and without
banks , at least seven-eighths of all com
merce would have to be abandoned.
The banks are to commerce what the
steam or power engine is to industry.
If the world was compelled to go back
completely to horse power it would be
less of a hardship than if banking were
entirely abandoned.
Prejudice Not Counteracted.
These being the facts , it is remarkable
that they are not widely known , and it
is due , to the education of the people
having been conducted the other way ,
by the demagogues , who have persis
tently taught that banks are a selfish
monopoly and that any one who
damaged them , did God's service.
There appears to have been no one to
counteract these teachings. They date
from the time in the civil war when
banking got into politics , when the
national banking system was formed ,
and when , for a few years , on account
of the large profit in note circulation
and bonds , the banks became a target
for the stump speaker on the anti-
administration side. This condition of
profit has long since passed away , but
the target practice has continued ever
since.
The bankers themselves have done
almost nothing at all to relieve the situ-
I
i r
ation , nnd the question is whether or
not it does not behoove them to take the
matter up systematically. This might
bo considered something of a selfish
operation. To educate the people as to
what a bank really is , so that the banker
might got out from under the political
crush , and have justice done him , and
get his share of legislation for the bene
fit of banks in general , looked at nar
rowly , might not be called education on
high lines , but , nevertheless , whatever
benefits banks , benefits the whole busi
ness structure , which operates by means
of them just as improvements in the
power engine help the industrial world.
I do not mean that the banker should
limit all his educational endeavors to this
effort. There is a wide field besides ,
pertaining perhaps to the more immedi
ate customers. A well conducted bank
encourages among its dealers thrift in
savings ; better system of accounts ; care
ful arrangements to ensure prompt pay
ment of obligations ; wise investigation
in extending credits ; well studied fore
casts of the market. All these things
make the bank and its customers more
prosperous. They are the daily work of
the banker as an educator. But they
have no influence in repealing hamper
ing , unjust , or inadequate laws.
Education Hotter Than Reform.
"Let us make our education brave
and preventive , " says Emerson. "Poli
tics is an afterwork , a poor patching.
We are always a little late. The evil is
done , the law is passed , and we begin
the uphill agitation for repeal of that of
which we ought to have prevented the
enacting. We shall one day have to
supersede politics by education. What
we call our root-and-branch reforms of
slavery , war , gambling , intemperance ,
is only medicating the symptoms. We
must begin higher up , namely in edu
cation. "
To affect general legislation as to the
banking situation , wide distribution
must be made of information as to what
banks really are , which would favorably
influence the voter.
Educating the Public.
That the bankers of the United States
are alive to the need of this sort of
progaganda is shown by the response to
the efforts of the committee on education
of the American Bankers' Association.
This committee sent out samples of a
primer on the Use of Banks , with re
quest that those of the fraternity who
cared to and would give time to its
painstaking distribution , should respond.
Over 4,000 bankers replied , ordering
1,250,000 copies of the primer , and
promising cooperation in the work of
the committee. The response was so
prompt and the order so large , that the
executive committee was staggered with
the vastuess of the undertaking if once
begun , and advised a smaller beginning.
The committee accordingly started to
supply 100 copies each to the banks
ordering , and in this way , in the last
year , over 825,000 copies have been trans
mitted to the bankers , and by them
to the hands of the individual readers ,
comprising farmers , mechanics , laborers ,
lumber men and miners. From the re
ports received it is evident that the
bankers in nearly every instance have
given personal attention to the matter ,
and so careful has been the distribution
that hardly a single copy has been
wasted. It is fair to presume that each
primer has had five readers , which
would extend whatever good was done
to over a million and a half people.
Educating the Danker Himself.
This is only a beginning , however. It
is a question whether the education of
the banker himself does not enter in
here. The lawyer , physician and clergy
man must each pass through a course of
training before he graduates into prac
tical operations. Engineers , electrical ,
civil and mechanical , do the same. Even
the farm , the workshop and the counting
room is represented by manual schools
and business colleges. The banker alone ,
must work his way to the top through
actual experience and without the help
of the university , and many times finds
the top occupied by someone who has
been successful in other business and
without any experience in this. There
should without doubt be in all our
colleges and universities a course for
bankers , and it should be , and we hope
will be , the aim of the committee on
education to bring this about.
In the meantime the banker already
in it , must do the best he can by indi
vidual application outside of the thread-
mill routine of daily business , fitting
himself for the higher questions which
the bankers should long ago have de
cided.
Authority on Money.
It seems to mo that the bankers should
be the authority on what our currency
system needs. It certainly needs some
rearrangement. I think every banker
should give this subject the most careful
study. I am quite sure that a unani
mity of opinion would be the result.
The Monetary Convention.
Four hundred representative business
men of this country convened at Indian
apolis two years ago to consider this
question. Few of them knew anything
about currency reform , and yet today ,
by means of a currency commission ,
they have arrived at a unanimous con
clusion , embodied in the monetary com
mission report which stands at this date
as the most noteworthy work on our
financial problems ever produced in this
country , and I will venture to say that
these four hundred delegates business
men know more about the real princi
ples of currency reform the real needs
of this country in this line than any
other four hundred men you could pick
W
