enjoyed. England has invested on a large scale in foreign enterprises and the investors of the United Kingdom have "centralized" their investments in such interests as tea and coffee plantations, rubber plantations, mining, railways and industrials in every part of the world. The total amount of capital invested in foreign fields by British investors has been estimated at over $20,000,000,000. The medium through which these investors have "centralized" their holdings has been various forms of investment trusts.

Recognized Institution of British Finance

The investment trust has long been a recognized institution of British finance. There have been all kinds of investment trusts -some merely speculative. Their advantages have outweighed their disadvantages and their good points have overcome criticism. They are well established in England and form a very important part of the financial structure.

We have been speaking of and advocating a form of investment trust for the purpose of aiding in financing our export trade and securing the means to extend credit in Europe in the volume in which it is required. Having taken the initial step, as outlined, who can say whither it would lead us as regards the development of the United States into the position in world banking and investment to which its wealth and the energy of its people entitle it? When that time comes, when we can energetically interest ourselves in the opportunities offered by investment in enterprises throughout the world, then indeed will the investment trust plan become operative on a grand scale by necessity.

For the present, it would seem the part of wisdom to adopt the investment trust plan in a big way. It is apparently the most feasible way to relieve the foreign exchange rate chaos, extend aid to the foreign nations that are in such need of credit and rescue American exporters from the predicament they are now in. Present conditions in our foreign trade cannot be permitted to continue. If they do our very prosperity is threatened.

Trusteeing of Foreign Securities

In line with the adoption of the investment trust plan are the efforts now under way to broaden the list of securities traded in on the New York Stock Exchange to include foreign listings. There are many physical, as well as technical, obstacles to overcome. One of the most definite propositions, thus far, is to admit French rentes to dealings on the New York Exchange by utilizing trust company facilities. One of the chief difficulties in the way of listing French rentes is the fact

that these securities, which are simply evidences of the interest debt owed by the French Republic to persons who have purchased what amount to perpetual annuities, are not available in a form which makes them physically within the listing requirements of the Stock Exchange. The rentes are lithographed and are not signed by any responsible officer of the French Government. To overcome this, it has been suggested that a certain amount of rentes be trusteed in Paris with the agent of some American trust company, and that the latter issue its engraved certificates of deposit, which will be signed by a responsible person. By having the trading medium made an engraved certificate, the chances of counterfeiting are expected to be minimized.

The Future Outlook for Foreign Exchange

There are good reasons for believing that the rally in the important exchanges that has taken place in recent weeks is only temporary. It can only be so unless remedial measures are undertaken on a large scale. Present strength in foreign exchanges is partly psychological-due to the moral effect of the passage of the Edge Bill-and partly technical-due largely to an oversold condition of the foreign exchange market. Foreign exchange rates cannot materially improve as long as trade balances are running so strongly against Europe and the means of extending credit are curtailed. The Edge Bill is a long delayed step in the right direction It provides the machinery without supplying the power. The power must be furnished by investors. It remains to be seen to what extent they will do this.

Annual Meeting Minneapolis Trust

Company

At the recent annual meeting of the Minneapolis Trust Company several changes were made in the officers of the company. Mr. Elbridge C. Cooke, who has been president for many years past, was made chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Robert W. Webb, who has been with the company for over twenty-five years, and of late years vice-president and treasurer, was elected president. Mr. E. J. Grimes, who has been associated with the company for the last twelve years and farm loan officer for a number of years, was chosen treasurer. Mr. B. H. Woodworth, president of the Woodworth Elevator Company. was elected to the Board of Directors. The surplus of the company was increased from two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to half a million.

PHILADELPHIA

EVAN RANDOLPH, Vice-President A. W. PICKFORD, Vice-President

CHARLES M. ASHTON, Cashier

ALFRED BARRATT, Assistant Cashier DAVID J. MYERS, Assistant Cashier WALTER P. FRENCH, Assistant Cashier

Annual Report of National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis

A year of exceptional growth in all departments and of development of new features of service is reviewed in the annual report presented by Mr. John G. Lonsdale, president of the National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis, to the stockholders of that bank. Mr. Lonsdale believes in taking his shareholders fully into his confidence as to both the operations as well as the broader policies of the bank. He prefaced his written report by alluding to the past year as a transitory period between war and peace with its elements of credit expansion and high prices. "In our banking operations," he says, "we have not allowed ourselves to lose sight of the fact that the upward trend of values cannot permanently continue; and, bearing this in mind, we have been even more careful than under ordinary conditions, to guard the liquidity of our assets."

Mr. Lonsdale directed attention to a comparative showing of the growth of the National Bank of Commerce covering the war period. The statement for December 31, 1914, for exampple, shows net deposits of $36,629,592, while the latest called statement of November 17, 1919, shows that deposits have more than doubled during these four years to an

aggregate of $77,007,167. Another interesting comparison is the increase in surplus and profits since December 31, 1914, from $2,158,278 to $4,403,310. In his report Mr. Lonsdale indicated that, as the surplus and profits fund crosses the five million mark, the board of directors will doubtless deem it proper to consider stabilizing the dividend rate at a higher figure. Other items in the comparative statement also are worthy of comment as emphasizing the splendid achievements of the National Bank of Commerce during the past four years and especially during the past year when aggregate resources reached the high record of $99,322,593. The capital is $10,000,000 while the liquid condition of the bank is fully indicated in the distribution of assets with cash and exchange amounting to $36,378,374.

Net profits for 1919, after deducting taxes, were in excess of $1,200,000, out of which $600,000 was paid out in dividends; $37,500 was credited to building construction account and the remainder added to surplus and profits. The Savings Department, established two years ago, added 12,000 new accounts last year, making a total of 24,000 open savings accounts with aggregate of balances at over $3,000,000.

One of the greatest sources of waste in the expense accounts of the banks and trust companies of the United States is the advertising account. However, advertising is a tremendous force and if effectively used and properly applied will earn many times its cost. For this reason the Bank Advertising Exhibit accumulated by the Fidelity has been found useful by many banks and trust companies, and would be the means of saving much money, were it available to all.

The exhibit was gathered by the writer for display at the time of the Missouri Banker's Convention in 1918. It was later amplified and scheduled at the sixteen Bankers' Group meetings in Kansas and Missouri last fall, with a talk upon the program about advertising matters. Approximately 800 banks from every State in the Union contributed plans and experiences and other matter to this exhibit. The exhibit subdivided itself into 27 sections as follows:

1-Account Books, Farm and Household Accounting.

2-Arguments for Banker-Farmer

operation.

Co

3-Banker-Farmer Co-operation Miscellaneous.

21-Savings-Advertising School Savings,

etc.

22-Sheep Clubs.

23-Silos and Silo Clubs. 24-Special Instances-Bank Advertising, Community Development, etc. 25-State and U. S. Co-operation in Club Work. What the States are Doing. 26-Statements of Condition. 27-Window Advertising.

The exhibit contains practically no advertising matter from banks or trust companies in the reserve centers. It is composed of matter received from so-called country banks. Consequently there is not a great deal of material in it that applies strictly to trust coinpany advertising. However, the general principles of advertising a bank apply to a trust company or a trust department as well, although they must be modified in details.

Trust Department "Ad" Copy

The sections devoted to direct mail, to booklets and to newspaper advertising, and monthly letters, house organs, etc., are the sections that can be applied most properly to trust department advertising. The newspaper covers the general publicity. Letters, booklets and direct mail lists provide means for following up and backing up the general publicity campaign; that is, for "cashing in" on it. Trust department copy should be a specialized form of matter and there are many things to consider in regard to it. Conflict with attorneys should be aovided, for their co-operation is needed to build a successful trust department. We are also talking about matters of life and death and while the responsibility of the man to his family should be emphasized in full measure, it should be carefully done in order that it may not be distasteful to him and to others. In the selection of lists, the greatest care should be used, for upon the list and its selection de. pends in a large measure the success or failure of the entire campaign. In beginning a

campaign an established policy should be outlined, covering the campaign and every detail, with every part of it worked out completely. The bank that is fortunate enough to have on its publicity program a well edited house organ has an excellent outlet for the dissemination of information in regard to its trust department.

The Value of House Organs

And right here, let us speak a word for the house organ idea. The house organ, locally edited, is a splendid means of publicity for the bank. In it can be attained that personal, human element or touch so necessary to the growth and development of the modern bank. In the house organ may appear from time to time, regularly, articles, pictures, and other items, making the readers acquainted with the personnel of the bank, and the families of the personnel. This is bound to engender not only a spirit of pride in the bank upon the part of its clients, but foster the idea that a bank is a human sort of place after all and that business comes to a bank because of friendships and of friendly treatment over its officers' desks and tellers' counters.

It is impossible within the limits of an article of this size to cover in anything approaching a complete manner, the material contained in this exhibit. The exhibit, if it emphasizes any one thing, emphasizes the value of the personal contact idea and the sections that illustrate this are, the BankerFarmer Co-operation section, Calf and Cow Clubs, Commercial Clubs and City Banker Co-operation, Clubs, Miscellaneous, Corn Shows, Direct Mail, Excursions, Personal Contact, Pig Clubs, Sheep Clubs, and Special Instances Section.

The "Grouchy" Teller

The grouchy teller-Yes! and the grouchy bank officer-has no place in the modern bank. People are coming to know that there are banks that are human and as they more and more realize this, they are going to be harder to hold in the institution where they are not treated in a warm, personal and friendly manner. The grouchy person is not an asset to the bank. He is doing it more harm than he is good.

If the banker wishes to know how his bank stands in the community, let him hold meetings, daily or weekly, attended by all of his officers and employees, even if there are but three or four. He will, in this way, not only secure information from the outside that he would get in no other way, but information from the inside as well and will thus be helped in his internal management problems.

His people will bring up for discussion at these meetings matters that they would not think of taking to the boss's desk.

Contact With Young People

All the work that a banker can do with the young people of his community will help him. It helps him in two or three ways. First, he must be sincere in it, and have a sincere desire for the friendship of the young people. If he has this attitude he is going to secure the fresh, youthful, optimistic viewpoint of the young people with whom he comes in contact, and this in itself will be worth a great deal to him. By making friends with the young people he not only builds for the future but makes friends with the grown-ups as well. There are many ways of doing this. They include school conferences, essay contests, fountain pen writing contests, school tours, children's parties, movie parties, lobby picture displays, and many other inexpensive methods. The various clubs are of very great benefit in this kind of work, especially the animal clubs, such as the Pig Club, Calf Club, and Sheep Club. These make a story in themselves and we cannot take space to go into details about them. Suffice it to say that with practically no exceptions the banks that have had experience with such clubs united in saying that it is the most valuable advertising a bank can do.

The most valuable time a banker can spend is that spent in calling on his customers and upon the people in his community who may not be his customers. He will thus secure a bond of sympathy with them and they with him that cannot possibly be secured at the desk in the bank. He will also be able to bring home and note down on his card file or memorandum record a wonderful amount of information most useful to him in handling the credits of his institution and in visiting with his friends as they drop in to see him in exchange for his calls upon them.

There is no one in the community that should be more highly interested in upbuilding the community than the banker. We have instances in this exhibit and especially in the section devoted to Special Instances of Bank Advertising, Community Development, etc., telling of banks and bankers that have not only put their communities upon the map by skillful community development work, but have in so doing, put their banks upon the map as well. There are many interesting

stories in connection with this section and in fact, with many of the others. For example, there is the famous Trenton idea and others concealed in the various sections.

CHARGE.]

LIABILITY For loss of LIBERTY BONDS

(A bank accepting the care of Liberty bonds without pay is liable only for gross negligence. It is a proper question of fact to be decided by a jury whether or not it was gross negligence to keep such bonds in an insecure part of the safe instead of in a burglar proof compartment.) When banks all over the country offered their services to keep Liberty bonds without charge, the question of their possible liability became a subject for discussion. It is interesting to know that a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Kansas upholds the general doctrine set forth in these discussions. This Court holds that on account of the fact that the bank in question had accepted Liberty bonds for safekeeping, without receiving any pay for its services, it was a gratuitous bailee and upon theft of the bonds was, therefore, liable only where it could be shown that it was grossly negligent. A judgment against the bank is upheld. The jury held that the bank was grossly negligent in not keeping the bonds in a burglar proof compartment of the safe. The Court holds that the evidence submitted was sufficient for submission to the jury and that their finding thereon should not be disturbed.—(Merchants Bank of Vandervoort vs. Affholter, 215 S. W. 648).

BEQUEST FOR POOR RELATIONS (Bequest for poor relations is not sustained because beneficiaries are too indefinite.)

Surrogate Fowler of New York County has recently applied the ruling of previous cases in New York to the effect that a trust for poor relations is too indefinite and uncertain to be enforced. The Surrogate, however, states that if it was not for previous

decisions to this effect he would uphold such a provision. His comment is quoted in full as follows:

"There is in this country no principle of public policy known to me which prohibits the foundation of a public charity to care for the poor relations of the founder, if the conveyance or limitation is drafted accurately in a technical way. The reason sometimes assigned that it would create a perpetuity for a family and tend to a privileged class is absurd, There does not seem to me to be any great danger to republican institutions in a gift relegating poor relations to the status of paupers to be supported on a charity foundation. Thus far an aristocracy of that kind has not arisen anywhere else in the world, and while our aristocratic classes may seem somewhat singular to the world, I do not apprehend the country would be endangered if a charitable foundation should be upheld for our poor relatives. But I shall follow the decisions cited and declare the trust void under the doctrine of stare decisis."-(In re Moller's Estate, 178 N. Y. Supp. 682.)

CONSTRUCTION OF TRUST DEED

(A will executed before a Deed of Trust may properly be invoked as the exercise of a power under the Deed of Trust.)

Deborah A. Gay executed a Deed of Trust to the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities, directing the income of the property thereby transferred to be paid to her daughter, during her life and upon decease the principal to be conveyed "to such person or persons and for such estate and estates as the said Sarah E. Snare shall by her last will and testament or instrument in writing in the nature thereof, duly executed under the Laws of the State