*B 37 NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE IN NEW YORK .;.,- -~ai;-; !*i.|sp=DT'! J 1921 GIFT OF NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE IN NEW YORK JAMES S. ALEXANDER President *9 ^* NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE IN NEW YORK A GREAT AMERICAN BANK " I ^ s ^ * " * ; I i ** f i- v p *o.* ; ' l -,*."* i O ' *" \ Copyright ig2i 'National Bank of Commerce in Nen; York CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD 9 A GREAT AMERICAN BANK 11 BANKING A PUBLIC TRUST 16 INTERNATIONAL POSITION OF NEW YORK 19 COOPERATION WITH INTERIOR BANKS 23 THE PERSONAL RELATION IN BANKING 24 THE EMPLOYES 27 FINANCING DOMESTIC BUSINESS 30 INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS 32 FINANCING FOREIGN TRADE 34 ESTABLISHING RELATIONS 34 DOMESTIC CREDIT RATINGS 35 FOREIGN CREDIT INFORMATION 37 A SOURCE OF BUSINESS INFORMATION 38 COMMERCIAL RESEARCH IN RELATION TO MODERN BUSINESS 39 FOREIGN TRADE INFORMATION 41 PUBLICATIONS 43 INVESTMENTS AND THE CARE OF SECURITIES 43 INVESTMENT ADVICE 44 FISCAL AGENT 45 COUPONS 46 EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCES 47 507SG2 FOREWORD National Bank of Com- merce in New York affords to its customers the strength and the prestige of its great financial resources. It offers also its varied and highly specialized personal service. The object of this book is to make the friends of the bank better acquainted with its business, and to invite their full employment of its facilities. JAMES S. ALEXANDER President SAMUEL WARD First President 1839 NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE IN NEW YORK A Great American Bank TN choosing a banking connection, the modern business man reckons with many factors other than the availability of credits to facilitate the transaction of his business. He assumes that the institution he is to look to for cooperation in working out year after year the most vital and intimate elements of his business life will be of unquestioned soundness from a banking standpoint and of outstanding financial strength; but he recognizes that the banking relation is a personal relation; that his bank will be his counsellor and friend in all matters that have to do with the broader relationships of his enterprise. Naturally, therefore, he wishes an insight into the bank's policy, or what may be called its personality. This is determined in the case of a bank largely as it is in the case of an individual by the institution's history, loca- tion, character of business and accumulated store of experience. All this is further influenced lye .C.U i c/ G r e a IT American Bank by the type of officer chosen to interpret the bank and its service to the customer. The National Bank of Commerce in New York has been from the outset essentially a commercial bank. Its purpose has been the financing of the current undertakings of manu- facturers and merchants. Its viewpoint has been determined by their needs, and its course has been shaped to give them service. The bank was established in 1839, during the period of severe business depression which followed the panic of 1837. The Federal charter of the Bank of the United States had expired a year before the panic, and the need in New York for an institution of large capital was felt by many business men of the city. The Articles of Asso- ciation were drawn up by the famous lawyer, Chancellor James Kent, who became a member of the board. Of the eighteen original asso- ciates, twelve were promi- nent merchants. The National Bank of Commerce in New York was established in 1839 on the eve of the clipper ship era. The bank ivas an important factor in the subsequent development of American commerce. Page Twelve Great American Bank The names of these men are closely linked with American commerce of the period, names such as Gracie, Minturn, Carow, Donaldson, Sturges, Whitney, Stevens and Russell. It was the eve of the clipper ship era, and the in- dustry and vision of all these men helped to ex- tend American commerce to all quarters of the globe. The first president of the bank was Samuel Ward of Rhode Island, of the famous firm of merchant bankers, Prime, Ward and King. It was his daughter, Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." The Bank of Commerce in New York opened for business on April 3, 1839, in quarters in the Merchants Exchange Building, 46 Wall Street. By 1842 these quarters were outgrown, so the bank leased half of the building of the Bank of the State of New York in Wall Street, next to the Subtreasury Building, located at Nassau and Wall Streets, and two years later bought the property. In 1854 the Federal Government bought the land on which that building stood. The Bank of Commerce obtained in 1855 a more adequate site at the corner of Nassau and Cedar Streets, which is part of its present location. It was on this spot that the home of Aaron Burr once stood. On its new site the bank erected Page Thirteen Great American Bank a four-story marble building, then one of the finest in the city. In 1894, additional land was bought at 33 Nassau Street adjoining, and the erection of a new building, the present home of the bank, was begun. This was completed in 1897. In 1919 further adjoining property on the north was purchased, so that the institu- tion now owns the entire frontage on the west side of Nassau Street between Cedar Street and Liberty Street, and its future growth is adequately provi ded for. Bank of Commerce building at Cedar and Nassau Streets in Civil War days. Here was formerly located the home of Aaron Burr. Page Fourteen Great A m e r i c a n Bank The present site is diagonally opposite the block recently secured by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the erection of its new banking house, which will be one of the promi- nent landmarks of the financial section of the future. The original capital of the Bank of Commerce was $5,000,000, but the full amount was not paid in until December, 1852. In 1856 the capital was increased to $10,000,000. In 1865 the bank entered the National Banking System. In 1900 the National Union Bank was merged with the National Bank of Commerce in New York and in 1903 the Western National Bank was merged with it. By these consolidations, the capital of the National Bank of Commerce in New York was increased to the present figure of $25,000,000. The growth of the bank's re- sources is summarized below: Date Capital Paid in Surplus and Undivided Profits Loans, Discounts and Investments Total Deposits May 13, 1839 May 8,1865 June 29, 1900 June 30, 1910 June 30, 1920 June 30, 1921 $1,199,280 10,000,000 10,000,000 25,000,000 25,000,000 25,000,000 $ 4,211 2,836,563 7,029,293 15,893,079 31,533,152 34,494,816 $ 1,270,505 15,925,186 60,959,379 138,849,979 329,868,021 324,510,964 $ 831,392 12,615,071 65,423,628 182,854,933 370,448,229 386,379,208 Page Fifteen Great American Bank Banking a Public Trust From its beginning, the Bank of Commerce recognized that the business of banking is to a substantial degree a public service and that its fulfillment demands close cooperation with the Federal Government. In May, 1841, Treasury notes to the then relatively large amount of $500,000 were purchased and placed to the credit of the disbursing officers of the War Department. In August of the same year, the bank subscribed to $1,000,000 of United States stock at par, and was made the sole depository for public moneys collected in New York. During the panic of 1857 the Bank of Com- merce took the lead in endeavoring to prevent the suspension of specie payments. When re- sumption seemed possible, it was instrumental in calling a meeting of the leading banks of New York, and was able to arrange with three other banks to resume payments. This cour- ageous step was shortly followed by the other banks of the country. When the Clearing House Association was organized in 1853, the Bank of Commerce was one of its original members, and a few years later the president of the bank, then chairman Page Sixteen Great American Bank of the Clearing House Association, was instru- mental in devising the Clearing House certificate, a remedy often resorted to in later financial emergencies. During the Civil War the Bank of Commerce was able to perform a unique service. In December, 1860, the Secretary of the Treasury had asked for subscriptions for $5,000,000 in Treasury notes, but less than half that sum had been bid for, some bids being as high as 36 per cent. It seemed likely that the attempt to raise the money would end in failure when the Bank of Commerce came forward and took approximately $4,500,000 at 12 per cent. Dur- ing the early part of 1861 the condition of the Federal Treasury was desperate. The expenses of the war amounted to approximately $4,000,- 000 a day. John A. Stevens was then president of the bank, and under his leadership a com- mittee of bankers was formed and a bond issue which met the immediate needs of the situation was floated. In 1863 the National Bank Act was passed and in January, 1865, this bank entered the system. In connection with its admission to the system a noteworthy tribute to the patriotic Page Seventeen Great American Bank service which the Bank of Commerce had rendered during the war was paid by Congress when it passed a special amendment to the National Bank Act, by which the bank was enabled to retain certain of its charter provisions which were of special value. At this time, the bank assumed its present corporate name, National Bank of Commerce in New York. In the World War, the National Bank of Commerce in New York maintained its tradi- tional standards. From the entry of the United States into the struggle on April 6, 1917, to the close of 1919, the bank on account of itself and its customers subscribed to the four Liberty Loans and to the Victory Loan a total of $322,- 092,000 and was allotted $234,244,300. During the same period, the bank bought $1,224,- 016,500 of United States certificates of indebted- ness, while its loans to customers against United States bonds and certificates of indebtedness by means of which they were enabled to maintain or expand their productive activities totaled $618,323,469. The grand total of the three items from the beginning of the war to December 31, 1919, was $2,076,584,269. Page Eighteen Great A m e r i c a n Bank The International Position of New York In 1839, when the Bank of Commerce opened for business, the city had only 390,000 inhabi- tants, but it was already the largest city on the American continent. Today it has a population of 5,620,000 and is the greatest port of the world . Its supremacy has come about through a com- bination of factors, chief among which are its matchless harbor and its unrivaled physical lines of communication to the interior. In addition to these circumstances of environment its sturdy original stock has been continually invigorated by additions to the population from all parts of the The National Bank of Commerce is located in the heart of New York's great commer- cial and financial dis- trict. Page Nineteen Great American Bank nation and of the world, building up a virile composite citizenship of many and varied abilities applicable to manifold industries. The popula- tion of the United States has grown from 17,000,- 000 in 1839 to 105,000,000 in 1920, and with its growth the needs of the country and the products of its industry have increased proper^ tionately. The trade of New York both with the interior and with Europe has expanded with the growth in population of the country. The location of London at the gates of Europe has made it the financial and commercial center of that continent. The merits which the Dutch fur traders saw in the location of a trading post at the mouth of the Hudson River are the advantages which have made New York the financial and commercial center, not only of the United States, but of North America. The war has brought home to every business man the dependence of industry and commerce upon adequate banking facilities. Development of the international banking system is one of the greatest of modern accomplishments. The existence of this system depends in equal meas- ure upon the small bank in a small American village or in a distant Chinese city, and upon Page Twenty Great American Bank the greatest international banks in the world's main financial centers. The location of the National Bank of Commerce in New York at the financial capital of the country has shaped its policy. Its business is national and inter- national in scope. Its transactions are based on essential commercial and industrial activities. Its business is distributed throughout all the major lines of productive enterprise of the United States. The strength of the bank's position and its ability to render service are increased by the breadth of its operations. The seasonal varia- tions in the requirements of its customers offset each other, while its outlook on financial and economic problems is greatly broadened. The self-interest of the National Bank of Commerce in New York is identical with the business welfare of the United States. Of necessity, its policy is that of economic statesmanship. This bank is an important factor in the financing of the cotton, tobacco and grain crops, and the annual wool clip. It enables the importer of raw rubber, of wool or of sugar to finance his operations. It furnishes credit to the manu- facturer of textiles, of leather, or boots and Page Twenty-one The National Bank of Commerce building is at Nassau and Cedar Streets. Through the acquisition of an adjoining building the bank's frontage now extends along the ivest side of Nassau from Cedar to Liberty Streets. Great American Bank shoes, of agricultural implements, or industrial chemicals, and it renders similar service to the domestic dealer or exporter of foodstuffs, steel, electrical goods or naval stores. All of this business would be impossible without trans- portation facilities, and in this branch of indus- try also the bank is lending active financial cooperation. A picture of a crowded year's business in the National Bank of Commerce in New York would furnish a cross-section of the economic life of the United States. Cooperation with Interior Banks A large proportion of this service is rendered indirectly. In a sense, the National Bank of Commerce in New York may be said to be a wholesale merchant of credit. It recognizes the unique service rendered by the local banking institutions of the United States, unsurpassed in any other nation, and it believes without reserve in the great future of the banks of every town and city in the country. It is, therefore, its settled policy to cooperate rather than com- pete with these institutions. It assists them in the financing of local enterprise through the medium of loans made to its bank correspond- ents. It specializes in the handling with them Page Tiventy-thrce Great American Bank of large commercial accounts, and of interna- tional business. It also offers the most careful service to smaller businesses which desire a strong New York banking connection in antici- pation of growth, or to meet some special re- quirements of their business. The bank helps direct the stream of financial traffic at one of its main crossways. The Personal Relation in Banking The National Bank of Commerce in New York recognizes that business relationships, to be successful, must in last analysis be between man and man. It also recognizes that the size of the modern business unit makes the preserva- tion of this personal touch in business dealings a matter of special study. Therefore, its officers and employes have been chosen and its entire organization constructed with a view to meeting this need. James S. Alexander, its president, is eminent among American bankers. He entered the serv- ice of the institution in 1885, at the age of twenty. His record of thirty-five years of serv- ice with it is the longest of any of its personnel. He worked through many of its departments, per- fecting his knowledge of the technical operations Page Twenty-lour Great American Bank of the business. He developed a thorough understanding of the broader problems involved in national and international banking operations. He is a recognized authority on banking credits. Mr. Alexander's banking experience and judg- ment have been largely drawn upon during the war and post-war periods. He was an active member of the Liberty Loan Committee for the New York Federal Reserve District, which directed the flotation of nearly a third of the nation's war loans. His services in war finance have also won special recognition from the French, Belgian and Italian governments. In dealing with complex problems of post-war international finance and trade, Mr. Alexander has been no less active, serving as chairman of the Committee on Credit and Finance at the International Trade Conference called by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in October, 1919, and as chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Committee on Euro- pean Finance. In addition to several great domestic corporations, he is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, chairman of the Board of the French American Banking Corporation, and a director of the Foreign Page Twenty-five Great American Bank Finance Corporation. Mr. Alexander's experi- ence and judgment are of inestimable advantage to those who are carrying the financial respon- sibilities of American business. The other officers have been drawn from various parts of the United States, hence they are personally familiar with the conditions and the needs of the different sections of the country. They have been selected for their practical experience, not only in banking, but in industry and commerce. They are men who have won their way from subordinate positions by their own efforts and ability, and have attained their present positions of responsibility as a result of their proved capacity in previous undertakings. The administrative organization of the Na- tional Bank of Commerce in New York is such as to give its officers the opportunity, while retaining a broad national viewpoint, to become specialists, both as to different sections of the country and as to particular industrial and com- mercial groups. The bank's customers are thus enabled to deal with officers personally familiar with their districts and their industries. At the same time its organization is kept flexible enough to preserve unity of action. Page Twenty-six Great American Bank The Employes One of our customers remarked recently that after he had established relations with the National Bank of Commerce in New York through its officers, he found that the bank's employes handled the details of mutual business transactions with a care and intelligence which reduced to a minimum the amount of supervision required either of himself or of his associates. This statement reflects the results of the con- sistent policy of the bank, which has been to man its departments with workers who regard their banking work as a profession rather than a mere employment. A corps of capable and intelligent employes has been built up, experts in their respective lines, whose allegiance is expressed in more than routine service. To them the bank's fine record is an inspiration and its future an assurance of opportunity. Although the bank's friends may never see or know the workers, each customer is to them a definite personality, with whose particular banking re- quirements and desires they are thoroughly familiar, and whose interests they are anxious to serve. The National Bank of Commerce in New York recognizes the value of this spirit in its Page Twenty-seven Great American Bank personnel, and fosters it in every way. The first and most important way is through fair dealing and the payment of adequate compensa- tion. In order to keep its employes physically fit, it provides good working conditions. Since 1866, substantial dinners have been supplied to employes in the middle of the day. The dining room is in charge of a trained dietitian. The services of a physician and trained nurse are constantly available in quarters fitted with all needful appliances. Recreation rooms on the top floor of the bank building have been com- fortably furnished and placed at the employes' disposal. A retirement pension system and a system of life and disability insurance are pro- vided by the bank for the employes, free of cost to them. The necessity for the training of employes along the broadest cultural lines is recognized and the bank endeavors to make available to them the superior facilities of the city's leading educational institutions by bearing a share of the cost of courses pursued there. Recognition of the value of these facilities is indicated by the substantial number of em- ployes who take advantage of them. The greater part of the educational and social activities of employes is under the direction of Page Twenty-eight Great American Bank the Commerce Club, an organization of the employes themselves, which affords many ad- vantages. A thrift department makes available means of saving and investment which are not only incentives to thrift, but which insure rates of return not elsewhere available under similar limitations of amount. By means of frequent social and business meetings and recreational programs, through the publication of a magazine, and through outdoor and indoor athletic activi- ties the club fosters a spirit of mutual co- operation and fellowship throughout all depart- ments of the bank. To officers and employes A corner of the banking room. 1'age Twenty-nine Great American Bank alike the National Bank of Commerce in New York is much more than a mere place to earn a living. Financing Domestic Business The fundamental service of a commercial bank is the financing of producers and distribu- tors of goods for their current operations. This is done by means of credit, ultimately based on gold, and constituting an order on a portion of the actual physical wealth of the country. A bank is able to accumulate a reservoir of credit, and through the confidence which busi- ness men have in the skill and integrity of its management, to direct it into those channels where it is needed to facilitate the business of the country. It is thus possible to place at the service of industry not merely the bank's own financial resources, but also to employ in a similar manner for others their resources not otherwise engaged. When a business enterprise is about to make a New York banking connection, it must be assured that the bank which it selects will be able to provide credit in adequate amounts at any time, and on fair terms. The capital, surplus and potential resources of the National I'age Thirty Great American Bank Bank of Commerce in New York are sufficient to meet the requirements of large business enterprises. The policy of the bank has been to maintain a capital and surplus sufficient to provide for fluctuations in its business. It is in no danger of having to contract the volume of its accom- modations abruptly or unseasonably. Its re- sources are large enough to meet the needs of its customers; its employment of them is so conservative as to insure to its customers a maximum of stability in credit accommodations at all times. It is prepared to finance on a large scale domestic transactions based on pro- ductive commercial enterprises. It offers to each customer the form of accommodation best suited to his needs, whether by means of loans, discounts, or acceptances. Its domestic busi- ness is distributed among all the essential pro- ductive enterprises of the country, and its customers include only those of proved sound- ness and worth. It regards the character of its customers, not only as a fundamental element in the soundness of its own position, but as a principal evidence of the recognition of that position by the business interests of the United States. Page Thirty-one Great American Bank International Connections In foreign relations the National Bank of Commerce in New York has pursued the policy which it has followed in its domestic business. Through years of cooperative effort and activity, it has built up close correspondent relations with the strongest banks throughout the world. In many cases, these correspondents include the governmental institutions of their respective countries. Thus its customers are afforded the facilities of the best native connections wherever they seek business, with an intimate knowledge of local conditions which it is so difficult for any foreign competitive bank to acquire. Sup- plementing its correspondent connections, the bank also maintains resident and traveling representatives in centers where their personal efforts will enable it to be of fuller service to its customers, while by means of extensive travel, its officers keep in close . personal touch with affairs abroad. An office is established in Lon- don to facilitate relations with connections abroad and to cooperate with the bank's custo- mers in foreign transactions. It is also equipped to gather information on commercial, economic and other conditions in Europe bearing on Page Thirty-two Great A m e r i c a n Bank business. Similar offices are maintained in Copenhagen and Amsterdam. It is the policy of the bank to adopt for the service of American exporters and importers those methods which seem best fitted to meet the particular requirements of each country. The organization of the French American Bank- ing Corporation by the National Bank of Com- merce in New York, with the First National Bank of Boston and the Comptoir National d'Escompte de Paris, has been one of the means of giving expression to this policy. This or- ganization, created with the definite purpose of encouraging trade relations between France and the United States, puts directly at the disposal of American business men the services and con- nections of experienced French bankers. Through the For- eign Mail Division a section of the bank's large For- eign Department instruments of credit go to all parts of the world. Page Thirty-three Great American Bank Financing Foreign Trade The National Bank of Commerce in New York is particularly interested in the problems of American foreign commerce because it realizes the vital importance of foreign trade in the future commercial development of the United States. The business of the Foreign Depart- ment is fundamentally that of lending the bank's credit to finance the flow of goods between this and foreign countries. It does this by nego- tiating prime bills of exchange drawn by banks and commercial concerns. It also does this by the use of its acceptances, through which the bank substitutes its own credit for its customer's credit by agreeing to accept for him drafts drawn in connection with commercial transactions. This method of lending credit has steadily in- creased in favor with the American business world since its authorization six years ago by the Federal Reserve Act. Establishing Relations The Foreign Department offers to its cus- tomers superior service for all the various types of international financial operations. In order that an exporter or importer may be able to Page Thirty-four Great American Bank avail himself fully of these facilities it is not necessary for him to be a customer of the Na- tional Bank of Commerce in New York for general banking purposes. Many concerns in the interior which do their general banking in the cities in which they are located establish connec- tions with the Foreign Department to facilitate the transaction of their foreign business. Domestic Credit Ratings The business of lending credit must be founded on accurate information. The Credit Depart- ment of the National Bank of Commerce in New York has in its files data on a vast number of different enterprises. Information on addi- tional firms is being secured daily, and all files are in continuous process of revision, in order to keep them up to date. All financial state- ments are analyzed by experts. A staff of experi- enced investigators is maintained, not only to secure routine credit information, but to make special investigations and to keep closely in touch with conditions in the various lines of business. The information secured by the bank's credit investigators is supplemented by that received from correspondents and from reports, not only by the leading commercial Page Thirty- five Great American Bank agencies, but by various special agencies as well. The Credit Department furnishes the bank's friends with credit information on names sub- mitted, and is equipped, on short notice, to supply lists of reliable firms in any given line of business. It advises as to the merits of offerings of commercial paper, and when requested pur- chases commercial paper for its correspondents, furnishing them with complete information on each name purchased, including financial state- ments. It is prepared to make special investi- gations for its correspondents on behalf of their depositors. This service is being made use of to an increasing extent by customers from whom the Credit Department receives frequent testi- monials as to its value. Business facts relat- ing to men and insfa tutions comprising the commercial, industrial and financial life of the nation are avail- able in the credit files of the National Bank of Commerce in New York. Page Thirty-six Great American Bank Foreign Credit Information The problem of securing foreign credit infor- mation does not differ in principle from that of getting reliable credit information concerning domestic enterprises. At the same time, cer- tain differences in business customs and prac- tices make necessary modifications in working methods. The American system of credit rat- ings is unknown in many foreign countries. In a commercial and financial sense, the United States is young, while in many parts of the world, especially in Europe, many houses now in business are older than our history as a nation. Social relationships also play a more important part abroad than they do in this country. As a result of these differences, opin- ion as to the standing of a firm, as contrasted with the actual facts of its position, becomes a matter of major importance in connection with foreign credits. The National Bank of Com- merce in New York has the advantage of se- curing this intimate information through its connection with leading native banks in every commercial center of the world. Where the in- formation desired by its customers is not on file nor easily available in this country, the bank obtains it through its foreign connections. It Page Thirty-seven Great American Bank is in a position to furnish domestic inquirers with lists of responsible concerns interested in particular lines in foreign countries, and simi- larly to provide foreign inquirers with the names of reliable business interests in the United States. Such facilities for foreign credit information are especially valuable to enterprises which are en- deavoring to build up new markets. The National Bank of Commerce in New York ex- tends its services not only to its customers but to all business interests which desire to utilize them. A Source of Business Information A great commercial organization, such as the National Bank of Commerce in New York, whose field of operations includes the whole world of commerce, must constantly adjust its policies and its position to allow for new conditions. It can hardly be less sensible of the current events in Europe, the Far East or the southern hemisphere than of conditions in its own neighborhood. Consequently, such an institution seeks in every way to enlarge its contact with affairs and to broaden its basis of knowledge. Such a bank, because of this necessity of being informed, becomes a legiti- Page Thirty-eight Great American Bank mate and valuable source to which its customers may reasonably look for information and guidance. Valuable general knowledge comes to every department of the bank. In order to correlate this information and make it available and to provide certain special facilities the need of which was beginning to be felt, the Service Department was established in 1917. Its duty is to find out whatever the bank or its friends may need to know, and to handle problems which fall outside usual banking operations. Its services include furnishing information on all kinds of commodities. It is interested in the broad problems of labor and immigration it can assist also in the matter of getting a passport. It has helped many of the bank's friends in the solution of their income tax difficulties. It also makes careful studies of those questions of governmental finance and taxation which now confront the United States. Commercial Research in Relation to Modern Business The desire of every business man is to base his operations on fact, rather than on con- jecture. As a part of its Service Department Page Thirty-nine Great A m e r i c a n Bank the bank established a library and initiated the policy of employing expert assistants for eco- nomic and statistical research. The accuracy of its foresight has been proved, for the bank's library now has the aspect of a busy workshop. So great has been the need of scientific com- mercial research during the post-war period that only with difficulty have facilities been expanded rapidly enough to meet the demands of the bank and its customers. A close contact is maintained with the course of state and national legislative developments which have a bearing on business affairs. An office is main- tained in Washington in order to secure first hand information as to Federal legislation and The Library is a section of the Ser- vice Department. This department gathers and makes available facts of industry, c am - merce and finance. Page Forty Great American Bank administrative measures affecting business. The various research bureaus of the Government are an invaluable source of economic and technical information, and the bank's Washington office makes this quickly available both for its own use and for the use of its customers. Foreign Trade Information The National Bank of Commerce in New York is equipped to furnish advice and infor- mation on many phases of foreign trade more adequately than individual concerns can pro- vide it for themselves. Much can be learned about foreign market possibilities and com- petitive conditions by the careful analysis of the trade of foreign nations and of the United States. Such utilization of production and trade statistics has long been the custom in European countries. Waste motion can be eliminated and money saved by restricting marketing efforts to areas shown by statistical and economic research to be worth while. Many costly blunders made in the past by Amer- ican exporters could have been entirely avoided by the intelligent use of available material. The National Bank of Commerce in New York is constantly making for itself and its Page Forty-one Great American Bank customers statistical and economic investiga- tions of conditions surrounding foreign markets. Its library is a storehouse of information on foreign trade. It utilizes both governmental and trade sources. If the desired information is not available in the United States, it is secured abroad. It is important that a mutual understanding be had of the necessary limitations in this form of cooperation, however. Beyond a certain point a bank is not and cannot be equipped to give advice. It cannot undertake to determine the probable ability of a firm to engage in foreign trade with profit, and it cannot assume to advise respecting the technical conduct or the detailed policies of its customers' enter- prises. In other words, it cannot supply trading skill and judgment. The bank does, however, furnish to its customers accurate facts which should serve them as a basis for appraising the larger aspects of their individual problems. In addition to such economic and statistical advice, the bank is equipped to give full and specific information as to technical details of exporting and procedure governing bills of lading, insurance and foreign tariff requirements. Page Forty-two Great American Bank Publications The bank has established the policy of publishing in readily usable form such important laws as the Federal Revenue Act and the Federal Reserve Act, and of keeping these publications up to date by revision. It also publishes Commerce Monthly, a commercial and financial magazine, the purpose of which is to make available to its customers and friends the results of its research and experience, and its judgment of general business affairs and financial conditions. Investments and the Care of Securities While its banking business is commercial in character, the National Bank of Commerce in New York has as a matter of long-standing policy provided for its customers all the varied financial services necessary to satisfy their requirements. Customers in the interior of the country and in New York City have found the services of the bank, in the heart of the country's investment market, of particular value in guiding their investments and in caring for their securities. Such activities of the bank are centered in its Bond, Transfer and Coupon Departments. Page Forty-three Great American Bank Investment Advice The Bond Department specializes in the buying and selling of listed or unlisted securities for the bank's customers. It is not interested in promoting the sale of any particular offering, and is absolutely free in its contacts with the investment market. Its efforts are devoted entirely to the service of the best interests of its customers. It gives counsel to them in security investment and places at their disposal expert advice and the benefit of its own great fund of information built up by many years of experience and close statistical studies of thou- sands of corporations. It performs this service not only in connec- tion with the New York security market; it is also in a position, through extensive wire con- nections, to gather prompt information and to arrange the expeditious execution of orders in other financial centers throughout the country; while its far-reaching foreign correspondent relations and cable facilities enable it to handle a similar service in respect to foreign securities. All orders of customers are promptly executed and their holdings may be left on special deposit for safekeeping in the bank's vaults, and in Page Forty-four Great American Bank case of registered securities may be held for greater convenience in transferring in the name of the bank's nominees. Dividends, coupons and maturing obligations are collected and credited to their owners, and ownership cer- tificates required under the Federal income tax law are executed through the department by the bank as agent under the owners' instruc- tions. A large business is also done in accepting and delivering securities for the account of our customers. This is efficiently handled under special safeguards. Customers are fully in- formed respecting rights of conversion, reorgan- ization plans and other matters of interest to them. All of these services are rendered regardless of whether the bank has any direct interest in the particular security involved, the aim being to facilitate the customer's interest. Fiscal Agent The Transfer Department performs a fiscal service for municipal and business corporations. It acts as a transfer agent and a registrar of stocks and bonds; it pays interest coupons, handles the disbursement of dividends and serves in other ways as a fiscal agent for cor- porations, municipalities and governments. Page Forty-live Great A m e r i c a n Bank Proper discharge of the exacting details of such business requires a fiscal agent in whom the corporation or municipality can place implicit confidence. For the last half century hundreds of corporations and municipalities have availed themselves of the careful and experienced serv- ices of the Transfer Department of the National Bank of Commerce in New York. Coupons Practically all domestic corporations as well as numerous foreign corporations and govern- ments which have considerable indebtedness outstanding in the United States, maintain treasurers' offices or paying agencies in New York A section of the Book- keeping Department, where machines are used to prepare customers' statements. Throughout the bank the transaction of business is facilitated by modern mechanical equipment. Page Forty-six Great American Bank for the payment of dividends on stocks and interest coupons on bonds. Through New York, moreover, are collected such foreign interest items as are not payable at agencies within the United States. The wide connections of the National Bank of Commerce in New York throughout all sections of the United States, and its intimate relations with the leading banking institutions of foreign countries, have made it one of the largest coupon-collecting agencies in the United States. Its Coupon Department receives cou- pons either for immediate credit subject to final payment, or for collection, and is fully equipped to handle this business with a maximum of care and speed. The exacting requirements of the Federal income tax law, with respect to ownership certificates required to be attached to coupons when presented for collection, make the careful service which this department of the bank renders of great value to its friends. Equipment and Resources The foregoing pages have described a few of the departments and functions of the National Bank of Commerce in New York of particular in- terest to customers because of the direct service Page Forty-seven Great American Bank they render, but they by no means exhaust the organization of the bank. The activities of more than forty separate departments are required to care for the tremendous volume of the institution's daily business. Merely to handle the movement of currency, checks, notes and drafts which flow in and out of the bank over its counter, through the Clearing House, and by mail and express, six different tellers' departments are required, while its total personnel numbers more than a thousand officers and employes, occupying several floors in two large adjoining and interconnected office buildings. The National Bank of Commerce in New York has grown step by step with the develop- ment of the United States. Established to meet the financial needs of the America of eighty years ago, with its 17,000,000 people, it has steadily developed until, with resources of approximately $500,000,000, it is equipped to meet the needs of the greater America of today, with its more than 105,000,000 people, its vigorous and varied business life and its far- reaching world commerce. The bank offers to its customers the strength and reliance of its great financial resources. Page Forty-eight Great American Bank It brings to the solution of their problems a long and varied practical experience, and it offers to them all the services which the develop- ment of commerce and of industry have brought within the scope of the most modern commercial banking. Underlying this service there is maintained to an unusual degree an intimate and understanding personal relation. The National Bank of Commerce in New York is an institution which merits the thoughtful con- sideration of business men. Pagt Forty-Hint OFFICERS President JAMES S. ALEXANDER Vice-Presidents J. HOWARD ARDREY JOSEPH A. BRODERICK GUY EMERSON HERBERT P. IIOWELL LOUIS A. KEIDEL DAVID H. G. PENNY JOHN E. ROVENSKY FARIS R. RUSSELL STEVENSON E. WARD ROGER H. WILLIAMS Second Vice-Presidents HARRY P. BARRAND LOUIS P. CHRISTENSON JAMES I. CLARKE ARCHIBALD F. MAXWELL FRANZ MEYER EDWARD H. RAWLS EVERETT E. RISLEY HENRY C. STEVENS Cashier ROY H. PASSMORE Auditor ALBERT EMERTON Assistant Cashiers IRA W. ALDOM EMANUEL C. GERSTEN GASTON L. GHEGAN W. SPROULL GRAVES ELMORE F. HIGGINS JOHN J. KEENAN WALTER E. LOVBLAD DON L. MOORE ALFRED J. OXENHAM JULIUS PAUL EUGENE M. PRENTICE HENRY W. SCHRADER EDWARD A. SCHROEDER HAMILTON G. STENERSEN EDWARD VANDERPOEL JOHN T. WALKER, Jr. WILLIAM C. HENCHY, Manager Credit Department WILLIAM T. SHEEHAN, Manager Foreign Department ROWLAND R. McELVARE Manager Service Department DIRECTORS JAMES S. ALEXANDER JOHN W. DAVIS WILLIAM A. DAY HENRY W. de FOREST FORREST F. DRYDEN CHARLES E. DUNLAP HERBERT P. HOWELL VALENTINE P. SNYDER HARRY B. THAYER JAMES TIMPSON THOMAS WILLIAMS FIRST ANNUAL STATEMENT May 13, 1839 RESOURCES Loans and Discounts $1,070,504.93 Bonds and Securities 200,000.00 Cash, Exchanges, etc 352,868.69 Due from Banks and Bankers , 411,509.48 $2,034,883.10 LIABILITIES Capital and Undivided Profits $1,203,490.73 Deposits 831,392.37 $2,034,883.10 STATEMENT OF CONDITION May 8, 1865 RESOURCES Loans and Discounts $3,020,935.94 Bonds and Securities 12,954,250.00 Banking House 300,000.00 Cash, Exchanges, etc 8,668,695.08 Due from Banks and Bankers 313,837.54 Interest Accrued 195,620.00 $25.453,338.56 LIABILITIES Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits $12,836,562.71 Deposits 12,615,070.85 State Bank Notes Outstanding 1,705.00 $25,453,338.56 STATEMENT OF CONDITION June 29, 1900 RESOURCES Loans and Discounts $47,302,738.72 Bonds and Securities 13,656,640.71 U. S. Government Securities Borrowed 50,000.00 Banking House 2,280,700.00 Cash, Exchanges, etc 21,402,016.76 Due from Banks and Bankers 4,248,074.81 $88,940,171.00 LIABILITIES Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits $17,029,293.00 Deposits 65,423,628.00 Circulation 6,437,250.00 U. S. Government Securities Borrowed 50,000.00 $88,940,171.00 STATEMENT OF CONDITION June 30, 1921 RESOURCES Loans and Discounts ............................................................................................. $291,204,674.06 Bonds and Securities ............................................................................................. 33,306,290.04 U. S. Government Securities Borrowed .......................................... 2,500,000.00 Banking House ............................................................................................................ 4,000,000.00 Cash, Exchanges, and due from Federal Reserve Bank .............................................................................................................................. 119,915,666.38 Due from Banks and Bankers .................................................................. 5,956,932.27 Interest Accrued ......................................................................................................... 843,901.41 Customers' Liability under Letters of Credit and Acceptances ... ..................................................... 29,858,333.80 $487,585,797.96 LIABILITIES Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits ......................... $5949481597 Deposits ............................................................................................................................... 386,379,208.60 U. S. Government Securities Borrowed .......................................... 2,500,000.00 Reserved for Interest and Taxes Accrued .................................... 3,879,634.36 Dividend Payable July 1, 1921 ..................................................................... 750[000!00 Unearned Discount ................................................................................................ 2,093i033'56 Letters of Credit and Acceptances ...................................................... 30,789,10547 Other Liabilities ......................................................................................................... 1,700,00000 $487,585,797.96 RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW AU6 5 1994 50786:2 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE IN Capital. Swplus & Undirided Profits Over Fifty -five Million Dollars