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Long Beach, Calif., Nov. 15, 1935 Secretary Eccles, Washington, D. C., Dear Sir: The attitude of the Bankers in convention as sembled brings to mind a conversation with a banker friend back in my home town, in the Middle West, in the summer of 1933. My banker friend was quite gloomy. "Do you know," he remarked, somewhat confidentially, "I can hardly look a customer in the eye any more, for I know what is in the mind of each and every one of them: They are wondering just how ranch longer we are going to be able to hold on. It really makes one feei somewhat like a hunted criminal. We have assessed our stock holders and have a substantial surplus, and feel that we will be able to pull through if this condition does not last too long, but even that does not keep me from feeling uneasy. I don’t need tell you that I am not sleeping as well as I should. This thing hanuts me continually." Perhaps my friend was over sensitive. Perhaps he h?d caih.se to be. He had seen half the banks in his state closed. He had seen several banker friends take their own lives because of banking conditions— some of them very close friends. He had seen his own bank go down, down, down, until, as stated above, it was necessary to assess stockholders to rebuild their reserve. His bank was barely making expenses» with all salaries reduced. Ho personally, had no solution for the problem, and no kanking associ ation had anything to offer. The Federal government had done lit tle to stop the epidemic of bank failures which had begun nearly ten years before. The situation was becoming worse each succeed ing day, each new bank failure undermining the strength and pres tige of the banks still operating . . . . and the state of mind of my banker friend was no doubt typical of hundreds of others. We all know what followed: First, a few states declared banking holidays, then a national banking holiday, and with all banks closed, a new president stepped in and started build ing a new banking structure on what remained of a once proud, but never too secure, banking system. And now, in the year of 1935, how about my old banker friend back in the Middle West. His bank has regained much of its old-time strength, its deposit are far in excess of the 1932 totals, Cashier Wood (that is the name of this particular banker friend) has regained much of his former confidence, and the most pleasing feature of the picture is the fact that this same Mr. Wood never misses an opportunity to "knock" the New Deal and Pres ident Roosevelt. That is the kind of gratitude upon which party politics thrive. And just a word about the "banking holiday" de clared by some of the states. I feel that it was the proper thing for the various states to do, but I am quite certain that Governor Rolph of California had no»- idea as to how the banks would be re opened, and the bankers were just as much in the dark as was he. One of our large banking institutions, with many branch banks, worked feverishly for three or four days printing script which was never used. "I was covered from head to foot with ink from carrying ’wet1 scrip," one bank employes informed me afterward, "and we could not use it after we had it printed." He ?nd other bank employees were charged with the custody and counting of the "new money" as it came from the printing press. Attacking the president, and the administration in general, is a poor way, I think, for the bankers to try and re build prestige and confidence. Millions of depositors who lost money in failed banks in the ten years preceding the advent of the New Deal , are still qustioning the good judgment of bankers in times of crisis. If they possess greater wisdom than do the average citizens, they should have shown it during; those gloomy years# when, a few of them confess, they "could not look a custom er in the eye." The banking crisis which culminated several years of bank failures throughout the entire United States, is a severe indictment of the old system, and the bankers themselves were re sponsible for that system. Sincerely yours, C. F. GORDON, 1133 East Tenth Street, Long Beach, California Chairman xxxxxxx November 20, 1935» M r. C. F. Gordon, 1133 E a s t Tenth S t r e e t , Lo n g Beach, C a l i f o r n i a . My d e ar M r. Gordon: Y our l e t t e r o f November 15th seems t o be a v e r y a c c u ra te p o r t r a y a l o f th e h i s t o r y o f most o f th e banks and b a n k e rs d u r in g th e p a s t few y e a rs and up t o th e p re se n t tim e . I t i s v e r y u n fo rtu n a te t h a t so few o f them have le a r n e d so l i t t l e from t h e i r p a s t ex p e rie n c e s and a re so u n a p p r e c ia t iv e o f what th e go ve rn ment h as done f o r them. I n view o f y o u r i n t e r e s t i n t h i s s u b je c t , I am e n c lo s in g f o r y o u r in fo r m a t io n a com plete t r a n s c r i p t o f th e a d d re ss which I made b e fo re th e Am erican B an k e rs A s s o c ia t i o n on th e l a s t day o f i t s co n ve n tio n i n New O r le a n s l a s t week. I d id not p re p a re a w r it t e n a d d r e s s , but t a lk e d t o th e b a n k e rs in f o r m a lly from some n o te s w hich I made a f t e r I g o t to New O r le a n s , and th e a d d re ss was ta k e n down by th e Association’s r e p o r te r . V ery t r u l y y o u r s , M. S . I c c l e s , Chairm an. e n c lo s u re M S E :V l:b
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