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ATLANTA
AS THE

Southeastern Center
OF

Commerce and Finance

Briefs and Statistics presented to
The National Organization Committee,
Showing that Atknta is the natural site for a

REGIONAL BANK

ATLANTA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE




1914

ATLANTA
AS THE

Southeastern Center
OF

Commerce and Finance
Briefs and Statistics presented to
The National Organization Committee,
Showing that Atlanta is the natural site for a

REGIONAL BANK

ATLANTA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE




1914




n,

TIME FROM ATLANTA TO IMPORTANT CENTERS




JQVTtf DAKOTA

I MWA/£JOTA

COMMERCIAL MAP OF THE SOUTHEASTERN REGION
5HOW1NG ATLAMT^d TRADE mEACH 5TATE

NORTH
CAROLINA

CAROLINA
t Q ©JACKSON

MAP OF

SOUTHEASTERN COTTON REGION
GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER
CENTER OF COTTON PRODUCTION


For eword

I

N selecting Atlanta as a site for a Regional Bank to
serve the Southeastern States, the National Government has recognized this city as the financial and
commercial center of this section.
The facts which led the National Organization Committee to select Atlanta are presented in the briefs which
follow.
These facts give some idea of the resources, development and progress of the Southeastern States and Atlanta's commerce in that region. They also show Atlanta's pre-eminence as a financial center. An interesting
fact is that while the resources of this region are among
the richest and most varied on the face of the earth and
their product has more than doubled in ten years, the
active capital available through the banks to handle these
products and do the business of their teeming industries
has trebled in volume while the products of industry
doubled.
Thus, the Southeastern district, already largely sufficient unto itself in finance as well as in industry, is rapidly becoming more so and its financial strength is increasing by leaps and bounds.
The researches of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
in
preparing its brief for Atlanta show, by careful compilation, that more than half the merchants in the Southeastern States have bought goods in this market during
the past five years. N o similar showing has been made
m behalf of any other city.
Facts like these are so valuable and significant that
the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce
has provided for their publication.
p

age Five




Foreword
(Continued)

The presentation of Atlanta's case was entrusted to a
joint Committee from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
and the Atlanta Clearing House Association, composed
of the following gentlemen:
J. K. On\ Chairman.
W. J. Blalock,
Jos. A. McCord,
J. K. Ottley,
J. W. Grant,
A. P. Coles,
R. F. Maddox,
W. G. Cooper, Secretary.
The movement to secure a Regional Bank for Atlanta
was started in the Summer of 1913 by Mr. Wilmer L.
Moore, then President of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, at whose instance the joint Committee was appointed. The work was completed during the administration of Mr. Mell R. Wilkinson in the Spring of 1914.
For the success of their efforts the Committee, the
community and the people of this section are largely indebted to Senator Hoke Smith, whose powerful influence
was effectively exerted in behalf of Atlanta and the
Southeastern Region.




Page Six

Introductory
By / . A'. Orr, Chairman Joint Committee from the Chamber of Commerce and the Clearing House.

O

UR Committee desires to offer as part of our case
all of the splendid testimony you have heard on
yesterday concerning the resources, promise and
possibilities of "these Southeastern States, which for the
sake of brevity, we will hereafter refer to as T H E
REGION.
'
As you will sec by this blue print, it is composed of
Tennessee, North and* South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Florida and Mississippi.
We might speak of it as the heart of the Old South,
once a dream of Empire, happily for our country and
ourselves, a dream not written in the book of destiny.
Out of the ashes of the past has come indeed a land
of promise, its farmers growing richer every year.
Its industrial independence well on the way. Its
finance long in darkness, but now groping towards the
dawn of a new day.
We believe that day will be hastened by the new currency laws and greatly facilitated by the placing of one
of the Regional Banks in some convenient center of this
section.
Let's start with agriculture. If it is true that the
average rate of interest on farm loans made to the big
insurance companies in the States of Illinois and Iowa is
five per cent, and the same class of loans for the States in
?ur Region is six, this important industry has been carryln
g a handicap of twenty per cent on its interest account.
Listen to this juicy Bill of Fare, a monthly tonic to
Ol
*r financial intake.
In January we have the citrus fruits of Florida; in
February vegetables of South Georgia and Florida;
Page Seven




strawberries of March and April; June, peaches; July,
watermelons; corn by the million bushels in August; September and October, cotton; November and December,
more cotton.
This takes no account of the minerals our friends from
Alabama get out of the bowels of the earth.
We hope to prove by competent witnesses that this
Region in and of itself needs a Reserve Bank.
We agree most heartily with a statement made, I think
at St. Louis, that a Region should not of necessity be defined by the banking business heretofore done in that section by any center, but rather by the convenience and
course of its commerce.

The Region
We expect to make our case upon the soundness of
this principle.
FIRST—As to the merits of the Region itself.
It is one-half of the cotton belt.
In population it is one-seventh of the United States.
Its farm products equal one-ninth.
Taken together on the average, one-eighth, so if only
eight districts are named, our Region is qualified.
The last census shows its manufactures are valued at
1,012 millions.
Its crops 959 millions.
Total of practically two billions.
During these ten years it showed a gain of ioo per
cent.
We are not building for a day. A section showing
this activity has possibilities beyond even a Georgian's
imagination.
While we are a large part of the cotton belt, we are
by no means a one crop region.
The next witness will show you we have a variety of
products bringing in money every month in the year.
We have every confidence that you will be able with
the assistance of our witnesses to select some conveniently
located central city that will be best able to serve this section as a whole.




Page Eight

Atlanta the Central City
Lest they may overlook it, may I suggest one that
within the Biblical term of the Span of one man's life,
has grown from a modest hamlet to the metropolitan City
that greets you today.
Why is Atlanta? has never been answered. The Railroads first discovered it a good place to get across this
peculiar angle of the Piedmont Escarpment.
Then it became a trading center, later a good distributing point. This attracted factories, then Manufacturers' Agents.
These made possible our great office buildings, one of
which has come to be a part of our annual product.
What is Atlanta's relation to the Region? "A City
shall be known by its Commerce."
Our next witness will tell you that about 90,000 merchants of these seven States are registered as customers of
Atlanta, half of them in Georgia, 13,000 in Alabama,
10,000 in South Carolina, 6,800 in North Carolina, the
remaining 15,000 in the other three States.
Another witness will show we sell them 145 millions
a year, and our manufacturers' agents sell 167 millions,
making a total of Atlanta's trade in this territory 312 millions a year.
Surely then a Reserve Bank here or hereabouts would
do no violence to the convenience and customary course
of trade.
If 6,000 merchants of North Carolina and 10,000 in
South Carolina are willing to trade with us, we hardly
think they will refuse money from their local banks, because it happens to come through the Reserve Bank, if it
should be located at Atlanta.
We will offer the testimony of eight witnesses each
more or less an expert in his line. The first of these is
Mr. Wilmer L. Moore.

Page Nine




Atlanta The Site For A Regional
Bank
Statement on behalf of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
prepared by Walter G. Cooper, Secretary.

Summary of Atlanta's Case
E present as one of the Regional Bank Districts, seven Southeastern States: The Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and
Tennessee.
It is a harmonious, well balanced economic unit, with
varied industries and a succession of crops and market
periods following each other the year round. Its farm
and factory products are about equal. The size and shape
of the territory is such that its extremes may be reached
in 12 to 15 hours from Atlanta, the geographic and commercial center. The average time of mail from Atlanta
to a central point in each State is 8 hours and 47 minutes;
from Richmond 18 hours and 38 minutes. The average
distance from Atlanta of 210 railway common points in
the seven States is 277 miles. These are all the competitive points in this territory.
The capital and surplus of National Banks in this
Region is 93 millions, giving a capital of $5,589,000 for
a Regional Bank. The deposits are 262 millions, giving
deposits of 13 millions for the bank. Half the State
Banks would raise these figures to nine millions capital
and twenty-two millions of deposits.
The combined capital, surplus and deposits of State
and National Banks is 850 millions.

W




Page Ten

The Real Basis of Banking
The real basis upon which the banking system must
depend is the resources and productive power of the territory. That is the only sure reliance for the payment of
commercial paper and the final redemption of your note
issues. For that purpose this Region offers more than
two billions of farm and factory products.
Back of this are resources so vast and so varied that
a Chinese wall round this territory would leave a selfsustaining nation complete in all the economic elements
of civilization. These resources are being developed with
such rapidity that the value of their products has doubled
in ten years.
The Region had a population in 1910 of 13J4 millions, but as only 28 per cent of the land is improved it
is clear that several times that number could live in comfort in these States. The same area in Europe sustains
n o millions.
As for the center we suggest Atlanta because it has a
great commerce highly developed in this region, it is the
most convenient and accessible point and it has a far better business equipment than any other City in the territory. More than half the merchants listed by Commercial Agencies for this region buy goods in Atlanta. Our
manufacturers', jobbers' and manufacturers' agents doing
business here, sell 360 millions a year in the District.

The Currents of Trade
There can be no doubt about the currents of trade in
the Southeastern Territory. They flow into and out of
Atlanta and there is no other City in the Region that even
approximates its volume of business. This is shown
clearly by the bank clearings, which far exceed those of
any other City in this Region.
It is upon commerce and industry that the banking
business of a country rests and the banking business should
follow the course of commerce. In proportion as it departs from the channels of trade and seeks other channels
and other centers, it is an artificial and unscientific system
that causes hardship and unnecessary expense. To illustrate, the express rates on currency into this territory are
Page Eleven




50 per cent higher from Richmond than from Atlanta.
The time of mails more than double.
As your note issues are based upon the commercial
paper arising from the needs of trade and industry and
these are automatically adjusted to the productive power,
which is also the purchasing power of the Region, your
banking system should be closely adjusted to the same
things and as closely as possible in touch with all parts
of the producing region. This is the main object of the
new law.

Emancipate Productive Power
It has been a general complaint that the producing
sections were too much under the domination of the lending sections and to meet this objection and emancipate the
productive power of the country you have devised a system whereby the producing sections can secure money, on
the basis of their products and trade represented by com*
mercial paper.
The expansion and contraction of currency in proportion to the volume of actual production and distribution
is the ideal process for maintaining a wholesome condition of trade and industry. If a producing region has
currency issued on the basis of its products, it will not
long be a borrowing section. Its resources will develop
and accumulate capital rapidly and this is what the Southeast has been doing with great rapidity. Its products
have doubled in ten years and Atlanta's banking business
has increased five-fold in the same period.
Our Richmond friends have tried hard to draw the
Southeastern States away from Atlanta on the plea that
Richmond is a lending City with more idle money than
Atlanta and as a consequence a few millions more of deposits in her Banks.
It is because we have a greater commerce, demanding
the constant use of our available capital that we have less
idle money in Bank.

Atlanta's Money Active
Atlanta's money is active money, far more active than
thai of Richmond and New Orleans. This is shown by
the fact that Atlanta's bank clearings for 1913 were more
than twenty times the deposits of her banks at the October




Page Twelve

call, whereas those of Richmond were only nine times,
and those of New Orleans only thirteen times the amount
of the deposits. This is tantamount to saying that the
efficiency of money in Atlanta is 50 per cent more than
that of New Orleans and more than double that of Richmond.
Atlanta is the Southern insurance center, the live stock
center, fertilizer centei, automobile center, the center for
this territory of railways, telegraphs, telephones, express,
and many other agencies that go to complete the complicated machinery of civilization. These things come here
because Atlanta is the geographical, commercial and
financial centei of the Southeast. They come here after
the most careful investigation of the relative advantages
of this and other centers.
This is especially true of Manufacturers' Agents.
They represent every important industry in the United
States.

A Great Business Center
This business, amounting to more than 160 millions,
is done here by concerns owned by non-residents, who
have no sentimental interest in Atlanta. It is the cold
calculation of self-interest that located their agencies
here. The same economic law that brought them to Atlanta keeps them here and constantly adds to their number. There is no such group elsewhere in this Region.
Cast your eye upon our warehouses and our office buildMgs and you can see it without computation.
. Our local manufacturers, listed by the census as 548
m the county and making a great variety of articles, did
? business of 43 millions four years ago and were increasing then at the rate of 6 per cent a year*. They must now
be turning out over 50 millions of products.
° u r postal receipts and parcels by post very much
exceed those of any other City in the South, not excepting
Louisville and New Orleans.
The railways made their headquarters here for the
territory between the Ohio, Potomac and Mississippi
^vers. These railroads are not owned or controlled in
Atlanta. They put their headquarters here for the simple
re
ason that Atlanta is the center of their business, and
P

Thirteen




when you come to think of it, their business is everybody's
business.

Railroads, Telegraphs and Telephones
The same thing is true of telegraphs, telephones and
express business.
The relation of this territory and its center to others
is shown by the fact that if you draw circles of 300 miles
radius around New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington and Atlanta, you cover practically all the territory
East of the Mississippi River and several States West of
it. Within ten to fifteen hours all that territory can be
reached from these cities. Thus Atlanta takes its place
with other recognized centers in a complete system of
Reserve Banks completely covering the territory East of
the Mississippi River.
Our bankers will discuss the relations of the banking
business to the cotton crop of this region and the relation
of cotton and other products originating in this region to
foreign exchange.
These are subjects of tremendous importance, for, as
cotton is largely bought with currency in the primary
markets, your Bank should be so located as to supply that
currency quickly from the nearest center, which, for the
Eastern half of the cotton region, is Atlanta.
The value of cotton exported is about $600,000,000
and as cotton is the basis of more foreign exchange than
any other single product of this country and does more to
maintain the favorable trade balance than any other item,
it is important to do that business with the utmost dispatch and with the least expenditure of money. Our
bankers will show what a heavy economic loss to the country is entailed by the present indirect methods which have
been fastened on us by obsolete custom. This burden your
new system is well calculated to remove.

The Southeastern Region
Its Productive Power and Rapid Development
The Southeastern District grows more than half the
cotton crop. In 1913 its product was yy2 million bales,
valued by the Agricultural Department at 457 millions,
and a little more than half this cotton went to market




Page Fourteen

through the Ports of this Region, mostly through Savannah, Brunswick, Charleston and Wilmington.
The local cotton markets of this region can be reached
from the center in nearly every case within 15 hours. The
average time is gl/2 hours to 23 principal points. There
are 210 railway common points and the average distance
from Atlanta is 277 miles.
Cotton is by no means the only crop. It is less than
half the farm product and corn alone brought 302 million dollars in 1913, according to the Agricultural Department.

Resources
The productive power of this region, measured by the
value of its output, more than doubled in ten years between the census of 1900 and 1910. Its resources are indicated by these figures taken from the census and government reports, excepting State Bank returns, which
were furnished by State Officers:
AREA—332,149 square miles. One-ninth of the United
States.
POPULATION—13,203,423. One-seventh of the United
States.
FARM PRODUCTS—$1,114,200,734. One-seventh of the
Cnited States.
FACTORY PRODUCTS—$ 1,012,379,000. One-twentieth
of the United States.
Cotton Crop, 1913—Bales, 7,518,000—Value
$457,834,ooo
Corn Crop, 1913—Bushels, 353,977,000—Value... 302,318,000
Hay, Oats, Wheat and Potatoes, 1913—Value
99,399,ooo
Total Six Crops

$S59,55i,ooo

To these must be added animal, dairy and poultry
products, small crops, fruits and vegetables, which are not
reported for 1913, but will turn out about $300,000,000.

Banking Power
The banking power of this territory is furnished by
3,103 banks, 522 National and 2,583 State, with capital,
surplus and deposits as follows:
BANKING P*OWER OF THE SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
Capital and
Number Surplus
Deposits
Total
National Banks
522 $94,7*1,553 $2*4,138,6*9 $358,900,182
State Banks
2583 131,305,557 3^,819,564 494**35,12'
^5
p

ags Fifteen




$226,067,110 $626,058,193 $853,O35,3<>3

NATIONAL BANKS IN PROPOSED SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
OCTOBER ji, 1913

North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Tennessee
Mississippi

Number Capital
Surplus
Deposit**
72 $8,460,000 $2,359,525 $35*619.75'
48 6,365,000
2,151,400
21,724,859
117 15,168,500 9,333,000
52,295,249
53 7,505,000
3,087,677
33,104,644
90 10,180,293 5*851,293
43,555,062
109 13,217,500
5,552,655
62,895,220
33 3,385,000
1,644,653
14,643,356
522 $64,281,290 $30,480,263 $264,138,629
30,480,263
$94,76x,553

STATE BANKS—OCTOBER 21, 1913
Number
Capital
Surplus
Deposits
North Carolina ..412 $11,018,271.87 $3,016,348.93 $65,337,481.97
South Carolina ..322
12,778,000.00 4,621,000.00
51,000,000.00
•Georgia
697 28,859,513-67 16,514,360.65
91,441,535.27
Florida
189
6,427,220.00
3,061,665.60
27,542,385.97
Alabama
258
12,800,000.00 6,800,000.00
52,500,000.00
Mississippi
295
10,341,696.55
2,356,812.52
38,860,727.59
Tennev.ee
410
9t380.258.79
3,294,409.88
36,i37,434-i6
2583 $91,640,960.00 $39,664,597.00 $362,819,564.00
39*664,597.00
$3,3
•June 4, 1913.

This information is compiled from returns for October 21st, 1913, with the exception of State Banks in Tennessee and Mississippi, whose returns date June 4th, 1913.

Productive Power Doubledgin Ten Years
The rate of progress in this Region is indicated by
these figures from the census and United States Agricultural Department:
INCREASE OF POPULATION
United States Census
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
*'1orLlda
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennessee
TotaI




:*....
-.

1910
2,206,287
1,515,400
2,609,121
752,6i9
2,138,093
i,797,"4
2,184,789
^3,203,423

1900
1,983,810
1,340,316
2,216,331
528,542
1,828,697
1,551,270
2,020,616
",469,582
Page Sixt^n

INCREASE OF MANUFACTURES
United States Cen&us
North Carolina
South C arohna

Ui6t6tf£oo
113,236,000

iZW*

202,863,000

Alabama
MiSM^ippt
1 ennes-ce

145,962,000
Sof555,ooo
180,217,000

53,336,ooo
94,532,000
34,184,000
72,110,000
33,7*S,ooo
92,749,000

$1,012,379,000

$465,903,000

INCREASE OF CROPS
United States Censu*
North Carolina
South Carolina
k*°njia
*[, ? l l a
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennessee

1909
$142,890,192
141,983,354
226,595,436
36,141,894
141,287,347
147,315,621
120,706,2x1

1899
$68,624,912
58,890,413
86,345,343

$959,920,055

$456,178,986

88

73,190,720
84,883,776
70,745,242

These figures do not include animal industries or dairy
and poultry products.

Rapid Progress of Farming
Within four years there has been tremendous progress
by the farmers of this Region. The corn crop increased
over 50 per cent and these States produced in 1913 oneseventh of the total crop, against one-eleventh in 1909.
In those four years the average yield of corn per acre
rose from 14.3 to 184 bushels.
The increase by States and for seven States is here
given :
INCREASE OF THE CORN CROP
United States Census and Department of Agriculture

£orth Carolina
South Carolina
Gcorgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennessee

Product in
1909
. . 34,063,531
. . 20,871,946
39,374,569
7,023,767
30695,737
28,628,667
67,682,489

Bushels
1913
55,282,000
38,512,000
63,023,000
10,125,000
55,360,000
63,000,000
63,00,
686
68,675,000

Crops of 7 States. .228,140,706
353,977»ooo
Per acre 14.3 bu. Per acre 184 bu.
r. o
U
* S. Crop
2,552,189,630
2,446,988,000
:*»age Seventeen




Value of the Crop
1909
19x3
$48,648,000
'$31,286,102
20,682,632
37,357,000
57,531,000
37,o79,98i
5,709,009
8,302,000
28,677,032
49,270,000
48, s 10,000
26,030,376
52,880,000
45,3i9,O93
$195,284,225

$302,498,000

$1,438,553,919

$1,692,092,000

Sequence of Crops
The fact that the use of money is distributed through
the year by the maturing at different seasons of a series
of crops is shown by these figures:
(Prom the Census of 19x0 and Department of Agriculture Bulletin for 19x3 crop*)
Citrus Crops of Florida, varying with season, 6 to 12 millions
Vegetables, 7 States
$40,360,578
Small Fruit*, 7 States'.
5,^76,637
Oats, 7 States
25,356,000
Wheat, 7 States
19,492,000
Potacoes, 7 States
xo,oo3,ooo
Orchard Fruits, 7 States
x 3,970,501
Hay, 7 States
44,548,000
Corn, 7 States
302,3x8,000
Cotton, 7 States
457,834,000

To these are to be added the animal, dairy and poultry products, and small crops aggregating about $300,000,000.

Economic * Gravity
Forcing Men and Capital Southeastward
The foregoing facts indicate the present status and
past growth of the Southeastern District.
As to the future, there is an economic gravity forcing
men and money into this region from the territory North,
East and West of it.
The return to the farmer for his investment and labor
are greater in the South Atlantic States than in any other
part of the country.
PROPORTION OF VALUE TO RETURNS

New England
Middle Atlantic
E. North Central
W. North Central
South Atlantic
E. South Central
W. South Central
Mountain
Pacific

Farm Value Average Crop
Per Acre Value per Acre
$43-99
$24.56
68.52
20.74
85.81
17.53
58.18
12.24
28.44
22.23
26.78
22.69
29.52
54.17

19.77
15-28
17.20
20.07

Per
Cent.
56
3°*5
20.6
«•«
80
73
66.4
60
37

These facts show that the Southeast is pre-eminently
the land of opportunity.



Page Eighteen

Eminent Authorities on the Southeast
Concerning this and other resources, Dr. A. M. Soule,
President of the Georgia State College of Agriculture,
says:
"This territory produces practically every crop
useful for the nutrition and development of man
in his highest perfection. Here indeed may the
land owner sit under his own vine and fig bush and
eat the luscious orange of the tropics surrounded
by every comfort which a temperate clime affords.
"There is resident in the heart of the hills the
raw materials out of which great industries are
developed, and thus agricultural and manufacturing enterprises can be carried on most economically and successfully, the one sustaining and fostering the other to the best possible advantage.
Cheap power is to be derived from a thousand
streams in their downward course to the sea.
"In no other section of equal territorial area
within the United States or any other part of the
world, so far as is now known, can such a variety
of useful crops and animals be produced with
greater economy and under more favorable soil,
climatic and economic conditions. The civilization of the Southeastern States is bound to exert a
dominating influence on the history of the nation
and of the world at large."
Of the same region, Dr. W. S. McCallie, State Geologist of Georgia, says:
"Within these States are to be found every variety of climate and soils met within the temperate zone, and a variety of mineral wealth nowhere
to be surpassed in this country. It might be truly
said of this Region that if surrounded by an impassible wall its people would find every condition at hand to enable them to live and prosper
without any outside aid, whatsoever."
Prof. N. S. Shalcr, in his famous book, "Nature and
Jfan in America," has given this Southeastern Region the
first rank in his summary of the elements which constitute
f
he physical basis of civilization on this continent.
The same testimony has been given by other authorities of international reputation.

Pa

8e Nineteen




The area of these seven Southeastern States is approximately the same as that of Germany and the British Isles,
which support n o millions of people, whose condition
and vigor are the best in Europe.
You are, therefore, dealing, not with the present status
merely, but with a country whose resources will make it
in a few decades one of the most populous and productive
Regions on the face of the earth.

Atlanta's Commerce in the Southeastern Region
More Than Half the Merchants Trade Here.
The extent of Atlanta's commerce in the seven States
composing the Southeastern District is indicated by the
fact that 88,742 merchants doing business in these States
have bought goods in Atlanta during the past five years
from a minority of our wholesale dealers.
This fact is shown by the card index of the Atlanta
Credit Men's Association, composed of merchants and
manufacturers who have combined their information for
mutual benefit.
The ledgers of these firms and companies contain the
names of 92,140 merchants, of whom 88,742 are located
in the Southeastern District, distributed as follows;
Georgia
43,300
Florida
6,853
l
Alabama
3^(>7
Mississippi
5,614
Tennessee
2,623
South Carolina
10,380
North Carolina
6,805
88,742
This is certified to by the American Audit Company,
who counted the cards in the Credit Men's index.
This list contains an accumulation of four years, and
in order to fully cover the business mortality of that
period, we write off twenty per cent. As the number of
failures reported by the Commercial Agencies for this
territory during the past four years is less than four per
cent, it will be seen that twenty per cent is a liberal allowance for the total of failures, retirements from business,
changes of firm names, liquidated firms, etc.
After taking off this allowance, we get the net list of



Page Twenty

merchants buying goods, and this we compare with the
total^ number of merchants listed by Bradstreet's and
Dun's Agencies at the latest report, placing the two side
by side in parallel columns as follows:

Merchants Buying Goods in Atlanta
Merchants
On Ledgers
LiMed by R. G. Dun's 170 Firms
Less
Iiract>treet*$
Li*t
of Atlanta 20 per cent
Alabama
20,336
20,253
13,167
10,534
S,' e o r P l a
33.295
29,184
43,300
34,640
12 6
J | ? n . d a . ".
» ^
«*,745
6,853
4,483
MisMVsippi . . . . 18,238
15,916
5,614
4,492
Tennessee
25,295
23,432
2,623
2,109
oouth Carolina.. 14,349
13,577
10,380
8,304
North Carolina. 23,604
23,817
6,805
5,444
147,727

138,924

88,742

70,006

Thus it appears that about half the merchants in the
Southeastern District are customers of one-fifth of Atlanta's merchants, manufacturers and agents. Many more
than this number could be shown if we had returns from
all the merchants and manufacturers of Atlanta. Only
170 of these firms are represented in the card index of the
Credit Men's Association, whereas there are 914 merchants, manufacturers and Manufacturers' Agents doing
a wholesale business here.
It will appear from this list that Atlanta sells in Georgia a few more merchants than the number in Bradstreet's
hst. This need not cause surprise because neither Commercial Agency has an absolutely complete list. For example, R. G. Dun & Company report for Georgia 29,184
against 33,295 reported by Bradstreet's Agency, and a still
larger number appear on the ledgers of Atlanta firms.
The books of Atlanta wholesale dealers and manufacturers contain the names of many commissaries and contractors who do not appear in the lists of the commercial
agencies.

Volume of Atlanta's Trade in the Southeast
In order to arrive at the volume of Atlanta's trade in
the seven States of the Southeastern Region, letters were
sent to merchants and manufacturers doing a wholesale
business and to Manufacturers' Agents selling goods from
Atlanta for non-resident manufacturers who were asked
*Or the amount of business done by each concern in each
ktt
Pa

ge Twenty-one




Returns were received from a minority of those doing
business in Atlanta and this is not surprising when it is
remembered that the information sought is one of the
secrets of business which men guard with the utmost care.
There are in Atlanta 429 merchants and manufacturers doing a wholesale business here, and of these we have
returns from 219, or 51 per cent.
There are also in Atlanta 485 Manufacturers' Agents
selling from here for non-resident concerns and we have
returns from 150 or 31 per cent.
These returns total $74,388,617 of sales by merchants
and manufacturers and $51,784,151 by Manufacturers'
Agents.

Distribution by States
The business of these concerns in the District is distributed as follows:
Merchants and
Manufacturers
Georgia
$44,502,336
Alabama
8,353,562
Florida
3,536,070
South Carolina. 4,218,523
North Carolina 2,583,5"
Tennessee
3,068,805
Mississippi . . . 1,765,282
Undistributed . 6,378,528
Total 7 States.$74,388,617

Manufacturers*
Agents
$18,882,677
6,337,641
5,600,187
4,971,108
3,181,733
4,446,973
2,062,589
6,301,243

Total
$63,385,013
14,673*203
<M3M57
9,189,631
5,765,244
7»5*S»778
3,827,871
12,679,771

$51,784,151

$126,172,768

The Business Indicated
At the same average volume of business reported by
these concerns, all those doing a wholesale business in the
City would show the following total:
Manufacturers and Jobbers. .$145,860,000
Manufacturers' Agents
167,045,600
$312,905,600

Distribution of Total by States
This total, distributed among the States in the proportion of the sales actually returned, would give these totals
for each State:
Georgia
Alabama
Florida . . . .
South Carolina
North Carolina
Tennessee
Mississippi
Undistributed




indicated Total
for 914 Concerns
$158,000,000
36,000,000
23,000,000
23,000,000
14,000,000
19,000,000
9,000,000
31,000,000
$313,000,000
Page Twenty-tw0

Summary
Summarizing these items of trade other than retail we
find the figures to be as follows:
Merchants and Manufacturers
Manufacturers' Agent*
Cotton Seed Products
Fertilizers Not Included Above
Horses, Mutes, Cattle and Hops
Insurance Premium*

$145,860,000
167,045,600
11,027,168
5,000,000
16,000,000
20,000,000
$364,932,768

As the total is less than half Atlanta's Bank Clearings,
it is clear that the estimate is not exaggerated.
Even the Bank Clearings of $725,000,000 do not measure the volume of business. They are only about onethird, for the total business done by the seven Clearing
House Banks was $2,025,611,801.69"

Railroads, Telegraphs and Telephones
In addition to this is the vast volume of business transacted by Railroad Companies, Telegraph and Telephone
Companies, Insurance and Express Companies, newspapers and publications. The combined circulation of
Atlanta newspapers in the Southeast is about equal to the
population of Atlanta. This mighty engine of development has no equal in the South.
It is impossible to say what is the volume of railroad
business done in Atlanta, for there are no separate statistics available, but the Georgia Railroad Commission reports the total amount of railroad earnings for this State
as
$5J>559,583.06 for the year ending June 30th, 1913:
Telegraph and Expres* Companies
Compress Companies
Street Railway, Power and Light Companies
Telephone Companies

$i,9l6>7°5-°8
1,222,581.64
9»998>49°-37
3,164,212.74

The total earnings of all public utility corporations in
Georgia during the fiscal year ending in 1912, as reported
t0
the Railroad Commission, was $67,198,472- A l a r S e
Part of this passed through the banks of Atlanta.

Volume of Railroad Business
Atlanta is the headquarters of the Southeastern
/ ight Association and the Southeastern Passenger Association, whose territory includes the States South of the
°hio and Potomac East of the Mississippi. This inF e

Pa

8« Twcnty-three




eludes nearly all of groups 4 and 5 of the Interstate Commerce Commission, excepting West Virginia. For those
groups the United States Bureau of Railway Economics
gives the following figures:
Group No. 4
West Virginia,
Virginia,
North Carolina,
South Carolina,

Group No. 5
Kentucky
Tenne^ee
Georgia

Alabama
Mississippi
Florida

MILEAGE OPERATED ALL TRACKS—55,425 miles.
POPULATION—18,817,072.
AREA—439,395 square miles.
FREIGHT REVENUES—$ 166,352,819.00
NUMBER REVENUE PASSENGERS CARRIED—83,490,783.

PASSENGER REVENUE—$72,459,675.00

Growth of Banking
BANK CLEARINGS OF SOUTHERN CITIES
(Financial Chronicle)
New Orleans
Atlanta
Louisville
Galveston
Memphis
Richmond
Fort Worth
Nashville
Houston
Savannah
Norfolk
Macon
Jacksonville
Birmingham
Austin
Chattanooga
Charleston

1913
$930,683,873
725,604,193
715,731,886
519,101,000
421,987,372
419,121,313
418,619,830
366,657,389
357,821,194
280,538,332
214,966,911
190)313,093
174,97**596
173.857,773
131,608,482
128,745,099
101,660,117

Columbia

57,3*3,538
BANK CLEARINGS OF 20 YEARS

(Furnished by Darwin G. Jones, Manager of The Atlanta Clearing Hou«e)
1893
$60,753,911.13
1894
56,589,228.04
^95
65,318,254.71
1896
69,026,033.17
'897
72,005,161.52
1898
„
71,964,809.03
8
••
83,058,397-"
9,375,5
J
9Oi
1x1,755,849.98
X O2
9
131,200,457.25
*9O3
i44,992,O37-59
1934
158,022,303.15
1905
185,625,644.98
6
235,997,896.02




Page Twenty-fot»r

*9<>7
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913

254.965.803.94
230,067,592.55
406,049,538.55
574,164,916.77
653.I3O.42O-35
691,941,254.20
725,604,192.65

ATLANTA LEADS IX 1914
COMPARATIVE CLEARINGS FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY, 1914
(Furnished by J. E. C. Pedder, Division Superintendent, Bradstreet's Agency)
New Orleans 19*4
$in,974»545
New

Orleans,

1913

103,412,499

Richmond, 1913
Richmond, 1914

$8,562,046
$39,524,158
38,735,909

Atlanta, 1914
Atlanta, 1913

$789,068
$78,93*.O54
68,563,168
$9,368,886

R A N K C L E A R I N G S FOR FIRST W E E K IN FEBRUARY, 1014
New Orleans
Increase, 11.7%
Atlanta
Increase 23.2%
Richmond
Decrease
.1 %

Atlanta's Growth
Atlanta's rapid growth is indicated by the following
facts:
. Atlanta's population increased from 89,832 to 154,839
m ten years, and is now (February, 1914) 190,000.
Its bank clearings grew from $60,753,911 in 1893 to
$725,604,192.65 in 1913. These are by far the largest in
the territory, as shown by the following statistics for 1913
furnished by the New York Financial Chronicle:
In the percentage of increase for the first week in
February, Atlanta leads forty principal Cities in the
United States with 23.2% increase.
RATIO OF CLEARINGS TO DEPOSITS
Clearings
Clearings
Deposits
to
Year 19*3 #v
Oct. 21,1913
Atlanta
35.90
Birmingham
25.05
Macon
7.98
Savannah
22.11
Louisville
5*45
New Orleans . . . . 7518
Chattanooga
17.58
Knoxville
"49
Nashville
24.12
Houston
38.51
Richmond
48.12
Charleston
19.82
Columbia not given.
Montgomery not given.
Twenty.five



(000 Omitted)
75 6
i73» 8 57
9»33
280,538
I
7 5»73 X
980,685
125,745
87,812
366,657
357.821
4*9>X2X
101,660

Deposits
20.2 Times
6.9
23.8
12.7
13.9
X
37.1
7.6

152
9-3
8.7

Atlanta Leads in Post Office Receipts
In Post Office receipts and outgoing packages by Parcels Rost, Atlanta exceeds any other City in the South, as
will be seen by these figures:
Atlanta
New Orleans
Louisville
Richmond
Memphis
Nashville
Birmingham
Jacksonville
Oklahoma City




Total Receipts
$1,328,011.24
1,182,761.72
1,163,598.18
828,81049
747,936-72
653,202.36
485,80148
5x1,186.68
377,007.68

Parcels Handled
Out Going In Coming
77,693
32,605
47,163
33,838
43,014
27,048
37,154
20,627
25,631
13,694
20,179
15,281
37,237
65,072
9,681
9,750
13,083
9,3">

Page Twenty-si*

Summary for Six States
Supplementary Brief by Atlanta Chamber of Commerce

S

O U T H C A R O L I N A , Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi and Eastern and Middle Tennessee will
furnish territory contributing, from the National
Banks alone, more than sufficient capital to locate a Reserve Bank within this region.
The States of this Region have, in their National
Banks alone, the following capital, surplus and deposits:
NATIONAL BANKS OF SIX SOUTHEASTERN STATES
(Report for January 13, 1914)
Capital
Deposits of Indi- Subscription to
and Surplus viduals and Banks Capital Stock
Vf/B"
$24,615,910
$63,893,15971
$1,476,954
Alabama
16,363,095
49,825,698.61
981,785
Tennessee (2/3) .12,893,709
53,429,342.31
773,622
Florida
9,9*o,977
40,645,806.39
594,658
South Carolina.. 8,734,750
29,593,800.07
524,085
Mississippi
5,165,204
i7,945,S93io
309,912
77,683,645

255,333,400.19

4,661,016

Georgia has largely more National Banking Capital
than any other State in this Region and will, therefore,
contribute more largely to the stock of the Reserve Bank.
The exact amount is shown by the last column in the
above table.
The Cities of this territory have the following capital,
surplus and deposits in their National Banks:
RANK OF CITIES IN THE SOUTHEAST
(National Banks Reporting January 13, 1914)
Subscription to
Capital
Individual
Capital Stock of
and Surplus
Deposits
Regional Bank
Atlanta
$8,600,000
$24,531,575
$516,000
Louisville
8,280,000
20,740,875
496,800
New Orleans
6,730,000
19,406,054
403,800
Birmingham
3,300,000
9,934,98o
198,000
Chattanooga
2,975,000
10,173,426
178,500
Knoxvillc
2,490,000
8,668,792
i49,4oo
Memphis
2,140,000
7,417,434
128,400
Savannah
1,600,000
1,369,221
96,000
Columhus
445,000
1,108,367
26,700
p
*ge Twenty-seven




Rapid Increase of Banking Power
The Banking Power of these six States is now half the
annual value of all their products.
Value annual production farm and factory, i,4° 2
millions.
Bank capital, surplus and deposits of State and National Banks, 731 millions.
While the products have doubled in ten years the
Banking Power has trebled:
INCREASE OF BANKING POWER IN THE SOUTHEAST
NATIONAL BANKS
(From Comptroller's Report)
National Banks only
1902
1912
1914
Georgia
6,854,000
$23,391,000
$24,615,910
South Carolina . . 2,731,000
7,903,000
8,734,750
Florida
2,302,000
10,176,000
9.9*0,977
Alabama
4,995,000
15,254,000
16,363,095
Mississippi
2,079,000
4,830,000
5,165,2.54
Tennes&ee ( 2 / 3 ) . . 5,990,000
11,809,332
12,893,709
24,951,000

$73,363,332

$77,683,645

Thus the Banking Power, already near equal in ratio
to that of the United States, is increasing fifty per cent
faster than the products.

Banking Power Half the Annual Product
Georgia is the largest State of the Union East of the
Mississippi Riven
When you combine agriculture, manufactures and
commerce, Georgia far exceeds any State in the Southeastern Region and Atlanta not only leads the entire
Southeastern Region, from Virginia to Texas in its contribution to the stock of the Reserve Bank, but under the
terms of the Bill as to "convenience and ordinary course
of business" its status entitles it to the Reserve Bank.
As to convenience, 152 Passenger Trains come into or
go out of Atlanta every day. Between the close of Banks
one day and their opening on the next you can reach by
train any part of the District.
Atlanta is literally the gateway of the entire Southeast, even though you include Louisiana and North Carolina in that Region.
Practically all the travel from Louisiana to New York
goes through Atlanta.




Page Twenty-eight

Atlanta's Business in the Region
Atlanta is the great market of the Southeastern Region
and its commerce of 34c millions in the Southeastern
States is not equaled or approached by any other City.
Atlanta is headquarters for the insurance business of
the entire South, being the fourth largest insurance center in the United States.
Atlanta does one-fifth of the insurance business of the
entire South and one-third of that in the Southeastern
District.
Atlanta is headquarters for Railroads, Telephone and
Telegraph Companies and express business for the South.
Atlanta is headquarters for the Southeastern Passenger Association, which extends from the Potomac and
Ohio Rivers to the Mississippi.
Atlanta is headquarters for the Southeastern Freight
Association and the Southern Weighing and Inspection
Bureau, covering the same territory.
Atlanta is headquarters for the agents of all important
manufacturers in the United States doing business in the
South.
Atlanta has been selected by the Federal Government
as the center of the Southeast for its most important operations, including the Railway Mail Service, Military
headquarters, the new Bureau of Commerce, being one
°f the four branches of that Department for the United
States, and the site also for the Federal Prison for the
entire South.
As further illustration of its convenience and advantage as a business center, Atlanta was selected by the Ford
Automobile Manufacturing Company as a site for the
on
ly branch of that establishment in the South.
Atlanta's pre-eminence for business in the SoutheastCr
n States is further shown by the Post Office Receipts
and parcels sent out by Post, exceeding those of any other
CJ
ty in the South.

Growth of the Region and the City
The growth of this entire Southeastern Region has
^cn phenomenal. Its development is more rapid than
ftat of any other section of the United States, unless it be
re
*as and" Oklahoma, or a portion of the Pacific Coast.
b

Pa

i c Twenty.ninc




Georgia has made more progress in the last ten years
than any State in the Southeast when you consider the
combined growth of agriculture, manufactures and commerce.
Atlanta's commerce in this Region exceeds that of any
other City.

So.-Eastern Banks Lend More Than They Borrow
Borrowing by Banks in this Region from Banks in
New York and other Cities during the crop season is
largely offset by the balances which Southeastern Banks
carry in New "fork and other Cities as Reserves and for
exchange purposes.
During most of the year other Regions are debtors to
this Region when deposits are taken into consideration,
and if interest were charged both ways at the same rate
there would be a large balance of interest in favor of the
Southeastern Banks.

Borrowing From Outside Territory
The National Banks in this Region lend to other banks
in the Region far more money than they borrow from
Banks outside the Region. This is shown by the following facts:
ist. The larger banks lend to the small banks, and
these again lend to still smaller banks, so that
much of the amount borrowed during the cotton
moving period by banks in Georgia is really
triplicated so far as it indicates borrowing from
outside the section.
2nd. The deposits outside the section by our existing
Reserve System and the additional deposits carried in the large Cities for exchange purposes
will average two-thirds as much as the actual
money borrowed from those outside Cities during the cotton moving season and sent into this
section
3rd. This money is not borrowed for the ordinary
course of commerce, but to move the cotton crop
and under the present system it requires several
times longer to clear it than it would with a Reserve Bank located in this section. A large part
of the cotton bought is exported and with a Re*




Page Thirty

serve Bank conveniently located in this cotton
section, handling foreign exchange, the time
would be so greatly reduced for the clearings
that the actual money required would be much
less and the convenience to the section much
greater by locating a Reserve Bank near its center, in the largest cotton producing State East
of the Mississippi River.
Georgia comes next to Texas as a cotton producing State and the Region outlined produces
about one-half the entire crop.

Other States and Cities Favor Atlanta
A large part of Florida, including eight of twelve
Banks in Jacksonville, favor Atlanta. The Governor and
his Cabinet indorsed Atlanta.
Savannah asked that the Reserve Bank be located in
Georgia, whether in Atlanta or Savannah.
Mobile, after New Orleans, has asked to come to
Atlanta.
Montgomery, after herself, asked to come to Atlanta.
Chattanooga, after herself, asked to come to Atlanta.
The Knoxville Board of Commerce indorsed Atlanta
as first choice.
The President of the Mississippi Bankers' Association gave his evidence first for New Orleans and second
for Atlanta.
In the hearings throughout the United States Atlanta
was named all over the country as a place at which a Reserve Bank should be located/and the thought of the enfire country indicates the necessity for a Reserve District
J
n the Southeastern section with Atlanta as its center and
Sl
*e for the Reserve Bank.

Conclusion
We present the largest State East of the Mississippi
River, the largest City in the Southeast and the State and
City which will put more money under the Law in the
Reserve Bank than any others in this Region.
In support of these statements, we ask reference to the
Briefs filed by the Atlanta Committee, which support
every claim we made and many more excellent claims not
Mentioned in this brief statement.
P

*8« Thirty-one




The Trend of Banking
By J. K. Ottley, Vice-President Fourth National Bank
and President Clearing House Section American
Bankers Association.
r p H E President of Princeton University (now PresiI dent of the United States) in an address before the
American Bankers' Association at Denver in 1908
laid down the principle that all of the people of this
country are entitled to equal banking facilities. The
present Currency Law, with its provision for the establishment of Federal Reserve Banks, is the realization of
what then seemed but an idle dream.
The law undoubtedly contemplates giving to the people of ALL SECTIONS of the United States the largest possible benefits derivable from the operation of such Banks.
This involves a distinctively territorial distribution of the
centers; or, in other words, it necessitates such a division
of the country into REGIONS, as will give each region an
individual significance from a geographical standpoint.
The indicated Region is then to be served by a RESERVE
BANK located within its confines at such a point as will
be proven both geographically central and commercially
adequate.
Let us consider, first, the division into REGIONS: I
submit the proposition that a "Region," in order to secure
the maximum advantage of the new system, should be
territorially compact.
If within such a region the natural resources are such
as to make possible a diversity of activities—commercial,
agricultural, mining and manufacturing—so much the
better.




Page Thirty-two

GEOGRAPHICALLY, it appears logical that there should
be created a SOUTH EASTERN REGIOX, to embrace, say, the
seven States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. It meets
the desired requirements in point of geographical compactness and physical outline. It certainly is such an area
as I have described in regard to its sources of wealth. It
is an ideal illustration of a territory in which agricultural,
mining, manufacturing and commercial interests flourish.

Division of Territory
May I call your attention to the fact that if only those
Cities recognized under the old system as money centers
be selected as Regional Bank Cities, the territorial division of the country unquestionably contemplated by the
Law cannot be achieved? Would the spirit of the Act be
realized by dividing the country into wedge-shaped slices
running VERY THIX at the center? Would it not unquestionably further the intent of the Law to divide the country into solid, compact areas, each of these to be served
by a Federal Reserve Bank? If so (and I assume that
the logic of the claim is readily apparent) the creation
of the SOUTHEASTERN REGION, composed of the seven
States named, is a foregone conclusion.
ATLANTA IS THE GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER of this Southeastern Region—a fact of which you have ocular demonstration. ATLANTA IS THE COMMERCIAL CENTER of the
Southeastern Region—a statement I believe you will consider incontestable after hearing the evidence presented.
A moment since I spoke of the resources of this Region. Commerce is inclined to follow natural laws.
Banking follows Commerce. The barometer of banking
is Clearings and it is with Atlanta's Bank Clearings I
wish to engage your interested attention. The Bank
Clearings of Atlanta for 1913 were $725,604,193, remarkable indeed for a City whose population, by the United
States Census of 1910, was 154,893- T h e W Clearings
are twelve times as large as those of 1893.
Pa

«e Thirty-three




The following table shows the Clearings of leading
Southern Cities, including Cities located in seven of the
States mentioned as the SOUTHEASTERN REGION:
BANK CLEARINGS OF THREE DECADES
From Records of Commercial and Financial Chronicle
% of Inc
1893
Atlanta . . .
Galveston 145,404,778
Memphis . 84,962,497
Richmond 114,957,2x7
Fort Worth 28,7x4,3x0
Nashville
Houston . . 134,774,530
95,639,437
Savannah
Norfolk . . . 49,091,728
Macon . . . .
Jacksonville.
Birmingham 17)907,337
Chattanooga 16,003,120
Charleston .
1896
Knoxville . 21,500,000
Columbia . .

1903
144,992,037
220,266,000
214,009,558
208,177,595
124,589,656
348,464,433
195,926,562
40,782,000
26,112,7x7
63,146,885
37,102,107

58,500,000

1913
1903-191?
598,688,766*
3x2

5X9,xox,ooo
421,987,372
4x9,121,3x3
4x8,619,813
366,657,389
357,821,194
2x4,966,911
190,313,093
174,971,596
173,857,773
131,608,482
128,745,099
101,660,117

13S
07
xox
396
194
27
43
152
366
57O
175
247

87,800,000

*In the clearings of Atlanta for 1913 the mm of $126,915,426 has been deducted,
representing country checks collected through Clearing House in order to make
correct comparison.
Volume of business done during the year 1913
by seven Clearing House Banks
$2,025,611,801.69
Volume of business done during year 1909 by
six Clearing House Banks
1,378,985,864.25
Increase in five years

$646,625,937.44

Bradstreet reported Clearings, 1912-1913, decrease,
N e w Orleans, 7.3%; Richmond, 24%; increase, Atlanta,
4.8%.
Deposits
Oct. 21,1913
(000 omitted)
Atlanta
$35,900
Birmingham
25,050
Savannah
22,110
Louisville
51,450
New Orleans . . . . 75,180
Chattanooga
17,580
Knoxville
11,490
Nashville
24,120
Houston
38,5x0
Richmond
48,120
Charleston
19,820




Clearings
Year 19x3
(000 omitted)
725,604
173,857
280,538
715,731
980,683
"5,745
87,8x2
366,657
357,821
419,12*
101,660

Clearings
to Deposits
20.2 Times
6.9
"
X2.7
13.9
13.
7.t

7.6
15.2

"
«
"

9-3

8.7
5.1

"
"
Page Thirty^*

PERCENTAGE OF RESERVES CARRIED BY NATIONAL BANKS OF
ATLANTA IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES
Per cent
New York
56.1483
Boston
3.3983
Philadelphia . . . 4
1O.62
Chicago
7.79l
Cincinnati
3.845
New Orleans
1.7666
Baltimore
6.3
Louisville
716
St. Louis
4.173
Pittshurg
1.3x6
Albany
95
Cleveland
'.
366
Detroit
166
Indianapolis
216
Kansas City
6
v
Washington
."
1.623
99.9952
FIGURES FOR ONE ATLANTA BANK, WHICH WILL BE TYPICAL OF
BANK IN THE SOUTHEASTERN REGION
Average 1913
Dailv Average
Bills Payable
$232,670.00
Due from Reserve Agents
459,320.00
Due from Eastern and Western Bank*
58,290.00
(Other than Reserve)
Due from Other Banks
3S*>9$o-oo
(Including Atlanta Clearing House)
COMPARATIVE CLEAPINGS FOR MONTH OF JANUARY
(Furnished by J. E. C. Pcdder, Division Superintendent, Bradstreet's Agency)
New Orleans, 1914
$i»,974,545
New Orleans, 1913
103,412,499
(Jain
Richmond, 1913
Richmond, 1914

$8,562,046
$39,524,158
3*>735,°9O

Los5
Atlanta, 1914
Atlanta, i 9 I 3

$789,068
$7»,93i,°54
69,5*3,i*8

Gain
$9,368,886
BANK CLEARINGS FOR FIRST WEEK IN FEBRUARY, 1914
New Orleans
Increase 11.7%
Atlanta
Increase 23.2%
Richmond
Decrease .1%
. In percentages of increase for first week in February, Atlanta leads forty pnncl
Pal Cities in the United States with 23.27c increase.

Clearing for Other Towns
The commerce of Atlanta was of sufficient magnitude,
1 her mail facilities of such convenience, as to warrant
-ur Clearing House in 1909 in adopting the plan o f ^ a r ln
g direct the States of Georgia, Alabama and Florida,
three of the States suggested as properly belonging ta
this Region, which means that Atlanta deals direct with
banks.
Thirty-five




Atlanta was the second City in this country to adopt
the system of clearing country checks direct and today,
with the exception of Boston, Atlanta has the most complete system of its kind. This organization and trained
force would be at the disposal of a Federal Bank when
needed to carry out this feature as contemplated in the
Law. Business transacted with Augusta, Macon, Savannah, Birmingham, Montgomery and Anniston is handled
in the usual way—on the reciprocal basis. All other cash
items on towns in the three States are cleared direct, the
'amount being in 1913, $126,915,426.34. Deducting this
amount leaves the sum of $598,688,766.31, a greater volume than that listed in any other Southeastern City. This
sum is practically equal to the total Clearings of Columbia, Charleston, Chattanooga, Birmingham and Jacksonville; also practically equal to the combined Clearings of
Nashville and Savannah.
Atlanta's suitability as a Clearing center is forcibly
illustrated by the fact that two of the greatest public utility corporations operating in the South thus employ it:
The Western Union clears through its Fiscal Agent
in this City 4854 points in the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee (the seven States suggested as a
Southeastern Region) and, in addition, Kentucky and
Virginia. Incident to their method of remittance, only a
small portion of this business passes through our clearings.
The Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company clears 266 points in Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
North Carolina and South Carolina, (five of the seven
States of the Southeastern Region.)
I submit, gentlemen, that this use of Atlanta as Clearing headquarters by two such astute and well organized
corporations, is tangible evidence of her accessibility and
the convenience of her facilities.
It is pointed out by some Cities remote from the center of the Region desired that they lend some money in
portions of this Region. Such sums as they do lend, bowever, are trifling compared to maximum borrowings for
crop moving.




Page Thirty-six

Clearings Show Commerce
The Banks of Atlanta have used their finances to
promote commerce and commerce has produced our
clearings. We have also extended liberal accommodations to the Banks throughout Georgia. Under the old
Law we have not striven to compete with reserve Cities
outside of the State. A Southeastern Region, under the
new Law, would put us, for the first time, in a position
so to compete. New York is the real money market for
this Southeastern Region and only a RESERVE BANK can
replace this long powerful money center.
The moving of our cotton and other great Southern
crops requires at certain seasons a large amount of ready
cash and the Southeast is thus a heavy borrower—another
strong reason for the establishment" in this great active
Region of a Reserve Bank which shall meet this need
with benefit both to the borrower and to the Reserve
Bank.
In this connection I may say that under the old system it has been necessary to create borrowing capacity
with the recognized money centers, and in order to do so
heavy reserves have had to be lodged in banks in the
North and East. A Southeastern Region would eliminate this necessity, because our reserves and credit security would be on the ground, so to speak.
No City in the United States has proven a stronger
advocate of National Banks than Atlanta. With one exception, all the members of her Clearing House are National Banks. That they are in sympathy with the new
Law is indicated by the fact that Atlanta signified,
through her Clearing House, her endorsement of the plan
before the Bill had actually been passed. She was the
first City in the United States to take this action.
The Clearing House Banks are all strong and successful institutions and in a position to command an increase of capital to any reasonable amount that might be
desired.
From all that has been said it will be easy, gentlemen,
f
or you to gather that a SOUTHEASTERN REGION with a
RESERVE BANK in ATLANTA is, in our minds, an important feature of the new banking system—a system whose
fundamental idea is that all the people of the entire country shall be afforded equal banking facilities.
Pa

ge Thirty-seven




Banking in the Southeast
By Robert F. M add ox. Vice-President American
National Hank.
The attention of the Committee is called to the following statistics:
NATIONAL BANKS IN PROPOSED SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
OCTOBER 31, 1913
Number Capital
Surplus
Deposit*
North Carolina
72 $8,460,000 $2,859,525 $3$, 6| 9.75*
South Carolina
48 6,365,000 2,151,400
21,724,859
Georgia
117 15,168,500 9,333,ooo
52,295,249
Florida
53 7,505,000
3,087,677
33»IO4»644
Alabama
90 10,180,290
5,851,293
43«555i°62
Mississippi
33 3,385,000
1,644,653
M»643f856
Tennessee
109 13,217,500 5,552,655
62,895,220
552 $64,281,290 $30,480,263 $264,138,629
30,480,263

STATE BANKS, OCTOBER 21, 1913
Number Capital
Surplus
Deposits
North Carolina ..412 $11,018,271.87 $3,016,348.93 $65,337,4«I-97
South Carolina ..322
12,778,000.00 4,621,000.00
51,000,000.00
Georgia
697 28,895,513.67 16,514,360.65
9M4«-535-27
Florida
189
6,427,220.00
3,061,665.60
27,542,3*5-97
Alabama
258 12,800,000.00 6,800,000.00
52,500,000.00
Mississippi
10,341,695.55
2,356,812.52
38,860,727*59
295
Tennessee
410
9,380,258.79
3,294,409.88
36,137-434^6
2583 $91,640,960.00 $39,664,597.00 $362,819,564°°
39,664,597.00
$'3»,3°$,557-°°
T
June 4, 1913.
BANKING POWER OF THE SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
Capital and
„ .
, „
Number Surplus
Deposits
Total
National Banks . . . . 522 $94,76i,553 $264,138,629 $358»9°°'182
State Banks
2583 I3M°5,557
362,819,564 494,*3<«121
3*05 $226,067,110 $626,958,193

$853,035,303

Our territory, as shown by the map, has located withjn
its boundaries 522 National Banks and 2,583 State Banks
and Trust Companies, making a total of 3,105.




Fag« Thirty-**1*

These institutions have a combined capital and surplus of $226,067,110, with combined deposits of $626,958,193.
The National Banks have a capital and surplus of
$94761,583 and individual deposits of $264,138,629.
The State Banks and Trust Companies have capital
and surplus of $131,305,557, and deposits of $362,819,000.
Should only the National Banks become members,
they would furnish the Federal Reserve Bank, on a six
per cent subscription basis, a capital of $5,685,000, and
estimated deposits of $13,250,000.
Should the State Banks and Trust Companies become
members, they would furnish additional capital, $7,878,000, making the total maximum available, $13,563,000, and the additional deposits of $18,100,000, making the total available deposits, exclusive of such funds,
as the Government might place with it, $31,350,000.
Should all the National Banks go in the new system
and half the State Banks, the capital of the Reserve Bank
for this district would be $9,625,000, and the estimated
deposits would be $22,300,000.
From the above figures, we believe that the Banks in
the States mentioned would unquestionably provide the
capital required under the Federal Reserve Act for a
Reserve Bank to be located in this territory. The National Banks have with practical unanimity signified their
desire to enter the new system, and while the State Banks
seem to be "watchfully waiting," we believe a large number will soon realize the benefits to be derived and take
advantage of the opportunity to become members.

An Accessible Market
The real object of locating the Regional Reserve
Banks is to establish a more accessible market where
Banks may be able to re-discount their bills and to meet
quickly the demand for emergency currency during the
seasonable period of the year, without the doubt of its
availability which has existed in the past
It seems to be generally agreed that it will be desirable to have the new banking centers at points that wilt
be not more than a night's travel from the outlying points
where business is being done by member Banks. In the
East, where communication is easy, population dense, and
p

age Thirty-nine




the districts necessarily smaller, the case is comparatively
simple, and we recognize the difficulties your committee
will probably have in dividing the country into eight or
more districts, each of which will be commercially strong,
banking intercourse easy, demand for loans diversified,
and the section segregated to the satisfaction of its people.
We believe that a Region consisting of at least a portion of the States we mention would come as near filling
the object of the bill, considering all its phases, as any
other district which may be designated in the United
States.

Readjustment of Methods
We believe that the Organization Committee will be
more inclined to look to the possibility of a readjustment
and improvement of banking facilities under the new system rather than be guided by the forced trend of banking
under the old system.
In normal years, even under the old currency bill,
there was a sufficient amount of currency to conduct the
commerce of our country; and even at present there is no
particular demand for additional currency. It is therefore apparent that under the operation of the new currency bill, there will really be but little need for additional currency, as under the power of the Federal Reserve Board, the surplus funds of the several Regional
Banks may be diverted and used where most needed.
While the Region we have outlined has many diversified lines of business, we recognize that for a few months
in the year it may be regarded as a borrowing district.
This we do not believe is a reflection upon its establishment, but rather an argument in its favor.
If, under the old system, the loanable funds of certain
Regions were forced by lack of demand in those regions
to move the other regions in order to find employment,
it is not unreasonable to suppose that the deposits in the
Federal Reserve Banks to be located in those Regions
will be forced to find borrowers in other Regions.
It would be almost impossible to so divide our great
country into eight or twelve regions where the supply oi
money would at all times equal the demand for loans.
This was recognized by Congress when it gave the Reserve Banks the right of open market operations, and gave




Page Forty

to the Federal Reserve Board the right to use the surplus
iunds of one district to meet the unsupplied demand in
another district.
The total loans and discounts of the National Banks,
as shown by the report to the Comptroller on October 21,
I I
9 3> was $6,260,877,000. Of this amount only $16,5*6,347 w a s rediscounts for National Banks; and only
$83,943,695 was bills payable of National Banks—making a total of $100,450,042, or less than 1 6/10% of the
total loans of National Banks.
At the same time the United States had on deposit in
National Banks, including postal savings deposits and deposits of disbursing officers, $111,059,215. In other words,
the United States had on deposit in the National Banks
$11,000,000 more than the entire amount the National
Banks had found it necessary to borrow.
If the Federal Reserve Banks had been in operation
at this time, presuming they would have had a capital of
$100,000,000 and deposits of $500,000,000 made up exclusively from the National Banks, they would have had,
after deducting the gold reserve required against deposits, a loanable fund of $425,000,000 or more than four
times the amount required to supply the necessary loans
to the National Banks, leaving $325,000,000 for open
market operations:
The total amount of bills payable and rediscounts of
the National Banks in the States suggested as a district
for the Southeast on October 21, 1913 (which is about
the maximum for the year) was $23,801,000.
Judging by the past, it is reasonable to presume that
for about half of the year the banks of this section will
not find it necessary to call heavily upon the Regional
Bank for re-discounts, but for the other half, may find
it convenient to use the discount privilege freely, and
even beyond the available deposits of the Regional Bank.
Government deposits could then be transferred to this Region, as was recently so wisely done, or the Federal Reserve Board might find it advisable to have the surplus
funds of another Region meet the demands here; and
lastly, the new currency could be issued, which automatically retires when the demand for it ceased.
ra

«e Forty-one




No Idle Money
We admit that this section has but little idle money.
Since the war, the reconstruction of the South has required all our energy and all our capital. The rapid development of our farms, our factories, our mines, our
Cities and our commerce has called for even more capital than our Banks could supply; and unlike some of our
richer or more finished sections, our Banks have not been
forced to go into other sections for desirable loans.
Figures and facts have been shown, and, will be presented later, illustrating the wonderful growth of the
South, its diversified industries, and what the "Atlanta
Spirit" has done for the Gate City of the South; also the
accessibility of Atlanta from all points in the Region suggested. The geographical location and railroad facilities of this City have been the means of our merchants
developing a remarkable trade with surrounding States,
which is but a forerunner of the convenience and benefit
a Reserve Bank in Atlanta would be to the Banks of this
Region.
We do not believe that it will be the wisdom of your
honorable Committee to consider where the Banks of this
Region have borrowed in the past of so much importance
as from what convenient center these Banks may be supplied in the future.
Under the old regime, the Banks of the nation were
dependent upon a single and uncertain money center, and
the nation was a slave to the system. When President
Wilson signed the new Currency Bill the shackles which
had bound the banking business in narrow limitations fell
asunder, and the people received it as the Emancipation
Proclamation of a New Freedom from currency panics.
The Southeastern States we have suggested as a Region under the new system are throbbing with new life
Its people, while true to the traditions of its past, are
justly proud of the prosperity of its present. They are
loyal to the Nation and dauntless in their democracy. No
other section of the country has risen above such adversities to such commercial importance. In the veins of its




Page Forty-two

men and women there flows the purest Anglo-Saxon blood
to be found in any part of this Republic. For what we
have accomplished in the past, we ask your help in the
future.
Georgia has more National banking capital than any
State in the Region suggested; and Atlanta has more National banking capital than any City in the States included. If Atlanta and this Region is given a Federal
Reserve Bank, we can face the future with renewed
strength and approach with confidence the continued development of our section to the credit of the New South
and to the glory of the Nation.

Forty-three




Financing The Crops
By Joseph A. McCord, Vice-President Third Xational
Bank and Member Currency Commission American
Bankers Association.

Cotton
/ ^ O T T O N is the greatest producer of value of any
C
commodity in the Southern States. Fifty-three per
Vh-/
cent is grown East of the Mississippi River. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census of the United
States, shows Ginners' Reports of 1913 crop up to January 16th, 1914, East of the Mississippi River to be 7,544,927 bales. Valued at $65.00 per bale, and seed at
$10.00 per bale, it gives a money value of $565,869,525, or
one-sixth (1/6) of all the money in the United States.
Georgia is the centre of this territory, producing of
the above amount, 2,316,388 bales, or 30.79K
A. T H E ROCK, 64 miles Southeast of Atlanta, in
Upson County, near the corner of Upson, Pike and Monroe Counties, Georgia, being the numerical center of the
crop of Cotton for 1913, East of the Mississippi River.
Moreland, 45 miles West of Atlanta being the geographical center of the cotton producing territory.
Atlanta is the central City of this Cotton Belt, taken
from a numerical, as well as a geographical point of
view. Cotton is purchased in small towns and money
payments are necessarily made at these towns. Buyers
classify, mark for export, and ship from interior towns
and Cities, to ship side at ports, hence the banking facilities should be nearer the centre to benefit the greatest
number of people.
B. There are 27 compress points in Georgia, where
cotton is concentrated and export bills are issued; V
126,803 bales compressed.
Other States have similar concentrating points, but as
all of these will equalize, Georgia is taken because it is
the centre of a pivotal State.




Page Forty-fo*r

Central Location Important
To locate a Reserve Bank at a Port would not serve
the interior as well as if located nearer the producers; to
locate at any extreme would not serve the whole section.
Currency can be shipped to any town or City on any
main line of Railroad in the seven Southeastern States
from Atlanta, Georgia, after five o'clock in the afternoon
of one day, and delivered by not later than ten o'clock
next morning to the farthest point in these States. This
cannot be done from any of the competitive Cities.
As evidence as to the value of Cotton to a local community, up to January 16th, two Counties in Georgia
produced more than 50,000 bales; Laurens leading with
52,551 bales, and Burke following with 52,397 bales. The
cotton crop in Laurens in a single year is worth more
than all the farm land and other real estate of the County.
While in Burke County the value of this year's Cotton
crop almost exactly equals the total wealth of all sorts
accumulated upon the tax digest during the whole history of the County.
While it is true this vast amount of wealth came into
this locality, it is also true that nearly all of it went out
for the purchase of fertilizers, supplies, food and clothing for the producers of this enormous wealth; hence the
necessity of financing a community thus situated. *
It requires more actual money to produce the cotton
crop than any of the leading crops of the United States,
because of the necessity of the hand cultivation and gathering, and the tenancy system.
Farmers, merchants and manufacturers require an extension of credit to produce it. These credits can best be
served and investigated from some central point than
from any border point of the territory.
The exportation of Cotton to my knowledge has restored normal conditions in two money panics, namely
^ 3 and 1907.
The values already stated, are for the crude product,
we must not lose sight of the fact that a constantly increasing proportion of this product is being manufactured into yarn, cloth and other needs of trade and commerce within the territory suggested by us, for this banking district. The State of North Carolina manufactures
**ee Forty-five




into these products more bales of cotton than grows on
her soil. Georgia manufactures into yarn and cloth onethird of her entire crop.

Financing Factories
The States named in this territory, for which we ask
a Regional Bank, manufacture the following numbers of
bales by States namely:
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama
Mississippi (estimated)
Tennessee
Total

«7&>359
775.»5'
648,13*
299,924
100,000
81,790
2,782,055

When thus manufactured, it is estimated to be worth
25c per pound, equivalent of $125.00 per bale, or giving
a total worth of $347,756,875.
The financing of these mills takes an enormous amount
of credit; the Banks located in this territory have done a
great deal of this; Banks under State Charters handling
vast amounts of it
The necessity of money and credits to finance the crops
of this territory can best be illustrated by dividing the
year on September 1st, when the movement of the main
crop (that is Cotton) commences.
The first demand the City Banks have is from interior
Banks for currency to start the movement of the crops,
that is in the purchase of advance bales, with which to get
money to pay the laborer for gathering of the crop, and
of the cotton seed mill industries for money to buy the
first cotton seed, the value of which product is used in
paying for picking of the cotton; both of these come on
the City Banks about September 1st, and continue until
the first of December, at which time there is a lull, and
then again starts up about December 15th, running
through to January 1st.
The next demand we have for money is from the Cotton Mills and the Cotton Manufacturers, who begin to
make their loans about the middle of October, continuing to the first of January; they want these loans until
April, May and June.

Oil Mills and Fertilizers
When we have supplied the country Banks and the
Oil Mills, then comes the demand from the Fertilizer




Page Forty-"*

Manufacturers, starting in say about the ist of December, continuing to the first o f February; their request is
for accommodation until June and July; we have thus
served these immediate interests. Then, as they begin to
return to us advances made to them, commencing with
the Country Banks paying back their loans in October
and November; the Oil Mills and Cotton Manufacturers
from the middle of January to May and June, gives us
money and credits to re-invest for the benefit of the
Wholesale Trade, which starts in February, continuing
on through the Summer until late in the Fall. Our greatest borrowing period is possibly in the early Spring before we get the returns from the Cotton Oil and Cotton
-Mills and Fertilizer factories when we are called upon
to finance this other line of trade. Then again before
the Wholesale Merchants and country Banks can replace
us with funds loaned to them, comes the demand already
referred to for the movement of crops; therefore our other
borrowing season is largely from August until November.
The crops of the Southeastern territory covered by the
States asked for this Regional Bank, shows an annual production in dollars of 1,114 millions; manufactured products of all kinds in this same territory for the same period
amounts to 1,012 millions.
These figures show amount of crops and manufactures
for the year 1909, and have doubled in ten years,
It will, therefore, be seen that money and credits in
this Southeastern territory is very evenly balanced between the crop movement and that of the manufacturers.
It is also shown that this money is kept in constant use
during the entire period of the year.
The admitting of State Banks to the Reserve Banks,
and the liberalizing of the National Bank Act by Section
*3, of the Federal Reserve Act, will materially aid in the
financing of these various products. From the preponderance of evidence given above and furnished by'the
other speakers, it is shown that a Reserve Bank of sufficient capital would result from your selection of Atlanta,
and we believe that a great number of our larger State
Banks will enter the system as soon as the rules are published, and the location named.
Forty-seven




Foreign Exchange
By A. P. Coles, Vice-President Central Bank & Trust
Corporation.
N recent years quite a number of Banks located in
Cities and towns in the Cotton Belt have added to
their regular banking business a Foreign Exchange
Department for the purpose of purchasing 60 and 90-day
bills of exchange drawn with documents attached against
shipment of Cotton and other products. These bills are
drawn on foreign Banks and bankers for acceptance, but
only purchased by the Banks on commission, or brokerage, for account of Banks and foreign exchange buyers in
New YoTk.
Atlanta is the only City between Baltimore and New
Orleans that purchases these bills and deals direct with
European financial centers in international banking. That
is to say, Atlanta has accounts abroad and daily transactions with Banks in London, Liverpool, Paris, Bremen
and Berlin. This business has developed by reason of the
large volume of bills of exchange drawn against exports
that originate in this territory, and the bills are offered
for sale here for the reason that Atlanta affords quick reimbursement in currency at the time of the heavy movement of the cotton crop when need for cash is imperative.
During the year 1913 the total amount of foreign exchange bought and paid for in Atlanta and remitted direct
to Europe for account and credit of Atlanta was $i9r
444,145.18. Against these credits abroad the Atlanta Bank
reimburses itself in the regular course of business by the
sale of Bankers' Checks and Cable Transfers wherever
the demand for foreign credits is the greatest. In addition to this means of reimbursement, during the year 19*3
the Banks here disposed of credits abroad to the extent
of four and a half million dollars:

I




Page Forty-«te ht

By open letters of credit furnished importers.
SECOND: By Bankers' Acceptances arranged abroad
against delivery of shipping documents for
imported goods.
THIRD:
By sale of checks or cable transfers in pay
ment of importers' bills due abroad.
FOURTH: By credits in Atlanta opened by foreign
Banks for their customers who export
goods through their representatives or
agents.
FIRST:

Imports of Fertilizers
JUST AT THIS TIME credits in Berlin have been arranged to take care of twenty-six vessels already cleared
for the following ports:
Charleston
5
Savannah
9
Pensacola
2
Mobile
2
New Orleans
3
Norfolk
1
Wilmington
2
Brunswick
1
Jacksonville
1
26

THE AMOUNT INVOLVED in the transportation of fertilizer material on these twenty-six vessels amounts to
One and a Half Million Dollars.
ANY EXPORTER in this territory can get reimbursement
in cash for his foreign exchange sold in Atlanta within
thirty hours from the time he mails his bills. Whereas,
sales made in New York cannot bring returns in less than
five days. Therefore, the natural market for foreign exchange should be near the point of origin, as quick returns in cash for bills of exchange facilitates the business
°f the community, eliminates time and interest for the
seller, and is the essence of financial economy. A foreign
exchange market created, for original bills, far removed
from the source is artificial, and has only been maintained
and controlled through the power of concentrated capital.
p

age Forty-nine




SECTION 14 of the Federal Reserve Act relative to
open market operations will be of immense advantage to
all this section if the Reserve Bank is conveniently located,
for the reasons as stated above; and the volume of business
in foreign exchange that a Reserve Bank can do in this
district is practically unlimited, when it is considered that
there was exported from this district out of the cotton
crop for the year 1912-1913, 1,935,000 bales of cotton
(Shepperson's Cotton Facts), against which foreign bills
of exchange were drawn to the amount of $135,000,000.00.
The amount of other products will bring these figures
well above $150,000,000.
DURIXG THE PAST season, that is to say, from September 1st, 1913, to date, foreign bills of exchange have been
sold in Atlanta originating in Georgia, Alabama, South
Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi; and the volume of
this business done in Atlanta was limited, not by price,
but by lack of sufficient capital, which will be entirely
overcome if a Federal Reserve Bank is established here.
T H E NET PROFIT resulting from foreign exchange
transactions originating in this territory, and handled direct from Atlanta, averages $1.20 per thousand, as against
the average normal profit resulting in foreign exchange
transactions in New York of 35 cents per thousand; the
difference being exactly the average cost of transportation
on currency from N e w York to this district.
Export cotton is covered by marine insurance policies
covering the risk at and from the point of purchase in the
interior through the port to the port of destination.
This form of insurance has been recently perfected by
Marine Insurance Companies on account of the demand
for insurance covering shipment on through bills-lading.
Therefore, all marine insurance is ngw perfected in the
interior and not at the ports, as formerly.
There is a difference of cost to the exporter of 65 cents
per thousand in favor of insurance on through shipments
from the interior as against local insurance to the port and
marine insurance from the port to the port of destination.
A FEDERAL RESERVE B A N K located here would find
this particular branch of its business very profitable, bringing in a better net result than that derived from the dis-




Page Fifty

counting of commercial paper at a rate of interest lower
than 4%.
DURING THE CROP moving period when naturally there
will be a heavy demand upon the Reserve Bank for its circulating notes, against which they are required under the
law to carry a 40% gold reserve, their purchase of foreign
exchange will be particularly desirable for the reason that
it will give the Reserve Bank the power to draw gold from
abroad for their increased reserve requirements without
depleting or shifting the gold supply of this country.
A FEDERAL RESERVE BANK located in the center of the
Atlantic and Gulf States cotton district handling foreign
exchange originating in this district would naturally command the respect and consideration of all foreign bankers, more on account of the volume of business it could
offer European bankers than the amount of capital employed in its operation.

Fifty-one




Cotton Seed Products and Commercial Fertilizers
By Mell R. Wilkinson, President Atlanta Chamber of
Commerce and President Ashcraft-JVilkinson Co.
n p H E cotton seed industry is only about thirty-fivt
I years old and the first mention of it in the census
A
is for the year 1886, when it cut a very small figure.
The crush of seed at different periods is given as follows :
TONS OF SEED CRUSHED
i899
190+
1909
19"

2,479,386
3.308,930
3.798.549
4.92I.O73

The increase in the value of products was much more
rapid, owing to the improvement in the process of manufacture and the advance in the market price of the seed
and products:
'899
1904

$58,726.63*
96,407,621
147,867,894

As the seed averages about half a ton to the bale or
cotton, the crush of 4,921,072 tons in 1911 represented the
seed from $9,842,144 bales.
As the cotton crop was 16,250,000 bales, it is clear that
60 per cent of the seed grown that year was manufactured.
The proportion varies with the season and the conditions and price of seed. In 1909 the mills crushed 71 per
cent of the crop.

Cotton Seed Products of This Region
The census abstract does not give the product of this
industry by States, but the cotton bulletin shows that 56




Page Fifty-two

per cent of the crop is grown in the seven States of the
Southeastern Region. Applying that ratio we get these
figures:

Value of Cotton Seed Products 1909
Millions
Cotton States
148
Southeastern Region . . . 83
The census bulletin for Georgia gives the product of
this one State as $23,000,000.
This product is clear gain to these States, for it is so
much added to the crop for seed which were worth less as
fertilizer under the old method than they are after being
fed to animals. The value of the meal is realized when it
is fed to animals and the fertilizer value of the manure is
fully as great as that of the meal before it was fed.
This product is gradually linking a cattle industry to
the cotton crop and is thus incidentally aiding to diversify
farming and enrich the soil. Cotton Oil Manufacturers
have learned this secret and frequently combine cattle
feeding with seed crushing.
Our returns from local manufacturers to the Chamber
of Commerce show a total of $13,607,000 for this County
during the last fiscal year of the companies reporting.
The American Audit Company certifies $11,607,000 and
one return from a large corporation, received after the
compilation, adds $2,000,000.
An important fact in connection with this industry is
that the oil, its chief product, is largely exported and becomes the basis of an immense amount of foreign ex
change.

Commercial Fertilizers
Georgia is the largest consumer of fertilizers among
the States of the Union and the Southeastern Region takes
more than half of the annual consumption of the United
States.
Of 114 millions reported by the census bulletin on
Agriculture as the amount spent by farmers of the United
States for the purchase of fertilizer during the year 1909,
Filty-three




the seven States of the Southeastern Region spent 59 millions, distributed as follows:
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Tennessee
Alabama
Mississippi

$12,262,533
15,162,017
16,860,149
3*609,853
1,216,296
7.630.952
2,703,271

Closely connected with the fertilizer industry is that
of cotton seed products. They are so related that most
concerns combine the two industries, because the same
capital which is used in the cotton seed industry during
the months of October, November and December is released to serve the fertilizer industry during the months
of January, February, March and April.
It is an interesting and important fact that the use of
capital in these industries begins at a time when the great
pressure of cotton upon the financial institutions of the
country has begun to pass off.
This is well illustrated by the fact that the banks of
Atlanta, which now serve the fertilizer companies, would
find it difficult to do so if the demand came before the end
of the cotton season.
When it is remembered that the two industries have
total products amounting in round numbers to 140 millions, or nearly one-third of the cotton crop of this Region,
the sequence of time in this demand for capital is manifest.
Money which has been financing the cotton movement will be released in time to handle the cotton seed oil
products and fertilizers in their season.

International Character of the Trade
One firm in Atlanta imports fertilizer material and at
this time has vessels unloading at Norfolk, Wilmington,
Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Mobile
and New Orleans. All this material is distributed and
shipped from the Ports and the bills of lading with drafts
attached are deposited in the Atlanta Banks for collection.
This company used 36 vessels. By the close of the season
the number of vessels had increased to more than fifty*
in the business this year, 11 of which arrived in January?



Page Fifty-*01*

25 to arrive in February. The volume of business done
by this firm and one other in Atlanta amounts to $5,000,000
annually, through Atlanta Banks, although little of the
material is brought to Atlanta.

Atlanta's Fertilizer Trade
The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce has returns from
the following Fertilizer Companies doing business here:
Armour Fertilizer Works
Porter Fertilizer Works
Chickamauga Fertilizer Works
Swift Fertilizer Works
International Agricultural Corporation
Ashcraft-Wilkinson Company
A. A. Smith Fertilizer Company
Empire Cotton Oil Company.
These firms report a business for 1913 aggregating
$14,867,910.
With $13,027,168 for Cotton Seed Products, the combined business of the two industries is $27,859,078.

Fifty-fiyc




Manufacturers' Agents
By R. S. Wessels, Manager Pittsburgh

Plate Glass Co.

* T * H E R E are 485 Resident Manufacturers' Agents or
I Representatives in Atlanta. Our reports from 150
"*• of these show the following volume of business
handled in the year 1913 for the States indicated:
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennessee
Undivided
Total

$3,181,733.00
4,971,108.00
18,882,677.00
5,600,187.00
6,337,641.00
2,062,589.02
4,446,973.00
6,301,243.00
$51,784,151.00

It is fair to assume that those who have not reported
their volume of business have secured their proportion of
orders and on the above basis the figures would approximate for the whole list a grand total of $167,000,000.00.
Atlanta is generally selected by the most prominent
manufacturers throughout the country as the best point
from which to conduct or handle business in this section
and hence they place their Representatives or Agents here.
There has been an enormous increase yearly in the addition of Manufacturers' Agents. Strong evidence of this
exists in the fact that for a City the size of Atlanta there
is an unusually large number of fine office buildings.
There is now in course of construction and nearing
completion one of the largest and finest office buildings
in the entire South and plans have been drawn and accepted for several more.
Our experience shows that in many cases after the
Manufacturers' Agent has operated here for a time eithei
a stock or factory branch is installed by his principal.
It is a fact that there are many articles of general use
carried in Atlanta which are not distributed from any
other City in the Southeast. Notably among these are




Page Fifty***

certain brands of well-known cereals, one firm alone traveling twenty-four salesmen whose orders are sent to Atlanta and shipped and billed from here. Also certain
makes of adding machines, gentlemen's linen collars; also
polished plate glass and mirrors, dental supplies and large
stocks of various repair and fill-in equipment of one oi
the largest cotton machinery manufacturers in the United
States. Also large stocks of two of the most prominent
electrical companies in this country, whose annual business in this section runs into the millions. Atlanta is also
headquarters for the larger passenger and freight elevator companies whose business for this Region is very extensive. Fifteen of the largest millinery houses in the
United States send their representatives here twice yearly
with samples, and the buyers of this Region come here for
their purchases in this line.
Traveling Agents all over the United States who cover
this section quite generally speak in glowing terms of the
business here and splendid hotel facilities for their accommodation.

Page Fifty-seven




Agricultural Implements in the
Southeast
By Clyde L. King, President Atlanta Agricultural Works.

F

ROM the view point of a manufacturer of Agricultural Implements and being closely in touch with the
development of the farming interests of the Southern
States, Atlanta appeals very strongly to me as the best and
most logical location for any enterprise looking to the general upbuilding of this section. The central location and
already progressive spirit and beneficial influences so unselfishly thrown out by Atlanta bankers and business men
over the entire Southern States marks her in a class by hci;
self in the Southeastern States as an upbuilder of home and
Southern industrial enterprises, and places her advantages
more at the command of all the surrounding territory than
any other Southern City.
There are now manufactured at or sold from Atlanta
annually more than eight million, four hundred ana
eighty-five thousand dollars worth of farming implements
to approximately thirty thousand substantial buyers in
seven Southern States embraced in this Region and
divided as follows:
Annual
Annual
Annual
Annual
Annual
Annual
Annual

sales
sales
sales
sales
sales
sales
sales

to
to
to
to
to
to
to

14645
5200
3050
1750
1400
2200
uoo

buyers
buyers
buyers
buyers
buyers
buyers
buyers

in
in
in
in
in
in
in

Georgia
Alabama
S. Carolina
X. Carolina
Tennessee
Mississippi
Florida

$3,500,000
1,140,000
1,050,000
950,000
720,000
600,000
525,000

Adding to this the sales made over this Region by the
General Southern Agents of Eastern and Western manufacturers whose offices are located here on account of At
lanta's accessability to the whole Region, the total amount
of annual sales will easily reach more than ten million
dollars.




Page Fifty-«iRht

And yet, there are within reach of Atlanta thousands
of acres of undeveloped farming lands awaiting assistance
for development and notwithstanding Atlanta's present
resources and her progressive influence and readiness to
lend assistance, they are quite inadequate to meet the demands upon her.
These undeveloped farming lands are located through
out the entire Southern States from the northern boundary
line of North Carolina to the Eastern boundary line of
Mississippi and to the Gulf of Mexico and yet they arc
within easy reach of Atlanta with her eight systems of
railway operating over fourteen different lines, crossing
each other and connecting with other lines throughout the
South until the lines radiating out of Atlanta cover the
Southern States as a piece of poultry netting, and there is
hardly a town of any size in the South but is reached by
one or more of these lines of railway radiating out of Atlanta, or are in close proximity to them.
Over these fourteen lines of railway there are daily
running out of Atlanta seventy-five passenger trains operated by these eight systems of railway, averaging a train
leaving Atlanta every twenty minutes during every day
and night of the year. The same number of passenger
trains run into Atlanta daily, enabling the residents of any
section of the Southern States to easily reach Atlanta at almost any minute of the day or night; losing very little
time from home, as the fartherest points within this territory means only about a ten-hour journey.
With seventy odd regularly scheduled freight trains
leaving Atlanta daily (not taking into consideration the
numerous extra trains operated during the busy seasons)
and each road loading daily from Atlanta package cars to
almost every point from the Potomac to the Gulf, Atlanta
enjoys the most advantageous facilities for reaching any
point in the Southern States with solid cars or less than car
load shipments in almost express time.
Any enterprise looking to the development of the farming interests of any section is but laying an indestructible
foundation for the upbuilding of that section and the establishment of any such enterprise at such a point, central
of location, easily accessible and with the unselfish determination to utilize its facilities in the best manner for the
greatest good to the largest number, is aiding materially
Page Fifty-nine




in meeting the demand which is steadily growing throughout the Southern States.
The cry of the Southern farming interests for higher
development is growing louder and louder every year;
the efforts of the Southern manufacturers of farming implements and kindred lines is growing greater and greater
every year, but both the farming interests and the manufacturers of improved farm machinery need more encouragement in the general development of their interests, and
such encouragement and assistance distributed from the
central location which Atlanta only affords in this region,
on account of her superior facilities for quickly reaching
every section of the Southern States, will greatly further
the accomplishment of this development.
In other words, gentlemen, it is my honest belief that
the builders of farm tools and agricultural machinery in
the South, cannot build up their businesses and serve the
greatly increasing demand for good goods and good service, unless your Honorable Committee assist our now
broad gauged bankers in their efforts to help us, by the
establishment of a Regional Bank in the City of Atlanta.




Page Si»ty

Manufacturers in the Southeast
^

census figures show the growth of manufacturing in the Southeast:
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennesj.ee

1909
$216,656,000
113,236,000
202,863,000
72,890,000
145,962,000
80,555,000
180,217,000

1899
$85,274,000
53,336,000
94,532,000
34,184,000
72,110,000
33,718,000
92,749,000

$1,012,379,000

$465,903,000

The strength of Atlanta's manufacturing interest is in
its diversity. It has been impossible to obtain complete
lists of all the articles made in Atlanta, but as there are
548 manufacturing establishments, a large proportion
making several articles, it is readily seen there must be
more than 1,000 different articles made here.
It has been the tendency of large plants to locate outside the City Limits in order to escape taxation, and a large
proportion of increase within the last decade does not appear in the Census report on Atlanta's industries for the
reason stated.
The County outside the City shows a product of $9,939,883 for the year 1909.
The liberal policy of the banks to manufacturers has
had a great deal to do with the strength and development
of this industry. The City takes a pride in her industries
and the municipality has encouraged a low assessment for
manufacturing plants in order to minimize their burden.
The great variety of natural resources set forth in the
brief of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce shows the
foundation for the varied manufacturing industries of the
Southeastern Region.
The variety of industries which constitutes Atlanta's
chief strength in manufacturing is also true to a very large
extent of the Southeastern Region as a whole.
p

age Sixty-one




Atlanta's Increase
The increase of manufacturing at Atlanta is shown by
the following figures for the industries within the corporate limits of the City and excluding about $10,000,000 of
products made in the County outside the City:
VALUE OF PRODUCTS
1899
1904
1909

$14,419,000
25,746,000
33,038,000

As new industries tend to locate outside of the City
limits it is necessary to take the County as the unit.
The census shows the manufacturing business for the
Countv to have been as follows:
Capital
Product
Number Establishments
Wage earners
Wagf 8
Total persons engaged
Wages and Salaries




1S99
$19,188,286
20,049,206
441
10,803
3»494»947
12,145
4,464,773

1909
$44,094,782
42,977,883
548
1 5,877
10,203,517
i9»<>9$
13,460,801

Fagc Sixty-two

Fire Insurance
By Milton Dargan, Manager Southern Department
Royal Insurance Co., Ltd., of Liverpool.

A

TLANTA is the only City in the Southeast, and
with the one possible exception of Dallas, Texas,
in the entire South that has been selected by the
Fire Insurance Companies as the center from which their
business is controlled. No other City in the South has
more than one or two controlling offices, and these are for
a limited territory only—a few small General Agencies
handling the State in which they are located, or perhaps
one or two additional States—whereas in Atlanta are located fifteen General Offices, representing thirty-seven
Companies; the number of agencies reporting, and the
premiums and losses reported to them being as follows
for the year 1913, viz:
State
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
California
Missouri

Number of
Agencies
967
223
766
2777
241
543
698
854
157
730
222
799
552
35

9564

Premiums
$1,170,837
288,584
738,653
2,473,389
285,904
873,441
896,228
59M94
172,991
625,628
4*3,57*
1,205,759
567,55*
40,702
15,432
U,622

Losses
$593»?63
436,447
328,473
1,243,035
120,720
311,726
445,498
*98,347
32 7*5
457,349
182,475
5<>5,9O9
3Oi,777
i7»9*S

$10,401,593

$5,179,636

3,387

NOTE: There is more than one Agency in each town
The number of towns reporting to Atlanta is about 3,000.
All these premiums are remitted to Atlanta, and losses
are paid from Atlanta. Atlanta Banks must handle all
these transactions.
In order to avoid exchange charges, these losses arc
now paid largely by New York drafts, thus necessitating
Page Sixty-three




the maintenance of bank accounts in New York as well as
in Atlanta. But if Atlanta be given a Regional Bank, it
would doubtless become a par point, and all these losses
would be paid through Atlanta.
Outside of Atlanta, in the State of Georgia, there are
Local Companies and General Agencies at the following
points:
Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, Macon.
The number of Agencies reporting, and the premiums
and losses reported to these points are as follows:
State
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Undivided Business

Number of
Agencies
164

Premiums
$112,935

Losses
$91,842

150
527

83,133
853,707

37,885
342.203

41
126
166

48,859
77,804
73,526

14,620
42,750
39,653

132
1

49,692
1,742

41,968
5

78
399

111,476
2x1,9x1

72,523
192,3*3

1784

$1,624,785

$875,762

In addition to the above figures, Atlanta local premiums for Companies who have no General Offices in
Georgia amount to $739,697.
These figures are to be added to those above given as
reported to Atlanta, and to other points in Georgia, the
total being $12,766,075.
It may be desirable to give separately the figures for
the Southeastern District suggested, viz:
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, reported to Atlanta and
the other points in Georgia named, and also the figures
from the States not included in the Southeastern District.
These are as follows:
TOTAL SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
Number of
Agencies Premiums
Losses
^
u3i
$1,283,772
$685,705
9x6
821.786
366,358
? :
3304
3,327,096
1,585.238
sssippi
g24
974>O32
48g,24s
North Carolina
1020
671,820
238,000
South Carolina
862
675,320
499,317
Tennessee
223
M«J,3i3
182,480
Statc




8280

$8,169,139

$4,045*346
Page Sixty-four

TERRITORY OUTSIDE SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
State
Arkansas
iventucky
Louisiana
Oklahoma
7* c x a s
Virginia
West Virginia
Missouri
California
,
Undivided business

Number of
Agencies
223
241
584
157
799
630
35

Losses
$43*,447
120,720
326,346
32,7x5
505,909
374.3OO
*7,9i5
3,387

399

Premiums
$288,584
285,904
922,300
172*991
1,205,759
679,034
40,702
34,622
15,432
211,911

3068

$3,857,239

$2,010,052

192,313

In considering the transactions handled through Georgia banks, both premiums collected and losses paid should
be taken into account. The total of these items for Atlanta is $16,320,926 and for the other points in Georgia,
named above, $2,500,547.
NOTE: A grand total of 11,348 Agencies in 3,000
towns reporting $18,821,473 in transactions.
The custom of all Fire Insurance Companies who
operate by Departments, instead of direct from head offices, is to divide the United States into four main districts,
viz: the Eastern, Western, Pacific Coast and Southern.
Headquarters for these districts are located, respectively
at New York (or Hartford), Chicago, San Francisco and
Atlanta. Atlanta is, therefore, fourth in importance as a
Fire Insurance center in the United States. This does
not mean that the local premiums are fourth in volume,
but that premiums reported from territory over which
Atlanta General Offices have jurisdiction place it in that
position—and this is the important feature from the banking standpoint.
Naturally, the headquarters of all subsidiary organizations follow this arrangement. The Southeastern Underwriters Association, handling all questions of rates and
practices, from Virginia to Louisiana, inclusive: the
Southern Adjustment Bureau, having charge of the adjustment of losses South of the Ohio and Potomac and
East of the Mississippi; the Underwriters Salvage Company, handling all salvages from Virginia to Texas and
Oklahoma inclusive; the Cotton Insurance Association,
receiving a million and a quarter in premiums on cotton
exclusively, covering transit risk for railways and owners
and inland marine risks—are all located here.
Page Sixty-five




The figures for the Cotton Insurance Association have
been included in the tables previously given.
Eliminating the Companies who have no Departments,
their business being reported direct to Head Offices, nearly
all of which are located in Eastern Cities, and who, therefore, have no special interest in any bank except in the
East, it can be seen that the others handle the great bulk
of their Southern business through Atlanta Banks. From
a Fire Insurance standpoint, therefore, the establishment
of a Regional Bank at any point other than Atlanta would
be a positive inconvenience in so far as the Southeast is
concerned.
Dallas, Texas, occupies a somewhat similar position
in the Southwest to that of Atlanta in the Southeast, but
its jurisdiction does not extend East of Louisiana, whereas
Atlanta, for many Companies, handles Texas, Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Kentucky and Tennessee in addition to the
Southeastern territory. .

Supplement to Brief on Fire Insurance
By Milton Dargan.
Having heard the questions propounded to several of
the witnesses at the hearing on Friday, in an endeavor,
apparently, to ascertain the proportion which the business
transacted through Atlanta bears to the total business of
certain States, I think it well to give the entire premiums
of each of the States in the South, and the amounts reported to Atlanta, and the percentage which Atlanta business bears to the whole, and that tabulation is shown below :
TERRITORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
«
Mate

^. I a ° a 1 m a
d

™>" ?
&orF* :
Mississippi :
North Carohna
South Carohna
1ennc
*«




Total Premiums
$3,399,876
2,869,714
5,469,336
2,776,784
3,175,274
2,269,485
• 4,337,516

Reported
to Atlanta
$1,170,837
738 653
2473 389
896228
598 294
625,628
413.57*

$24,297,985

$6,916,600

Ratio
344%
257%
45.2%
ill*
18.8%
27.6%
9.5%
28.5%
Page Sixty-six

TERRITORY OUTSIDE SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT
State
Arkansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Texas
Virginia
Grand Total

Total Premium's
$2,638,508
4,996,190
4,322,272
3,488,213
9,622,827
4,133.75*
$29,201,766
$53,499,75*

Reported
to Atlanta
$288,584
285,904
873,441
172,991
1,205,759
567.55$

Ratio
10.9%
$.7%
20.2%
5.0%
12.5%
*3-7%

$3,394»237
$*°,3io»837

ix.6%
19-3%

The premiums for 1913 were secured direct from the
Companies operating through their headquarters in Atlanta. Premiums for all the Companies operating in the
various States are not yet public, and therefore, not available for 1913, but I have used the official 1912 figures for
the total business in each State, and as the volume of premiums for 1913 is practically the same as that of 1912,
there *vould perhaps in no State be a variation of onetenth of 1% in the accuracy of these figures.

Page Sixty-seven




Life Insurance
By Robert J. Guinn, General Agent Xe*v England Mutual Life Insurance Co.
extent of investments made by the people of any
I section in strictly conservative securities may be
•^ safely accepted as a true indication not only of the
development, progress and prosperity of the people; but
it is as well an almost certain index to the magnitude of
the financial transactions, requiring adequate banking
facilities, in all the other varied lines of industry and commerce in that section.
Throughout this nation legal reserve life insurance is
more generally bought by the whole people than any other
conservative asset and thus becomes a true criterion of
general business activities and conditions. Hence the figures covering the transactions in this department of our
national life reflect with almost unvarying accuracy the
relative volume of business in all the other departments
of trade.
This test is sound whether supplied to a municipality,
a State or a larger subdivision of our country.
It is a significant fact worthy of consideration in the
matter now engaging your attention, that the legal reserve
life insurance companies, supervised and directed as they
are by men of profound ability and business foresight,
first plant their agencies in those States and sections (laws
and health conditions being equal) where there are the
surest indications of commercial progress and prosperity.
Assuming the truth of the foregoing premises, the
figures that follow may prove of value to the Board in
wisely determining where best to locate a Regional Bank
in the Southeastern States so that the largest possible benefits may be most conveniently rendered to the people to
be served.




Page Sixty-eight

There are a total of eighty-five different legal reserve
life insurance companies doing business in the States of
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Tennessee. Of these, sixty operate in
Georgia, forty-eight in Alabama, forty-four in North
Carolina, forty-two in Tennessee, forty in South Carolina,
thirty-eight in Mississippi and twenty-seven in Florida..
On January ist, 1913, these companies had in the States
named an aggregate insurance in force of $1,329,812,033
on which $38,205,742 in premiums had been paid for the
current year.
This insurance by States was distributed as follows:
1.
2.
?.
4.
5.
6.
7.

State
Georgia
Tennessee
Alabama
North Carolina
South Carolina
Mississippi
Florida

Insurance in Force
$376,038,397
204,423,455
190,438,143
170,972,820
164,181,206
132,382,552
9*,375»46o

Premiums
$10,512,946
6,553,535
3,547,662
5,172,384
5,283,366
4,199,192
2,936,657

The State of Georgia which leads in volume in this
group of States, is the tenth State in the Union in volume
of legal reserve life insurance carried by its citizens, and
is the ranking State in this department of business South
of the Ohio River, surpassing Texas on the West by $115,000,000 in volume and $2,800,000 in premiums; and Virginia on the East by $160,000,000 in volume and $3,700,000 in premiums paid.
Practically every company that operates in Georgia
has its principal office in the City of Atlanta, and more
than 90% of the premiums paid are cleared through the
Atlanta Banks.
These facts clearly point to Atlanta as the commercial
and financial center of any grouping that may be made of
the Southeastern States.

Page Sixty-nine




Live Stock Trade
By Jacob W. Patterson of the Patterson Commission Co.
horse and mule trade has increased more than
I
100% in the past ten years, notwithstanding the in•*• creasing use of automobile trucks and motorcycles.
The cattle and hog trade has increased more than 100%
in the last three years.
The increase is largely due to the erection of a new
Packing House and a new abbatoir; both of which have
proven very profitable ventures.
The St. Louis Live Stock Reporter, under the head of
Southern cattle, quotes prices and numbers shipped to
that market right from our own territory that will astonish
those who do not make a business of live stock.
Why does this stock go to St. Louis to be marketed?
Why not market it and slaughter it at home where it is
needed for our own consumption?
A few years ago the answer would have been:
ist.
Afraid of the big packers.
2nd. A lack of capital.
The first reason does not exist any longer.
The second in my opinion is the real reason.
When we can sell our cattle at home for the prices
they bring in Western Markets, and thus save freight, the
additional profit saved to the producers will encourage
the cattle industry at home and many thousands of acres
of unused lands will be used profitably for the raising of
cattle. We believe that it has been clearly demonstrated
that cattle can be produced as cheaply in our territory as
any other section of the UNITED STATES.
We saw train loads of cattle shipped out of our territory to OKLAHOMA and other Western States the past
season.
Give us capital to develop the Live Stock and Packing Industry and we will keep these cattle at home where
they are needed for consumption.




Page Seventy

The magnitude of Atlanta's business in horses, mules,
cattle and swine with the Southeastern States is indicated
by the returns of the following dealers to the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce:
Jacob W. Patterson Commission Co.
White Provision Company
Maxwell-Crouch Mule Company of Georgia
Turner Bros.
Jones and Oglesby
Harper & Weathers
Ragsdale Mule and Horse Company
Weil Bros.
A. L. Suttles and Company
Al Carlisle
E. L*. Tatum
T. L. Smith
National Stock Yards Commission Co.
L. P. Jernigan
F. S. Hall
Byron Bettis
Herren Sc Haley
Coggins and Brother
R. Warfield and Company
Harper Bros.
F. M. Stewart.

The total volume of business which these Atlanta firms
did with the Southeastern States during the year 1913
amounted to $16,435,355.17.
This does not include local Slaughter Houses.

Page Seventy-one




ATLANTA'S RAILROAD SERVICE.
The extent of traffic moving through, from and to Atlanta is nhown by the
following statement from official sources:
Passenger Trains
Inbound Daily
Outbound Daily
Total
A. k W. Pt
7
7
*4
6
A. B. k A
3
3
26
C. of Ga
13
'3
6o
Sou. Rwy
30
30
W. k A.
6
6
12
Ga. R. R
6
12
6
S. A. L
7
7
'4
8
L. k N
4
4
X 2
76
76
5
Total Sleepers Inbound and Outbound Daily
228
FREIGHT TRAINS INTO AND OUT OF ATLANTA IN JANUARY, 1914Inbound
Outbound
Through
Local
Through
Local
Ga. R. R
167
54
17*
54
A. & W. Pt
57
54
57
54
L. k N
230
27
196
27
C. of Ga
120
26
136
26
S. A. L
228
85
220
85
W. & A
331
26
324
*6
Sou. Rwy
548
162
582
162
2
A. B. k A
54
25
57
5

Total
1,735
Grand Total for January, 1914

Cars Loaded
Cars Empty

459

i»743

FREIGHT CARS MOVED IN JANUARY.
Inbound
Outbound
45,346
26,177
21,742
22,793

Total Cars

67,088

48,970

459
4t396
Total

*I4»»7O3

*S. A. L. cars only given in total.
Cars
S. A. L
W. k A
A. B. k A
Georgia
)
L. k N. and >
A.&W.P. )
C of Ga
Sou. Rwy.

PACKAGE CARS FROM ATLANTA DAILY.
Atlanta Proper
Through Cars
18
n
29
23
i4
,3
52
26
96

u
35

26
95

Total Car*
27
52
27
87
52
191

TotaI

235
201
436
COTTON MOVEMENT OF ATLANTA.
From September 1st, 1913, to January 31st, 1914, inclusive.
Stock on Hand September 1st
\
166 bale*
Received by rail
\.........
'
249,338 "

Taken by Local Spinners
Shi ments
"




16,942
Page Seventy-two