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LITTLE ROCK BRANCH
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF ST. LOUIS

★ ★ ★




V

LITTLE ROCK BRANCH
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF ST. LOUIS

T H E PR ESID EN T of a very prominent State
member bank wrote a letter to the chief execu­
tive officer of an equally prominent nonmember
institution, which reads in part as follows:
“Our experience with the Federal Reserve has
been eminently satisfactory. Their examinations
have been most helpful, their attitude most co­
operative and courteous, and the general informa­
tion which we obtain from them is reliable, ac­
cessible and promptly supplied.
“ But I want to tell you the one specific rea­
son why I cannot understand why any one would
stay out of the System. Very briefly, it is this:
In time of need this is a responsible, cooperative,
semi-public body, charged with and conscious of
a duty to be helpful in time of such need.
“ The Federal Reserve System to me is a bene­
fit that is parallel to the FDIC. I never want to
be without either of them.”
The total membership of the Federal Reserve Bank
of St. Louis is 395. The deposits in these member
banks aggregate approximately $1,581,000,000, and
amount to about two-thirds of the deposits of all
banks in the Eighth District. In the past year, nine
State Banks have joined the System in this District.
ALL M E M B E R B A N K S OF TH E FE D E R A L R E S E R V E
S Y S T E M M A Y U SE T H IS E M B LEM




A C H IE V E M E N T S of the SY STE M have been
succinctly stated in the following paragraph:
“ The Federal Reserve System has become an
integral part of American business and finance.
Through the Interdistrict Settlement Fund it has
made possible the more efficient, less costly, and
speedier handling by member banks of check col­
lections and transfers of funds. It has provided
an elastic and adequate supply of currency, a con­
centration of bank reserves for greater useful­
ness, and an efficient fiscal agency for the Treas­
ury. The ability of member banks to borrow on
business paper which provides a ready market
for the loans of customers, large and small, has
tended to equalize the credit supply in all parts
of the country, to eliminate seasonal credit strain,
and give greater assurance that member banks
can supply the credit requirements of their com­
munities. Machinery has been set up to provide
a national credit policy administered in the public
interest and to insure unified action by the bank­
ing system in carrying out this policy.”

THE System: “ The Federal Reserve Act instituted
a great and vital banking system not simply to aid the
banking community alone, but to give vision, scope and
security to commerce and amplify the opportunities as
well as to increase the capabilities of our industrial
life.”— Quotation.
THE District: The Eighth Federal Reserve District
is served by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and
its branches in Little Rock, Louisville, and Memphis.
It comprises all of Arkansas, all of Missouri except the
western tier of counties, the southern portions of Illi­
nois and Indiana, the western parts of Kentucky and
Tennessee, and the northern half of Mississippi.




AD V AN T AG ES OF
M EM BER SH IP
1.

Facilities for rediscounting paper and ob­
taining advances on promissory notes.

2.

Obtain currency and coin promptly when
needed.

3.

Direct use of Federal Reserve check collec­
tion facilities. Approximately 82 per cent
of all banks in the United States are on the
par list.

4.

Direct use of Federal Reserve non-cash col­
lection service.

5.

Transferring funds by telegraph.

6.

Drawing drafts on Federal Reserve Banks.

7.

Safekeeping of securities by the Federal
Reserve Bank for member banks.

8.

Buy and sell Government securities through
the Federal Reserve Bank.

9.

Receive agricultural, industrial, commercial
and financial information.

10.

Benefit by the prestige and satisfaction af­
forded. State Bank members are indicated
in the bank directories by a diamond-shaped
symbol or otherwise, and their names and
locations appear in the Federal Reserve Par
List. Many National and State Bank mem­
bers have greatly benefited by displaying
the membership design and advertising the
advantages it represents. Besides helping
to attract new customers, membership is a
source of satisfaction to the old ones, as
well as to the stockholders, directors and
officers.