The Sunday Oregonian., February 09, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 9, Image 51

THE SUNDAY OKEGOMAX, rORTLAXD, FEBRUARY 9, I!)08.
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BACK TO
WHAT a wealth of romance, wild
freedom and childhood remin
Tscence is suggested in the
very phrase. To the dweller in the
city's walled canyons, with its murky
atmosphere, the maddening trolley
car, the stuffy flat,, the grueling rou
tine and humiliating dependence upon
the good will of the boss, comes the
pleasing dream of broad, green
spaces, sweet ozone and the freedom
and Independence of God's out-of-doors.
Few are there who have
known the time- when
"The grass was sweet to the brown
bare feet
That dimpled the laughing heather."
Who do not feel at times that they
would be glad to end their life of city
drudgery and get back to 'their child
hood home In the country. Few are
there, who have known the glad free
dom of the farm, as a child, who do
not feel at times that they would'
gladly give up the salary check and
the gayety of the city, the opera and
the midnight booze supper, to get
back once more with Nature and be
free from the fetters of formality and
dependence upon his fellow man.
This picture of bosky dells and
the freedom of out-of-doors is a mi
rage which hovers around the pigeon
holes of many a city desk. It is a
dream, which many a figure fighter
and pencil pusher nurses to the detri
ment of his peace of mind.
To those who are bfight ing their
young lives and impairing the effici
ency of their city toil, with these
dreams and hallucinations of the free
dom and independence of getting
back to nature, I wish to advertise the
fact that there are probably several
hundred thousand farmers, dwellers
in bosky dells and broad expanses of
freedom, scattered around this coun
try, who would break their necks for
a chance- to trade places with them.
It is one of the peculiarities of nature
for the man whose daily experience
with the green things of the country
Is limited to lifting a sprig of parsley
off a 15-cent steak at the lunch hour,
to pine to get back to nature, while
the bucolic son of nature, whose
knowledge of the city has been
Cleaned from the weekly paper,
would consider his life's ambition sat
isfied if he could hang out on the
2Qth story of a skyscraper and ride
up and down on the elevator.
' What a deplorable lack of percep
tion was shown by our forefathers in
the settling of the world, that they
didn't build the cities out on the
farms and have the farms laid out in
the cities.' How unfortunate it la that
I wasn't born about three centuries
earlier, so they could have had the
advantage of my wise counsel in this
respect. What a lot of suffering and
untold misery it would have saved.
Yet what pleasure it gives us, when
chained to a desk in the city's con
fines, to watch when the boss isn't
looking and stick our pen behind our
Success of First
BY HERBERT COPELAND.
That there should be occasion for a
bank open 24 hours In the day for six
days in the week, seems at first thought
very doubtful, but New York has, during
the last year, proved that there is such a
need, and The Night and Day Bank (not
Day and Night, as seems the more natural
sequence of words) Is a distinct succetA
in every sense of tho word', for though
only a little over a year old, it already
lias over 2700 depositors and over J,000,
0"0 In deposits.
, The idea, of continuously bunking Is
not exactly new. and the Beheme has
been broached from time to time in
various other cities, but it was for New
York to experiment on a large scale, and
It is In New York that success has been
achieved, and in an extraordinarily short,
time after the opening. It is almost
equally sure that no other city in this
country, or anywhere, for that matter,
could support a bank of this sort, or find
any real occasion for it both on account
of the enormous business of all sorts in
New York, and' on account of its being
the clearing-house of the country not
only for money but for travellers, hotels,
theaters and pleasures of all sorts, and
on account of its seaboard location and
bring practically the exit and entrance of
the Western continent.
location and Building.
The Night and Day Bank building is at
the corner of Fifth avenue and Forty
fourth street, a location chosen with much
care, and finally decided upon because
it Is central to all the varied interests to
which the hank makes a peculiar appeal
theaters, hotels, restaurants, the shopping
district, and" is close to the Grand Cen
tral Station with its hundred thousand
daily commuters, and will also be near
the new Pennsylvania terminal when that
building Is opened. The land, at the time
of its purchase in 1905, brought the record
price outside of the Wall-street district,
and the 11-story building of white marble
is a perfect example of the highest class
of moirn office-building. Its exterior is
almost severely plain, though the en
trance is marked by two unusually beau
tiful Doric columns.
The bank occupies the ground floor and
the basement, and the upper floors are
let to various uptown branches of down
town establishments. Including "diamond
merchants from Maiden Lane." What a
rasclnatlon there is in these words! They
sound so little sordid, so Eastern and
so old' English, and the tales they tell
at the bank of the transfer of fabulously
priceful gems in a little room oft the safe
deposit vaults, set apart for this pur
pose, lighted by prisms in the sidewalk
under the feet of the unthinking passer,
make the eyes glitter and the mind re
turn to Aladdin's cave. Not long since
here was sold one of the world diamonds
under the tread of $3-shoes. In a street
which was not. 50 years ago. .
Romantic! Yes, but is It not pleasant
to find romance in modern business? In
deed, while their bank is, of course, run
on thoroughly business principles and Is
a thoroughly business success, there is
something about it, the very name, which
somehow appeals to the other side, too;
and makes both the building and the sys
tem more than generally interesting to
the ordinary person who is not a banker.
Those Stupendous Doors.
The main floor of the bank is. of course,
much like that of all modern banks.
NATURE
pink, little shell-like ear and hark
back through the misty aisles of
change to the times when, as a bare
foot boy we loitered around the "old
swimmln' hole" watching for an op
portunity to tie a million Gordian
knots in the lingerie which lined the
bank. Ah, those were the happy
days! "We didn't think so at the time;
wheni we thought the happy days
were somewhere beyond the- hills
with the trolley car, the fat police
man and the political graft. Now,
too late, we see our mistakes, and we
long to break the fetters which bind
us body and soul to the strife and
turmoil of city life and go back to the
glad, free existence which we lived as
a child, and which is now to us but a
dream, a ghost of a dead past.
But don't do it. Don't resurrect the
ghost. Don't bust the dream. Keep
that vision of your happy days as a
child of nature to cheer your weary
hours of toil and act as a counter-irritant
for the. cruel stings of the city's
busy hive, and don't spoil a sweet
dream by yelling in your own ear and
waking yourself up. There is a thousand-fold
more happiness in a sweet
dream than vin a horrible reality, so
don't go back to nature looking for
eternal peace and freedom. Keep
your fetters and your little dream,
and let the dead past remain burled.
Better pleasant dreams than mourn
ing and wailing in freedom. All ye
who long to break the fetters which
bind you to the city's strife and go
back over the hills to live over your
happy childhood existence with na
ture, take my tip and DON'T.
J, had this dream, and I nursed it
and fostered it till it grew and got so
strong that I couldn't hold it. Like
the impulsive child that I am, I
kicked off my fetters, packed up my
pink underwear and fur-lined collar
buttons, and beat It back to nature.
"Back to my old home haunts again.
Back to my old patched coat,
Back to my rod and the breath of
God
Home, and by leaky boat."
Yes, "back to my old haunts again."
Back to the farm where the mud had
once squashed between my little pink
toes as I chased pollywogs in the old
millpond, and which I had been see
ing in my day dreams ever since, and
had come to regard as a perfect ar
cadia of peaceful content and glad
freedom. And I .was going to have a
real gladsome time and be a boy.
again, even to chasing pollywogs and
letting the mud squash between my
toes, which aren't quite So pink as in
the days of yore. I had purchased a
little patch of freedom back home,
and I had thrown off the shackles of
city drudgery forever. I was through
with all that humiliating dependence
upon my fellow man, and I was going
to spend the rest of my days in the
glad life of freedom and independence
which I had always seen pictured in
Experiment in
though remarkably light and cheerful,
owing to its white finish. But when you
descend to the vault there Is a somewhat
unusual feeling. The main hall from
which the vault, the coupon rooms, the
women's rooms lead is peculiarly beau
tiful, finished in white unpolished Ala
bama marble. Perfect examples of Doric
fluted columns with a fine simple en
tablature surround the hall, with colored
mosaic panels, representing the hours,
between them heroic half-draped statues,
of the same marble, representing Night
(a woman), and Day (a. man) guard the
stairway; and green bronze lamps, of
Greek design, hang from the celling. The
whole effect is peculiarly beautiful, and
satisl'yingly massive without being op
pressive. The huge door leading to the
safe deposit vault is a marvel of modern
mechanism, with its steel bars and bolts,
wheels and cogs, and the four time locks,
all visible to the "awed" beholder through
a vast sheet of plate glass. And the awe
is increased when you are told that this
door, so easily moved, weighs 17 tons, and
its frame- 20 tons, that the vault is not
only burglar, fire and waterproof, but
air proof as well.
It was something of a shock to the
New England conscience to find a du
plicate of this door leading, from the
other side of the vault into the coupon
room that conscience could not find ex
cuse for the extravagance of two when
one would seem to answer the purpose
of safety. But New York is not New
England, and two are impressive. The
drawers in the vault are finished in
burnished copper, and have elaborate
locks of the new sort of combination
that safeguards the loss of keys and
transfer of boxes. The coupon room,
and the special room for women, are at
tractive in all respects, and, of course,
have all the most modern conveniences.
But to the working of the bank, there is
a temptation to linger on these superfi
cial attractions. .
Three Shifts a Day.
It was because conditions seemed to
demand a medium of exchange for the
immense volume of business done In New
York after the usual banking hour that
the Night and Day Bank was planned.
Tradition and the business habits of
years had to be overcome, as well as the
problems of arranging practically three
banks in one. that uninterrupted service
might be had. This service is arranged
as follows,, and has proved thoroughly
satisfactory. There are three complete
forces, each working eight hours. Each
shift is in charge of an assistant cashier.
This officer, in such hours as are not
covered by the president and cashier, is
the acting head of the institution.
The day starts at 4 o'clock in the after
noon, as far as the bookkeeping of the
bank is concerned. At that hour receiv
ing teller No. 1 takes charge In the. re
ceiving cage, and paying teller No. 1 in
the paying cage, remaining on duty until
midnight. On this shift an assistant
teller Is necessary in the receiving cage,
to take care ofthe deposits that are of
fered. The second shift takes charge at
midnight and runs the bank until 8
o'clock in the morning.
From 8 A. M. until 4 P. M. the tellers
are known as receiving teller No. 3 and
paying teller No. 3. On Jhis tour the
extra help is required In the paying cage.
Teller No. 3, at 4 o'clock, makes up
the day's proof, including the figures
carried over from teller No. 1 and teller
No. 2, each of whom has been required
the dreams of my happy childhood
days on the farm.
Oh, if I had only kept that dream.
If I had only not spoiled the whole
pleasing panorama of my vision by
trying to grasp the good things which
my dream fairly . was spreading before
my eyes, then I would have at least
continued to enjoy the pleasing hallu
cination. Now I am back in the fet
ters, chained to the city desk, with my
dream busted. No visions of a happy
bucolic existence in a broad expanse
of freedom, no spells, of longing to
get back to nature. True, I am now
more reconciled to the shackles, but
(br-RR-R-wan.) was m )
THAT STEAM-HEATED J
what a loss it is to have the dream of
one's happy childhood days shatter-d
and the horrible reality of it all star
ing him In the face. Keep your
dreams, fellows, and glory in them",
because they're not there. Not by a
long shot.
I kicked up my heels like a spav
ined streetcar horse turned out to
pasture, and trilled a merry little
roundelay of babbling brooks and
shady nooks, as I trudged happily up
the lane to my little Arcadia. And
how joyous it all was just to get out
of doors and breathe the pure, sweet
Night Banking
tc prove his own work. There also is
included the report from the teller of
the women's department, which is run
, with a distinct force In rooms of its
own, between the hours of ft A. M. and
6 P. M. Each paying teller has his own
cashbox and is held responsible for its
contents.
As far as the business of tho Dublic
with the bank is concerned, there is no
departure from the calendar dates. A
check which is dated September 30 is
payable any time after the midnight,
which marks the beginning of the calen
dar day, and not one minute before. An
obligation which is due on September 30
and not paid on that date is protested
in usual course, as it would be at any
other bank. Sunday is observed by clos
ing tho bank at midnight of Saturday
and opening at Sunday midnight. Legal
holidays are kept in the same manner.
The changing of shifts is so easily done
as scarcely to attract the attention of
the ordinary observant .customer. The
man who comes in at one minute to 4
o'clock transacts the business with teller
No. 3 at one window; and the man who
comes in at one minute past 4 simply
steps to the next window, behind which
teller No. 1 Is standing, at the beginning
of his day. Teller No. 3 has closed his
window and is at liberty to take as
much time as is necessary to make his
proof undisturbed.
The rooms provided for the exclusive
use of women are only open from 9 In
the morning to 6 at night, the natural
and convenient hours for household and
shopping purposes. But should any emer
gency arise in which a woman mav wish
to deposit or draw, this is provided for
by a duplicate set of signature cards
kept in the main banking room, so all
she has" to do is to apply there, as at any
bank.
Depositing Jewels After Opera.
Speaking of the women's part In this
bank (surely the catetlng to women
shows "canniness") there Is a rather in
teresting and amusing tale a true one.
When the bank was first opened there
was naturally much curiosity about its
purpose and plans, and more or less
newspaper talking. It was rather idly
given out, among other things, that
women who kept their jewels in the
safe deposit vaults should stop at the
bank on the way to the opera, put them
on there, go to the opera, return to the
bank, and deposit them. This had never
been done, and it was thought rather
unlikely it would be. But lo and be
hold! the "power of the press," and sug
gestion, immediately after the tale ap
peared in the papers, women did show
up and do this and have continued to
do so, to a certain extent.
One thinks of New York as a city of
spenders in the afternoon and evening,
rather than of 6avers; but it also saves,
for the Night Bank has found that many
times as much money is deposited with
it during these hours as Is drawn out.
Among these depositors are theaters, ho
tels and restaurants in great numbers.
It Is estimated that over $500,000 passes
nightly, in cash over the hotel and res
taurant counters of New York, and $100,
000 and more through the theater box
office windows. It has been found that
most of these places like to get then
cash "out of the way" for the night, and
for this the Night Bank has been found
most convenient. Also the big depart
ment stores show a larger per cent of
sales in the afternoon, and many of
fragrance of the atmosphere, ami to
go to bed at night to sweet dreams,
free from all disturoSng. thoughts of
the boss' displeasure, and flurries in
the money market. Yes, how joyous
it all was for a few short weeks.
A few weeks of unalloyed happiness
and dreams of eternal freedom, and
then I slowly opened my eyes to the
horrible reality of it all, and the
naked truth stood before me in all Its
ugliness. I had been chasing a
dream, a mirage of the city streets.
How pleasant was the vision of my
dreams, and what a jolt was the
awakening. What a terrible thing it
is to have your dreams and your
ideals smashed into smithereens.
What an awful shock to have - that
fiendish little infernal machine known
as the alarm clock explode with a
bang and pour 16 gallons of melody
into your ears, and yank your warm
feet out onto the cold, bare floor of
reality, just at the pyschologlcal mo
ment when you are about to grasp"
the treasures of your dreams. That
Is the position I was In.
When I got down to business out in
that little Arcadia of mine, when the
frolic was over and the real life be
gan, the life that was going to bring
me freedom and Independence and
healthful enjoyment, and all that rot
which they load onto the farm in lit
erature, it was then that I awoke , to
the fact that the routine of the city
has the routine of the farm backed
clear off the boards, for joyous mo
ments and, contentful ease; The
murky and ' much abused city is . a
haven of delight and a' house of mirth
compared with that morgue out
among the bosky dells and broad ex
panse of freedom, concerning which
the poet has exceeded the speed limit,
in the abuse of his poetic license.
Sticking your little pink toes onto
the told oile'loth at 4 A.- M. of a De
cember day, when It is cold enough to
freeze the lightning rod off the barn,
and "trying to rustle up a fire In the
kitchen stove with a bunch of green
wood, some fireproof matches and a
liberal supply of combustible profan
ity, was a little detail that hadn't en
tered Into the vision of my dreams at
all. The poet of rural pastorals like
wise skips this little detail of bucolic
existence. Literature records not the
true sentiments of the scene. An
thony Comstock wouldn't permit it. I
was wishing to thunder I had a poetic
license, too, so I could skip It or color
It up to look pleasing like the poets
do. I tried to laugh and imagine I
enjoyed It, but It was a hollow mock
ery. It didn't take me long to decide
that a steam-heated flat and a gas
range arid hugging the covers till 8
o'clock had this before-dawn fire
rustling business faded forty ways for
comfort and glad living.
I had dreamed, oh, how I had
dreamed and painted mental pictures
of the Joyous and gladsome time
when I would take the milk pails and
trip lightly through the sweet-smelling
clover to the barnyard to milk
the cows, while I sang a little ditty
from the very joy of living. That
joyous little ditty died an untimely
death after a few faint gasps at an at
tempted existence, and in its place I
them make use of the continuous bank
for their deposits. Of even more impor
tance is this safe late depositing place
for small tradesmen and the like, who
have seldom proper facilities for protect
ing their money, over night. To these a
night bank which will handle small ac
counts is of Inestimable advantage.
Collecting With Automobile Safes.
, In collecting their cash the bank makes
use of automobile safes a rather Inter
esting sight as they chug about the
streets till 1 o'clock in i the morning.
These meet the trouble ths all banks
have In collecting large amounts, at
great risks, by hand of messenger. The
cars are built on a special design,
equipped with a fireproof and explosive
proof safe, fastened to the chassis. Two
men, a chauffeur and a messenger, go
with the car. When the messenger is out
of his cage, the car is "dead," and can
not be started by the chauffeur until the
messenger returns to his place.
The bank's customer locks up his de
posit In an individual safe deposit box
(provided for him by the bank) and the
messenger drops it into the safe through
a shutter opening. He can drop the box
In, but he can get nothing out of the
safe until it is unlocked by a combi
nation, the mechanism of which is de
tachable and is kept at the bank.
The deposits of restaurants, theaters
and the various chains of stores operated
by concerns that carry their accounts in
the Night and Day Bank are taken up
in this way and the car is also used for
sending out payrolls as called for, by de
positors. It was a pleasant and rather awe-inspiring
sight to one who never handled
money to watch these things drive up
and unload; then go. Into the bank
and see them opened; making-guesses as
to what each little leather-covered tin
box would produce. One or two of them
that I saw certainly produced "wads,"
some only a small package, and much
silver.
Another field iri which a bank that Is
open "after hours" fills a recognized
want is In providing means for prompt
remittance by cable. The same sort of
thing applies to telegraphic communica
tion with the West of our own country.
In ordinary procedure, if the need to
transmit funds arises after 3 o'clock in
the afternoon, there is no means of ef
fecting the transfer until 10 o'clock the
following day; which means receipt of
the cabled draft in London, or on the
Continent, after 3 o'clock in the after
noon, owing to the difference In time.
Then there is the necessary wait until 10
o'clock on the morning of the second day
before the funds can be, drawn at the for
eign bank. The depositor at the Night
and Day Bank can have his remittance
cabled at once, so that it will be in hand
on the opening of banks abroad at 10 A.
M the first day a saving of full 24
hour.
In the ordinary day banks when a large
number of checks are deposited towards
closing hour, a great amount of overtime
work is demanded of the clerks, and fre
quently large depositors are requested to
come earlier or the deposits will not be
accepted except for the next day. Now a
bank which is running continuously witfi
three sets of clerks can take such depos
its at- any time and arrange them for col
lection, sending the out-of-town items by
the earliest available mail, and clearing
the local checks naxt morning. This fre
quently means the saving of one day's
interest on a considerable sura, 300 days
in every year. On an account averaging
$5000 a day deposits, the saving in a year
would represent Interest on $1,500,000 fo
one day.
This instance of the conveyance of the
night system was. told me: A railroad deal
introduced a monologue in my own
original conception of the needed Im
provements to the profane language.
It seemed to fit in better with the
stage setting' and be more effective
with the audience. It was also more
in keeping with the state of mind of
the performer. So at each and every
appearance In the character of the
LITTLE-ROIIANCl-
connected-"with-
.mGTOIMJ-IM-KN0T-ON-THE-P0RT-
DM-COW-
milkmaid, two performances daily. I
introduced this little monologue in
advanced profanity. They were fe
male cows, too, yet they never missed
a performance. Sometimes, I- con
fess, it causes a blush of shame to
steal over my velvety cheek when I
think of the flood of profanity I have
poured at the opposite sex.
The cows of my dreams were pic
turesque and romantic creatures, the
cows of Van Marcke's paintings and
Eugene Field's poems, and milking
them at dewy morn and tranquil eve
formed one of the most attractive
features in my picture of this glad
of some importance was being talked over
at dinner in one of the hotels and the
terms agreed upon toward the small hours.
The party came to the bank, had their
checks drawn and certified, and tne papers
properly acknowledged before a notary in
the bank, and were soon on their several
ways; whereas, without this convenience
they would have had to wait till after
banking hours the next day, and possibly
lost much valuable time.
Another man, a stranger in New York,
had, on account of sickness, to hire a
special train at midnight. He was in a
quandary, as he had no friends in town,
and hotels and the like were shy of cashing
his check'. He heard of this bank. came,
proved himself "good." got his money and
bought his special train on time. The same
sort of thing has happened with getting
money for an early-sailing steamer. Of
course these emergencies are not fre
quent, but when they do, come up they
are very important.
A "Jollier" There, Too.
The bank is making an effort which is
meeting with much favor, to bring back
the personal side of banking, so to speak
the friendly, "old-fashioned" relation be
tween the banker and client. There is at
all times present an officer who is for
the time the actual executive, who is
willing and glad to "talk over" things
with the customer and discuss any mat
ter of investment the management .be
lieving that there is much to be gained
on both sides by the individual relation,
not purely that of corporation with cor
porationand certainly this atmosphere
of personality was very evident and
agreeable, even to a casual visitor there
was not the so frequent in many busi
ness places atmosphere of "being over
and done with It" as soon as possible.
A Messenger Boy's Embarrassment.
One of the men told me, among other
Interesting "things doing" here the night
before the Knickerbocker crash (there was
a lot going on here that night), an amus
ing tale of the difficulties of changing
large bills. A man came In and wanted to
get his cash from the Knickerbocker,
and as the regular bank messengers were
out he was willing to risk (his own risk.
Of course) a regular messenger boy. It's
an old story, but a good one. The boy
went, and started back with the money,
which was In 13 $500 bills. He met an
other boy and boasted. He was tempted,
he fell. They started for a spree. He
nobly flashed a $500 bui at a pool place.
They would not change it. Every other
place they could think of was tried with
the same result. No one wouldchange it.
They got angry. They spent all their
own money. They ran out into the coun
try with the same result they simply
could not get rid of a bill. At last they
were found nearly, dead with hunger and
anxiety; and eventually they came back
and confessed; and, cruel world! were
"sent off." A real Instance of Mark
Twain's million-dollar note.
Another man came in one night in the
midst of "showing some friends the town"
and wanted to deposit his surplus funds,
if they would take a small deposit. He
put a bill down, half concealed, but show
ing "the yellow." There was a talk, etc.,
he lifted his hand and It was a $10,000 bill.
Even "vulgar money" has its piquancies.
The night I was.there I looked around for
some of those things, but It was not my
fortune, to see any of 'em Just a few peo
ple came in and out, and the automobiles
drove up and deposited, and I had time to
gossip. Just as I had had In the morning.'
The natural question Is, will there be
other night banks. Hardly yet awhile, but
there is talk of an all-night department
store. If that (and there is more or less
In the idea), what may not come? The en
tire city may run like this bank, in three
"shifts" at least two! "What a thought!
But Boston need not worry yet.
life of freedom. Now I would walk
ten miles just to get a shot at a cow.
This dewy morn and tranquil eve
business is. a creation of the littera--teur
and the poet, and there is
plagued little romance connected
with tying yourself in a knot on the
port side of a cow, while the gloam
ing gloams or the gray dawn is try-
ing to break its back over the horizon,
and ducking uppercuts from the hind
hoofs while you get a face massage
from the switching tail. The soggy
barnyard in the drizzly dawn is apt to
prove an uncomfortable surprise to
the man drilled to a steam-heated of
fice and a rolltop desk.
And after all, tripping through the
dewy grass of the sweet-scented Sum
mer and the beautiful snow of lordly
Winter, which has a picturesqueness
of its own In literature and song. Is a
mighty uncomfortable method of get
ting to work compared with the com
fortable and unromantlc trolley-car.
Regulation of Corporations
BY W. H. ODELL.
TO A LAYMAN in finances it seems
evident that some legislation is
much needed for the government
of the great corporations. The progress
of events has revealed the necessity for
safeguarding along the lines of unlawful
practices and "wildcat" speculations.
Honest dealings and conservative man
agement are demanded for the protec
tion of commercial interests and the up
building of great business enterprises.
The old saw, "Corporations have no
bodies to be kicked and no souls to be
damned," does for slang, but in the busi
ness world accountability is demanded
for protection against unlawful prac
tices and in behalf of a confiding con
stituency. An act to prevent unlawful
practices, to be deterrent, must have a
personal application. There is no good
reason why the officers or management
of a corporation should be more favored
than a private citizen or company. Mr.
Smith or the Jones Company, entering
into some business enterprise, succeeds
only a3 he or they are able to establish
confidence in their integrity and business
acumen within the range of their activi
ties, and in law they each and all are
personally responsible for unlawful prac
tices and also for all financial liabilities,
their liabilities are not limited to the
capital invested in the enterprise, but is
only limited by their ability to pay.
Therefore it follows that tho officers
of a great corporation srould be held in
law upon the same footing that a pri
vate citizen or company is held; this
liability for misdemeanors or Infraction
of the law, however, should be limited
to the personnel of the management. The
stockholders in a great corporation have
no voice in the management of the en
terprise save In a remote and somewhat
indirect method of electing the directors,
hence should not be held responsible in
any sense for unlawful practices, and not
beyond the par value of their holdings
for financial losses, but the directors or
officers who are responsible for the man
agement should have no exemptions in
law not granted to a private citizen en
gaged in business. They each and joint
ly, according to the measure of their
responsibility, should be held personally
for all infringements of law punishable
by fine or Imprisonment, and the fines
should be limited to their personal hold
ings and not taxable to the property of
the stockholders.. The recent fine im
posed by Judge Landis upon the Stand-"
ard Oil Company, of over $29,000,000, while
Justifiable under the law, yet It was con
fiscatory of the property of the innocent
stockholders, the effect of which Is to
shake the confidence of shareholders in
corporation stocks, resulting in a great
shrinkage In values and direct crippling
of business enterprises.
Confidence In the management is an
important element of value In all com
mercial enterprises; It must dominate
stockholders and dealers In the products
handled. This is evidenced by the prom
nent array in suitable display heads of
the names of the promoters, in the many
advertising devices employed to secure
patronage. And It is from confidence
thus inspired that Investments are made.
It is therefore of the utmost importance
that that confidence should not be be
trayed; to this end safeguards are
needed.
This is especially true In all banking
institutions where individual deposits
are sought and , made, not for
And after the novelty has worn o
there arc times, oh, so many times,
when the wide expanses of freedom,
the bosky dells and the sweet-scented
clover meadows of our dreams would
be much more attractive if they were
populated with a little company capa
ble of conversation and fellowship.
Toiling in the new-mown hay, which
was so attractive in our dreams and
concerning which the poet has gone
into ecstasies of delight, soon loses its
romantic and picturesque aspect when
viewed from the business end of a
pitchfork. The best place to toil with
the new-mown hay is in the monthly
magazines. Pitching hay will tangle
up your spinal vertebrae in a way
that makes pencil-pushing and figure-fighting
seem like a pleasant pas
time. Tilling the stony and much-rooted
soil with a contrary plow and a spav
ined old plug horse, harvesting and
threshing the ripened grain, and lam
basting the eternal daylights out of a
bunch of mongrel stock, are little de
tails of farm life better appreciated in
the abstract.
And in the Winter, that beautiful
season when we saw in our dreams
only the picturesque snow sculpture
beautifying nature around our littlo
home of freedom, and dreaiv.ed of a
life of peaceful content and ease with
the season's work finished, how you
will long for the bright lights and
gayety of dear -Id Broadway, to hear
the clatter and bang of the maligned
trolley-car, to have the boss around
giving you, orders and the office- boy
to swear at, anything to break the
spell and put a crimp in this monot
onous freedom which you came back
to nature to seek. That beautiful
piece of snow sculpture in the
meadow yonder, about which a poet
would rave and an artist would throw
a conniption tit, you would gladly ex
change for the ugliest old lamp-post
that ever disfigured a city street. And
how happy you would be to wake up
some morning and hear, instead of
that feathered barnyard chorus, of
which you had so fondly dreamed, the
rasping voice of the newsies calling
the morning papers. I honestly be
lieve that If a city policeman had
wanderdd up that lane leading t my
little Arcadia I would have assassin
ated him and embalmed his body just
to keep to feast my eyes on.
No, keep your freedom and Inde
pendence of country life, your bosky
dells and picturesque surroundings. I
am on to it now. The iron heel of
the boss and the dull routine of the"
city for mine. That old millpond of
our childhood memories and the
poet's fancy Is, after all, but a stag
nant pool and a boggy mudhole. I
have seen these things with mature
eyes now, and I know them as they
are and not as they are painted in
the impressionistic hand of child
hood memories. The things which I
enjoyed as an unsophisticated child
are not for me as a man. My ideals
have changed ' since I crossed those
hills to the city streets. Chain me to
a desk, bind me up with the fetters
of formality, and there let me remain
forever and then sjme. My dream Is
busted. -
speculative purposes, but for safe
keeping until needed. Personal re
sponsibility on the part of the directors
aud officers of management for all un
lawful acts and financially for all losses
to the limit of thrtr ability to pay might
have a restraining influence in the mat
ter of permitting names to be heralded
as promoters and managers. The busi
ness of directors is to direct, and not for
tho use of their names to be used as
decoy ducks for would-be duck hunters.
The promoters of any enterprise are pre
sumed to know that the proposed enter
prise is legitimate and that by conserva
tive management would be a success.-,
and upon this assumption they shoulw
be understood to act and held account
able. Personal responsibility, as thus briefly
outlined, wisely guarded and strictly en
forced, would have a two-fold beneficial
effect, viz.:
First A restraining influence against
unlawful practices.
Second It would promote conservative
methods in financial dealings, both es
sential t6 healthy business conditions and
equitable and Just as to all parties con
cerned. Business conducted upon a lawful and
conservative basis may suffer loss, by
reason of floods, fire and panics, against
which there is but little opportunity for
protection, but this Is the risk common to
all, and all must take their share of the
medicine.
Salem, Or.
When Yon Weigh Most.
Did you ever consider how the average
human being's weight fluctuates night and
day?
If you weigh yourself regularly before
and after every meal you would be aston
ished. We lose in bed at night 2 pounds 1
ounces. Between breakfast and lunch we
lose 1 pound 14 ounces. Between lunch
and dinner we lose 10 ounces more. Total
loss, 4 pounds 14 ounces.
At breakfast we gain 1 pound 12 ounces;
at lunch 1 pound; at dinner 2 pounds 1
ounces. Total, 4 pounds 14 ounces.
Thus, day by day, gaining nearly flvt
pounds, our weight remains uniform. If
we ate but half or a third of what wo da
it is logical to suppose that our organs,
digestive and so on, would have but hall
as much work to do, and that our brains
In consequence would be able to do twic
as much. That is the logical supposition,
and no doubt it Is the correct one; bui
man is still too nearly animal to eat onlj
what he needs. He insists upon eating
until be can hold no more.
Dreams.
Samuel Mtnturn Peck.
I dream of you;
Not only when in si.ep I lie
And on the roses shines the dew
While Summer winds go whispering by.
But also when the sun is high.
And wandering in the upper blue
White cloudlets flake the Summer sky,
I dream of you.
I dream of you.
In every beautlous form I trace
Each budding leaf, each floweret new
Some fair reflection of your face;
In every mossy woodland place
The limpid brook goes singing through
I catch your voice's tuneful grace.
And dream of you.
I dream of you:
Yes, Fancy Is my constant guest.
Love's sweet handmaiden ever true;
And Hope she brings, and all that's, best;
And Memory fond t her behest
With lovely visions hastens, too
By Fancy, Hope and Memory blest,
1 dream of you.