Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 51: Banking and Finance, 1912

Early Financial Ventures of Illinois Territory - State Bank and Branches - Loss to the State for a Decade - Another State Bank - Building Up of Alton - Consti¬ tutional Prohibition Against State Banking - Present Banking Law - Development of Banking in County - Banking in Alton by Edward P. Wade.

Before the war of 1812, Illinois was but sparsely populated. The pursuits of the peo¬ ple were agricultural. A very few merchants supplied such goods as were necessary to the settlers and which could not be manufactured at home. Money was scarcely ever seen in the country; a few notes of state banks of other states were in circulation, but in the main the medium of exchange consisted of furs and skins of animals, and other useful commodities of local production.

The financial status of the country is indi¬ cated by the laws passed by the territorial legislature. One of these recited that the peo¬ ple of this territory were indebted to the peo¬ ple of Indiana on divers accounts and were poor and unable to pay their debts at this time, and therefore that all executions pro¬ cured on account of these debts should be stayed for a period of three years in order to give the debtors an opportunity to raise money to pay ; and as the citizens of Illinois seemingly were annoyed by lawsuits that were brought against them by attorneys for cred¬ itors in Indiana, another law was passed, mak¬ ing it a misdemeanor for any attorney of In¬ diana to appear in a court of Illinois and pro¬ viding that any such attorney should be fined in the sum of $500 for each offense. The net result of this legislation was that the people of Indiana withdrew from our people all commercial accommodations, and for the next several years the Illinois settlers almost starved to death.

After the close of the war, people from the east began to filter into Illinois in increasing numbers, bringing with them some property, and a certain amount of money, which money had been principally paid by the United States government to members of the militia. This addition of wealth, it would appear, upset the sober judgment of the earlier inhabitants, fill¬ ing their heads with aspirations for a higher plane of living and for greater material com¬ forts than had hitherto been theirs, and en¬ gendering all kinds of schemes for the easy making of money.

Even the legislature was not exempt from this contagion, for it passed a law granting a franchise and incorporating the Little Wa¬ bash and International Navigation Company, which act glowingly set forth that the Little Wabash river was inevitably destined to be¬ come one of the greatest arteries of commerce the world had ever seen and that it was the amiable intention of the navigation corn- pany to remove all snags and other obstruc¬ tions then in the river ; and in consideration of these intentions the company was granted the right to collect toll from all who set anything afloat on the river, this toll varying from five cents for a canoe to $10 for a steamboat, which latter kind of craft was ex¬ pected to cruise these waters in vast numbers.

In order to finance this navigation scheme the legislature created banks at Shawneetown, Kaskaskia and Edwardsville. The states of Ohio and Kentucky had chartered a batch of about fifty similar banks, and Missouri added two at St. Louis. These banks turned out money as fast as the settlers carried it away. There was little needed for commerce, the navigation company failed to create any great demand by the vast developments along the Little Wabash and the settlers used the money to build houses in towns for which there was no demand, and to buy land on speculation.

Government land sold for $2 an acre, a quarter section for $80 paid down, the bal¬ ance to be paid in five years. In a short time a quarter-section had been purchased for nearly every $80 there was in the country, most of it with the expectation that the rapid settlement of the country would enable the purchaser to sell it for a higher price before the expiration of his credit. Towns were laid out and lots sold, but the town maker re¬ ceived no money ; instead he was given notes of hand. Moreover the amount of merchan¬ dise brought here vastly increased. Every man's credit was good, and everybody em¬ barked in ventures.

By the year 1820, the people had become hopelessly involved in debt, the fondly ex¬ pected tide of immigrants had failed to ma¬ terialize, real estate was unsalable and gov¬ ernment lands remaining unpaid for were for¬ feited. The residents who lived on the Little Wabash even burned down the toll houses and drove the toll gatherers out of the country. The banks of Ohio and Kentucky broke, and the banks of Illinois followed them. Bank notes had driven out specie, and when the notes became worthless there was no money left in the country.

When the territory became a state in 1818 the constitution provided for the establish¬ ment of a state bank and its branches, and in 1821 an act was passed creating this bank. Purely a state institution it had no capital ex¬ cept the credit of the state. The head bank was at Vandalia, with branches in Edwards¬ ville, Brownsville, Shawneetown and Pal¬ myra. The charter provided that it could issue paper based on the credit of the state. Of the so-called capital of $500,000 it was authorized to issue $300,000 in one, two, three, five, ten and twenty dollar notes, bearing two per cent, annual interest and payable by the state in ten years.

The act provided that these bills should be loaned to the people in sums of not exceeding $100 on personal security, and in greater sums on mortgages on land. The bills were re¬ ceivable in payment of state and county taxes and for salaries of public officers, and if a creditor failed to endorse on an execution his readiness to receive the bills of the bank in payment, the debtor could stay collection for three years.

The legislature so firmly believed in this scheme that in spite of the protests of Lieu¬ tenant Governor Pierre Menard they voted to ask that this state money be accepted by the United States in the land offices in pay¬ ment for public lands. The $300,000 of new money was soon loaned out, without much attention to the security. The notes fell twenty-five, then fifty, then seventy cents be¬ low par, and drove out all other money. Even small silver coins were so scarce that the peo¬ ple from necessity cut new bills into two pieces so as to make two halves of a dollar. There was no other money for several years, and in the meantime few people pretended to pay their debts. The president and directors, the act provided, should be elected bi-ennially by the legislature, and this opened the way for vicious political influences to enter into the management of the business.

Governor Coles, in 1822, urged an investi¬ gation of the bank and had a law passed re¬ quiring cashiers to furnish security and em¬ powering him to remove delinquent cashiers. The state was embarrassed in carrying on gov¬ ernment. The taxes were paid in nearly all cases in bank bills, and the legislators were compelled to provide for their own pay and the pay of other officers by giving enough of the depreciated bills to equal the amount of the salary, so that members in place of $3 re¬ ceived $9 per day; and the salary of the gov¬ ernor and of other officials was paid in the same way.

Governor Edwards on assuming office in 1826 made peremptory demands on the banks for reports and asked especially to be fur¬ nished the names of members of the general assembly and officials who were "defaulting debtors." He appointed a committee to in¬ vestigate the branch at Edwardsville. Benja¬ min Seward was cashier of the bank when it was organized and he was succeeded by R. T. McKinney.

It was charged that this bank had loaned $2,000 on real estate, which loan when fore¬ closed realized only $491.83; that it loaned $6,625 which was secured by real estate valued at $3,140.71, and this loan was made to three prominent advocates of the convention for the founding of a pro-slavery newspaper in Edwardsville. It was further alleged that the bank officers loaned themselves amounts greatly in excess of that permitted by law.

directors and cashier of the branch bank at Edwardsville, to-wit: William Kinney, Jos¬ eph A. Beaird, Thomas Carlin, Abraham Prickett, Elijah lies and Theophilus W. Smith, which would justify the belief that they had acted in bad faith."

It is not known how much of the feeling against the officials of the bank was due to political differences. All of them were promi¬ nent men of the day. Carlin was afterward elected governor and Smith was a justice of the supreme court. The United States su¬ preme court meanwhile decided that bills of this character issued by banks were in viola¬ tion of the constitution.

Governor Ford estimates that in the course of ten years of the existence of the bank, the state lost $150,000 by receiving depreciated currency, $150,000 more by paying it out, and $100,000 of loans which were never paid by borrowers, and which the state had to make good. This latter amount of $100,000 was borrowed by the state to redeem the out¬ standing issue of the defunct bank, and as there was doubt whether this amount would cover the entire obligation, the state provided that state bonds bearing 6 per cent, might be issued to meet the remainder. The money was secured from Samuel Wiggins, of Cin¬ cinnati, and the "Wiggins loan" as it was called, was for many years a torment to the legislators who authorized it. The charter of this bank expired January 1, 1831.

When Governor Duncan was inaugurated, he recommended new banking legislation. For the most part, owing to previous ex¬ perience, the people were not favorable to banks, and the new institutions were brought into existence in defiance of the vital prin¬ ciples of political economy. The state was peopled mostly by newcomers whose advent could have justly been attributed to a desire for pecuniary gain or personal advantage.

Cities did not exist, there was comparatively no manufacturing, little or nothing was ex¬ ported, and no surplus capital was available for investments. Prospects for success, there¬ fore, were not in any wise rosy for these new enterprises, and though they were started with stock actually subscribed, they were en¬ gulfed in the great wave of internal improve¬ ment speculation that swept over the country.

The people who had had such a varied ex¬ perience in financial matters hardly expected to find themselves part of an enterprise with millions of capital. A bill was passed in 1835 chartering a state bank with a capital of $ij500>000> with power to increase to $2,500,- 000 if the legislature saw fit to do so. The principal bank was to be at Springfield, with a branch bank at Vandalia. The bank was to pay a tax of one-half of one per cent, of its capital actually paid, but was subject to no other tax. The state reserved the right to subscribe to one-fifteenth of the stock. A provision of the charter was that $5 in cash must be deposited with the subscription of each share of $100, and another clause pro¬ vided that no subscriber should receive more than a certain number of shares of the stock.

John Tillson, Jr., of Hillsboro; Thomas Mather, of Kaskaskia ; Godfrey, Gilman & Co., of Alton; Theophilus W. Smith, of Edwardsville, then supreme judge, and Samuel Wiggins, of Cincinnati, made arrangements to obtain money in eastern cities to invest in the stock. Subscriptions were made in the name of others, and a struggle immediately began for control. Thomas Mather was elect¬ ed president, and, joined with Godfrey Gil¬ man & Co., secured control.

The legislature of 1836 increased the capi¬ tal to $2,500,000, and also revived the old Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown, which had practically been out of existence, by increas¬ ing its capital stock from $300,000 to $1,700,-

000, the state reserving the right to subscribe for the entire increase of the state bank, and for $1,000,000 of the increase of the Bank of Illinois, payable in each case with money raised by selling state bonds. The banks at the same time were made depositories and fiscal agents of the state.

A strong desire prevailed at this time to build up Alton as the metropolis of Illinois, and money was freely furnished for that pur¬ pose. Godfrey, Gilman & Co., of Alton, un¬ dertook to bring the lead trade from Galena to Alton, and were loaned $800,000 for that purpose. Stone, Manning & Co., another Alton firm, and Sloo & Co., of the same city, also secured large sums for this purpose. Godfrey, Gilman & Co. purchased lead mines and smelters at Galena and engaged exten¬ sively in the lead business, and the price of lead rose in a short time from $2.75 to $4.25 per hundred, but the price could not be kept up in the eastern cities, and the sales were finally made at ruinous prices.

The people of the state at this time had vast schemes of internal improvements and railroads were projected in all directions, with Alton as the terminis. A large sum was also appropriated for the Illinois & Michigan canal. To conciliate the farmers a provision had been made for a real estate fund of one million to be loaned on mortgages on land.

The banks had hardly begun to operate freely before the crisis of 1837 was upon them. Banks in the east suspended specie payments and the banks in Illinois did the same. As these latter banks were fiscal agents of the state, and of the railroad and canal projects, the legislature met in special session and legalized the suspension of specie on their part.

volved, they dragged out their existence until 1842, when both the State Bank and the Bank of Illinois suspended. The paper of the banks had been at a discount for several years. At first this was small, but it increased in two or three years to 20 and even 50 per cent. The bank paper was maintained nominally at par, but specie commanded a premium, and in this way good money was banished from circu¬ lation, so that when the banks failed the peo¬ ple were without money until supplied by the course of trade.

Governor Ford, when he went into office in 1842, estimated that the good money in the state, in the hands of the people, did not ex¬ ceed one year's interest on the public debt. He felt convinced that the state had erred in assuming the functions of a private enter¬ prise, and advised negotiations with the banks for "an amicable dissolution between the state and the banks." Terms of settlement were subsequently agreed upon and the illfated experiences of the state came to an end.

The constitution of Illinois of 1848 pro¬ hibited the general assembly from involving the state in the banking business. The con¬ stitution of 1870 contained a similar provision. The general assemblies at various times granted special charters to corporations with banking powers but no general law for the establishment of banks was passed until June, 1888. By provision of the constitution it did not become effective until approved by a vote of the people at a general election, and this vote was taken in November, 1888, and the act was adopted. The banks under this act are authorized to do a general banking busi¬ ness, but are prohibited from issuing bills to circulate as money. They are under the sup¬ ervision of the state auditor to whom they make detailed reports and by whom they are adequately inspected.

1864, which established a banking bureau in the treasury department, and operated by the comptroller of the currency, who exercises full control over this institution. A part of the capital of a bank, organized under the act, is required to be invested in government bonds, upon which circulating notes may be issued, which are receivable in all payments to or from the government, except for duties or imports, interest on public debt and in re¬ demption of national currency. In March,

1865, congress passed an act fixing a tax of 10 per cent, on the notes of any person or state bank used for circulation and paid out by them, which act had the effect of taxing state bank circulation out of existence.

Disappointing as were the experiences of early banks, they served as foundation upon which the national and state bank systems as existing today were laid, and as Madison county has grown in population, gained in wealth and expanded in power, so have the banks of the county grown in strength, gained in standing and expanded in influence.

In 1880 there were five banks in the county, two organized under the National bank act, and three private partnerships, viz : First National and Alton National, of Alton, West & Prickett and John A. Prickett & Sons, of Edwardsville, and F. Ryhiner & Co. of High¬ land. Private banks are not required to pub¬ lish statements and therefore official infor¬ mation concerning them is not obtainable, but a fair estimate of their resources is possible. The aggregate capital of the five banks was perhaps $300,000 and the deposits may have reached $2,500,000, a part of this being for¬ eign money deposited in the bank at High-

A comparison of figures for the last decade will show stronger than words, the tremen¬ dous growth made by Madison county banks. On January i, 1901, when the twentieth cen¬ tury opened, there were four national and four state banks and one private bank in the county, a total of nine, and their capital and surplus together with the deposits, were as follows :

The last statements of the banks of the county, made under call of the comptroller of the currency and the auditor of state on April 18, this year, 1912, show 28 banks in the county, 8 national, 16 state and 4 private, with the following items :

Edwardsville's first bank was started in 1816, its principal business being the hand¬ ling of funds for the United States land office. Its methods were crude and its life was short. Edwardsville, like Alton, had a branch of the Bank of Illinois, chartered in 1821. Both went through the same vicissitudes and passed out of existence in the same way, the co-op¬ eration of the state legislature being insuffi¬ cient to keep them alive. Edwardsville had no bank for many years afterwards, such money as there was in circulation being kept in strong boxes of business houses or con¬ cealed in private residences.

resident of the city, organized a private bank¬ ing house under the name of West & Prick¬ ett. Its capital stock was $10,000. Mr. West died on October 31, 1887, and Mr. Prickett, with his son, Edward I. Prickett, continued the business under the firm name of W. R. Prickett & Co. The bank incorpated under the general banking laws of the state in Jan¬ uary, 1896, with the name of Bank of Ed¬ wardsville, and a capital stock of $25,000. William R. Prickett was president and Edwin P. Greenwood, cashier.

The Madison County State Bank was char¬ tered on May 3, 1897, with a capital of $25,- 000 and Judge William H. Krome, president; W. F. L. Hadley, vice-president ; George Kalbfleisch, cashier ; and Charles Boeschenstein, secretary, A. P. Wolf being subsequently chosen assistant cashier. These gentlemen, with Henry P. Hotz and John Stolze consti¬ tuted the board of directors.

The Madison County State Bank was con¬ solidated with the Bank of Edwardsville under the latter name July 8, 1899, and the capital stock was increased to $50,000, W. F. L. Had¬ ley being chosen as president; Judge William H. Krome, vice-president; E. P. Greenwood, cashier; A. P. Wolf, assistant cashier; John Stolze, Charles Boeschenstein, Henry P. Hotz and Mary West Hadley, directors. Mr. Had¬ ley died April 25, 1901. Judge Krome suc¬ ceeded him as president, and Charles Boesch¬ enstein became vice president. In January, 1904, the bank increased its capital stock to $100,000 from its earnings. Five years later Mr. Boeschenstein sold his holdings and W. L. Hadley became vice president. E. P. Green¬ wood died in September, 1911, and was suc¬ ceeded by A. P. Wolf as cashier, and Frank B. Sanders was made assistant cashier. In Jan¬ uary, 1912, the bank increased its capital stock to $150,000. The present board of directors consists of William H. Krome, John Stolze, W.

J. A. Prickett & Sons conducted a bank from 1869 to December 14, 1890, at which time it suspended on account of having placed too much money in western investments.

The First National Bank was organized in the spring of 1897 by C. N. Travous, George W. Meyer, Henry Trares, Harrison Barco, Judge W. P. Early, E. D. Gillespie, August Schlafly and E. P. Reshner. The capital stock was $50,000. On July 17, 1905, the capital stock was increased to $100,000. The present officers are: Henry Trares, president; George W. Meyer, vice-president; Joseph F. Keshner, cashier; George Kalbfleisch, assist¬ ant cashier; S. V. Crossman, assistant cashier. The board of directors consists of Henry Trares, E. P. Keshner, J. F. Keshner, George Kalbfleisch, George W. Meyer and August Schlafly.

Edwardsville has a suburb, both industrial and residential, which is distinctive in its nat¬ ure. It is called Leclaire, and adjoins the county seat on the south, the streets running through so that as far as the casual passerby could observe the communities are identical. They have the same water service, the same telephone service and the same mail service, but Leclaire has a separate electric lighting system. It also has its own fire department, but in times of need, each place comes to the assistance of the other. Leclaire never had any police, rarely needs them and never wants them.

The industrial portion of the town is co¬ operative throughout. The village, which now numbers about 650 people, was founded by N. O. Nelson, of St. Louis, in 1890, he being desirous of moving his factories away from the larger cities. It was named Leclaire in honor of the pioneer French profit-sharer.

The shops are notable. They are about fifteen buildings, none over one story in height, wed lighted and ventilated, equipped with ad conveniences for the comfort of the workmen and each building overgrown with vines and surrounded by beautiful lawns. Beds of blooming plants are seen at frequent intervals and the factories are bordered with flower beds and foliage plants. The products are plumb¬ ers' brass work, nickel and silver fittings, plumbers' woodwork, staircases, mantels and art planing mill work, architectural marble and machinery.

Since the shops were located there in 1890 they have never been shut down, nor has any part of them run short for any lengthy period. Since the beginning the profit-sharing plan has been in force as concerns the employees, and since 1904 the customers likewise have participated in the profits of the business.

The dividend to employees is based upon the wages earned within the year and during the past eight years has ranged from fifteen to thirty per cent of their wages, the aggre¬ gate distributed amounting to approximately $200,000, in addition to the amounts received in the preceding twenty years. A large ma¬ jority of the employees are stockholders in the company. The dividend to customers is based upon the gross profit on their purchases. The company also maintains a pension fund for disabled and superannuated employees, and an accident fund to care for those who are hurt from any cause while in the service of the company.

The company owns other factories at St. Louis and Bessemer, Alabama, and has branch houses in many cities. Its officers are, N. O. Nelson, president; L. D. Lawnin, vice-presi¬ dent; A. B. Pierce, vice-president; J. B. Cham¬ bers, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Nelson, the founder of the village, was born in Lillesand, Norway, September 11, 1844, and came to this country in 1846, his family being accompanied by seventy neigh¬ bors who established a colony for farming at St. Joseph, Missouri. He located in St. Louis in 1872, and went into business. Mr. Nelson is deeply interested in practical philanthropy and has established institutions and enterprises to help the poor, sick or unfortunate in many parts of the country. His home is in Leclaire

The residential portion of Leclaire is beau¬ tiful throughout. A hedge thirty feet high separates it from the factories, and on the south side of this natural screen there is not a discordant note. The streets are all wind¬ ing, constructed of packed cinders with an oil bound surface and with granitoid sidewalks throughout. There is a large common covered with grass for outdoor sports, such as base¬ ball, football, etc., and a large assembly hall for lectures, dances and indoor entertainments. This is also used for a school house. A spe¬ cial play ground well equipped is provided for the children. All this is free for all who care to use them, the only stipulation on the part of Mr. Nelson being that no admission fee or charge of any kind be made for any form of entertainment.

As early as January 8th, 1818, the terri¬ torial legislature authorized the establishment of a bank at Edwardsville. In 1821, Shadrach Bond being governor, a state bank was organized at Vandalia, the capital, with "branches at Brownsville, Edwardsville, Shawneetown and the seat of justice in Ed¬ wards county." It was hoped that the notes of the bank would be accepted by the U. S. at the land office, but on the passage of the bill, Lieut. Gov. Pierre Menard, presiding in the senate, after putting the motion said, "And now, gentlemen, I bet you one hundred dollars he never be made land office money," and so it proved. There seems to have been, and yet is, a vicious or weak element in all our financial legislation, and the device re¬ turns to plague the inventor. In due time the i835> Joseph Duncan being governor, a new state bank was created and the charter of the Shawneetown bank revived. Branches of both these banks were located at Alton. The State Bank occupied the cut-stone build¬ ing on Market street recently demolished to make room for the Illini Hotel. The Shaw¬ neetown branch was located on State street, in a commodious structure of brick on the site now occupied by the William Fries es¬ tablishment. Of the former, Benjamin God¬ frey was president, and Stephen Griggs cashier. Of the latter, D. T. Wheeler was cashier and manager. Benjamin Godfrey and W. S. Gilman erected the handsome resi¬ dences which stood on the southeast corner of Third and Market, and at date of con¬ struction would have been an ornament to any street in New York City. These also gave way to the new hotel. Stephen Griggs occu¬ pied the frame house yet standing adjacent to the hotel on the south. Godfrey, Gilman & Company obtained control of the stock of the bank, and Governor Ford, in his full his¬ tory of the scheme, states they used $800,- 000.00 of the bank's money. Stone, Manning & Company and Sloo & Company also ob¬ tained large sums and these firms undertook to divert the upper Mississippi river trade from St. Louis to Alton. Governor Ford says, "The bank must have lost by these Alton operations about a million dollars, and before the second year of its existence was nearly insolvent."

In 1839 Godfrey and Griggs were suc¬ ceeded by E. Marsh as president and James H. Lea cashier. And in 1842, Thomas Ford being governor, the legislature directed the liquidation of both banks. One can hardly realize the depression incident to this col¬ lapse. ' The circulation was now reduced to the very limited amount of coin and the notes of the solvent state banks, notably, that of Missouri.

I§35 the Alton Marine & Fire Insurance Co. was chartered, E. Marsh, secretary, and B. I. Gilman, president. When the Franklin House, now the Lincoln Hotel, was built, the insurance company occupied the south half of the first floor. In 1848 it ceased issuing fire risks, continuing to do a limited marine busi¬ ness, but the requirements of the community, small though they were, demanded a place of deposit for the cash of the merchants and facilities for exchange to enable the payment of indebtedness elsewhere, and in this way the insurance company entered upon the business of banking, continuing until the free banking law was enacted. During this time, and for a short period only, a bank was conducted by Wise, Lea & Mitchell, at 208 State street. These parties, later, identified themselves with the Alton Mutual & Savings Bank, which, organized as an insurance company in 1853, began a banking business in 1859. This was located at the northwest corner of State and Short streets. There was also a bank at No. 216 State street, styled Alton Building and Savings Institution. After a precarious existence, it went into liquidation.

The building of the Alton & Sangamon Rail¬ road, the nucleus of the Chicago & Alton, and the inception of the Alton & Terre Haute, now a part of the New York Central System, had stimulated business, and some years of prosperity followed. The experience with the state banks had induced the incorporation of the clause in the constitution of 1848, "No state bank shall hereafter be created." In 1852, under the free banking system, the Alton Bank was organized, E. Marsh, presi¬ dent; Samuel Wade, vice-president; Chas. A. Caldwell, cashier. On January 1, 1854, the bank took possession of its new building on the corner of Third and Belle streets. This was then considered complete, and suf¬ ficient for the use of the bank for many years to come. The day after removal to the new office, tidings came that the correspondent

The relation of the Alton Bank to that in New York, which was a stockholder to the extent of the indebtedness, enabled the Alton Bank, by obtaining possession of the stock, to recuperate without loss, and with but small inconvenience. The free banking system, as all others, had its faulty provisions. A bank could be located anywhere, but its circulation was secured, or supposed to be, by stocks de¬ posited with the auditor of state, at a fixed margin below the market value. Numerous banks were organized, many of them at in¬ accessible points, and for a while all went well. The nomination of Fremont - the growing political strength of the free states, and the threats of secession occasioned dis¬ trust. Owners of stocks began to realize, the values declined, and the banks at accessible points had to redeem all of their circulation, leaving the notes of the inaccessible banks to circulate. The decline was so steady that soon the margin of the securities held by the audit¬ or was exhausted, and the principal so im¬ paired that the circulation was left to be passed from hand to hand or bank to bank until, when about twenty per cent discount, it ceased to be accepted at any rate. Again the money of the vicinity was reduced to coin and some few state and New England bank notes. At this extreme the Alton Bank had in its vaults, no notes of other banks, but had its own notes to nearly the full amount of its circulation, and a like amount of gold and silver coin.

At the breaking out of the war the exigen¬ cies of the United States government occas¬ ioned an issue of demand notes. These were made receivable for customs, but the need of coin to meet payments abroad soon made it obligatory to cease this issue, and notes ac¬ cepted for all debts except customs bearing a proviso that they could be funded in United States bonds bearing six per cent, interest.

Soon the United States and all the banks sus¬ pended specie payments. In 1865 the Alton Bank and the Alton Mutual Insurance & Sav¬ ings Co. adopted the national system. The latter assuming the name "First National Bank," Isaac Scarritt, president; D. D. Ryrie, cashier.

The national system was inaugurated by S. P. Chase, secretary of the treasury, apply¬ ing on the larger scale the system adopted in Ohio during his administration as governor. It was organized as a means of funding the increasing floating debt of the country. At the close of the war the United States notes were to be eliminated and the currency of the country restricted to coin and the notes of the banks, with sufficient provision for their re¬ demption, and consequent expansion and con¬ traction as the business of the country de¬ manded. But a taste of expansion resulted in the appetite for more, and congress for¬ bade the retiring of the United States notes, and with the issue of notes based on silver coin the paper money of the country has reached the full limit of safety.

Under the national system both of the Alton banks prospered. In 1875-76 the First Na¬ tional Bank bought the lot at the northeast cor¬ ner of Third and State streets and erected a two-story brick building, equipped agreeable to the needs of the period. Meanwhile, Mr. Scarritt and Mr. Ryrie had died, and Mr. W. H. Mitchell and Mr. J. E. Hayner became respectively president and cashier. In 1882 the First National sold its building and busi¬ ness to the Alton National, and for a short time the Alton National was the only oper¬ ating bank in the city. In October, 1882, the Alton Savings Bank was organized, J. E. Hayner, president; G. A. Joesting, cashier. In 1877 Mr. E. Marsh died and Mr. Samuel Wade succeeded to the presidency of the Al¬ ton National. At Mr. Wade's death, Mr. C. A. Caldwell became president. In 1895 Mr. Caldwell died, and his son, C. A. Caldwell, became cashier, the active factor in the direc¬ tory. In 1903 Mr. J. E. Hayner died and Mr. O. S. Stowell succeeded to the presi¬ dency of the Savings Bank. The expansion of business after the close of the war and the enlargement of the factories then existing with the establishment of new ones, conduct¬ ing important and extensive enterprises, made it desirable to increase banking facilities. In May, 1899, the Citizens National Bank began business at the northeast corner of Second and Piasa streets, with August Schlafly as president; L. Pfeifenberger, vice president; Chas. F. Stelzel, cashier. In 1902 William Eliot Smith became president; G. A. Joesting being then cashier. On the death of Mr. Smith, George M. Levis became president.

In 1902 (Dec. 19th), the Alton Banking & Trust Company opened for business, in its handsome banking house, corner of Weigler and Second streets. S. H. Wyss, president ; D. A. Wyckoff, cashier, recently succeeded by C. H. Seger.

And in 1909 (March nth) the First Trust & Savings Bank began business at 102 West Third street, near Piasa. H. L. Black, presi¬ dent; D. A. Wyckoff, cashier.

At date of the first report of the Alton Na¬ tional Bank, after consolidation with the First National in October, 1882, the capital and sur¬ plus was $196,373.50; total resources $1,362,- 105.61. On December 5, 1911, when the latest report of the five banks was made, the com¬ bined capital and surplus was $1,056,044.19; total combined resources, $5,362,105.61.

pay his overdraft. One day a little Irish woman who had some small certificates of deposit came to the bank and said her brother wished to borrow the money, and she did not want to let him have it. Would the bank folks, if she brought him to the bank; say she could not have it. Giving her to understand she was entitled to it when demanded, she yet insisted she should be helped in her dilemma and turning to go out, said, "Now do you be up to it." The next day the brother came with her and while he stood meekly by the en¬ trance she came boldly to the counter and said, "I want my money." The refusal seemed to irritate her, and after another de¬ mand, and the agreed refusal, she switched out with the threat : "I will get somebody to make you." The day after she returned, and laughingly said, "I must let him have it." She assured the almost fearful banker that he had done just right. The event proved she wanted to buy some pigs of the brother, who would not trust her.

In the summer of 187 - , a superannuated Baptist minister opened an account at the bank. He had gone out from the state of Mississippi as a missionary to China, and, having penetrated to the interior, had some success in his work. One of his converts was a talented, ambitious fellow who, mixing Christianity and the religion of Buddha and Confucius, inaugurated a religious-political movement, which (known as the Tai-Ping rebellion) became so formidable that the En¬ glish government was asked to assist in the suppression of it. And in that movement General Chas. George Gordon received the sobriquet of "Chinese Gordon."