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Banking and Bank Legislation in California, 1890–1915*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Mansel G. Blackford
Mansel G. Blackford
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, Ohio State University
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Abstract

While events of major significance for banking occurred on the national scene in the populist and progressive years, noteworthy changes also materialized on the state level. Like their brethren elsewhere in the country, California bankers struggled through their organizations with such problems as how to achieve “sound banking,” how to influence the political process in their state, and how to give banking more of the trappings of professionalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 47 , Issue 4 , Winter 1973 , pp. 482 - 507
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1973

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References

1 This essay is based on Blackford, Mansel G., “The Politics of Business in California, 1890–1920” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 1972), chapter 6Google Scholar.

2 Kolko, Gabriel, The Triumph of Conservatism (Chicago, 1963)Google Scholar and Wiebe, Robert, The Search for Order (New York, 1967)Google Scholar.

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4 California Bank Commissioner, Annual Reports 1890–1908 (Sacramento, 1890–1908)Google Scholar; hereafter cited as C. B. C. Report. For the exact figures, see Table I.

5 C. B. C, Reports, 1895, 4–12, 1900, 3–6, 1905, 83–85. For the exact figures see Table II.

6 California Banker, II (May, 1909), unpaged.

7 On the development of correspondent banking see: Fischer, Gerald, American Banking Structure (New York, 1968), 110–121Google Scholar.

8 California Bankers Association, Proceedings of Annual Convention, 1909, 102, 1912, 231; hereafter cited as C. B. A., Proceedings.

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17 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1912, 224.

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19 Cleland, Robert and Putnam, Frank, Isaias Hellman and the Farmers and Merchants Bank (San Marino, 1965), 82Google Scholar; Graves, My Seventy Years, 326.

20 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1912, 228.

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23 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1907, III.

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26 O'Donnell, Aloysius F., “The Financial Plan of Certain Hydro-Electric Corporations in California,” (M. A. thesis, University of California at Berkeley, 1922), 16, 25–26, 33, 36Google Scholar.

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28 Redlich, Molding, II, 276–282, 301.

29 Ibid., 236–38.

30 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1891, 78, 1894, 30, 45–48, 1895, 51–55, 1898, 63–68, 1900, 33–47, 1901, 16–19.

31 Ibid., 1900, 32.

32 Ibid., 1902, 36,1914, 55–57.

33 C.B.A., Bulletin, September 28, 1912, February 10, 1914; C. B. A., Proceedings, 1912, 90, 1913, 55, 113–122, 1914, 61–64, 129; Coast Banker, IX (December, 1912), 436–37; Western Banker and Financier, VI (November, 1916), 113, IX (December, 1918), 294, XII (December, 1920), 129. This system should not be confused with chain banking or bank holding companies. Each bank in California groups maintained its individuality of ownership.

34 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1897, 18, 1908, 265, 304, 1909, 136–140, 164, 1922, 54–56; Coast Banker, I (October, 1908), 32Google Scholar.

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37 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1894, 83–85, 89, 94–113.

38 Ibid., 1895, 25; Lovell White (president of C.B.A.) to all members, February 8, 1895 in C. B. A. Scrapbook 3. At C. B. A. headquarters, San Francisco, California.

39 Bee, January 17, February 15, 1895; Cross, Financing an Empire, II, 628–29; Crumb, Joseph, “Banking Regulation in California” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 1935), 60–61, 71–72Google Scholar; San Francisco Chronicle, January 17, February 19, March 14, 1895.

40 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1895, 38–58; C. B. C. Report, 1895, 3.

41 Bee, January 23, 31, February 17, 1905; Chronicle, February 17, 18, 1905.

42 Friedman, Milton and Schwartz, Anna, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 (Princeton, 1963), 156–173Google Scholar; Myers, A Financial History, 245–16, 258–263.

43 Wright, Banking in California, 54.

44 Crumb, “Banking Legislation,” 88–90; Wright, Banking in California, 54–55.

45 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1908, 44.

46 Bee, November 7, 8, 15, 19, 1907; C. B. A., Proceedings, 1908, 187–190– Chronicle, October 31, November 8, 12, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 1907.

47 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1908, 218–222, 229, 237–257, 283.

48 Ibid., 232–36.

49 Ibid.

50 Commonwealth Club of California, Transactions, III (June, 1908), 222–23, 234–35.

51 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1908, 259–260,1909, 81–83.

52 Ibid., 1909, 102, 114, 1912, 231; Coast Banker, VII (December, 1911), 37; “Draft of an Act Prepared at the Request of the Joint Legislative Committee on Reform of the State Banking Laws by the Legislative Committee of the California Bankers Association, October, 1908,” in C. B. A. Scrapbook 1.

53 “Proposed Laws Defining and Regulating the Business of Banking in the State of California by Special Joint Legislative Committee on Banking Laws, November, 1908,” in C. B. A. Scrapbook 1.

54 Bee, January 22, 1909; Chronicle, January 22, 1909.

55 Friedman and Schwartz, A Monetary History, 171–72.

56 Bee, February 2, 1909; C. B. A., Proceedings, 1911, 39; Coast Review, II (October, 1908), 4.

57 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1909, 44.

58 John Drum to C. B. A. members, September 17, 1910, in C. B. A. Scrapbook 1.

59 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1910, 77.

60 Ibid., 1909, 132.

61 Coast Banker, III (September, 1909), 129.

62 Ibid., IV (February, 1910), 63, IV (April, 1910), 172.

63 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1911, 56–64; Coast Banker, VI (May, 1911), 294.

64 California Superintendent of Banks, Annual Report, 1911 (Sacramento, 1911), 4–11; hereafter cited as C. S. B., Report.

65 Ibid.

66 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1912, 13–18, 1923, 45, 94–96, 1914, 50–51; C. S. B., Report 1911, 4,1913, 45.

67 C. S. B., Report, 1909–1919.

68 For such complaints see above in this essay.

69 Nash, State Government and Economic Development, 279.

70 Marquis and James, Bessie, Biography of a Bank: The Story of the Bank of America N.T. and S. A. (New York, 1945)Google Scholar; Nash, State Government and Economic Development, 290–91.

71 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1905, 38.

72 On the professionalization of American business in this period see: Heald, Morrell, The Social Responsibilities of Business: Company and Community, 1900–1960 (Cleveland, 1970), chapters 2 and 3Google Scholar.

73 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1907, 80–88; Heald, Social Responsibilities, 71.

74 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1909, 227–28; Coast Banker, I (October, 1908), 15Google Scholar, III (November, 1909), 223, IV (March, 1910), 132–37, VIII (Jane, 1912), 487; Western Banker, VIII (February, 1917), 31Google Scholar, XI (February, 1920), 185; XI (April, 1920), 229.

75 Coast Banker, II (April, 1909), 170Google Scholar, III (November, 1909), 223; Western Banker, XI (September, 1909), 53Google Scholar, XI (April, 1920), 229.

76 Coast Banker, IX (December, 1912), 436Google Scholar.

77 Ibid., I (October, 1908), 15, II (April, 1909), 190, in (November, 1909), 254 X (June, 1913), 521, XIII (September, 1914), 230, XIII (December, 1914), 487; Western Banker, VI (January, 1916), 15Google Scholar, VI (June, 1916), 141.

78 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1895, 37.

79 Coast Banker, XIII (November, 1914), 388Google Scholar.

80 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1901, 79.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid., 81.

83 Ibid., 79–80; Western Banker, XI (January, 1920), 147Google Scholar.

84 Commonwealth Club of California, Transactions, III (June, 1908), 222–23Google Scholar.

85 Ibid., 260.

86 C. B. A., Proceedings, 1907, 112.