5. Usually A Trained Banker

A bank president who thus becomes the real head is in most cases a trained banker. Usually he has served as vice president or cashier. Many an active bank president has risen from the position of bookkeeper or teller. In other cases he very likely has long served as director and therefore has a good knowledge of the business of the bank. Is he familiar with all the details? By no means, nor is it absolutely essential that he should know them. The president of a bank in New York once told the writer that he happened to be taken out of a note dealer's office and elected cashier. That was exceptional, for usually when a cashier dies, resigns, or is promoted, the paying teller is elevated to his place. In this case the bank, in the president's judgment, had not a fit employee for cashier, so a cashier was selected from the outside. During the next summer, when the paying teller went off on his two weeks' vacation, the cashier served in his place; and afterward, when the receiving teller went away, the cashier served in his place, and when one of the bookkeepers went off, the cashier took his place, besides serving as a substitute for others. This the cashier did to familiarize himself with the duties of each one, as well as to gain a somewhat better knowledge of the depositors and their business. The knowledge thus gained of the affairs of the bank and its customers was worth all it cost.

Usually the modern bank president who has started at the bottom is. familiar with bookkeeping and all the technique of his bank.

6. The Nominal President

The nominal bank president generally possesses no technical knowledge of his bank, nor is there much need of it. He is often a large stockholder, and perhaps has served as director before his promotion to the presidency.

7. The President's Duty In Lending The Bank's Money

We have already described his chief and most serious duty, that of lending the bank's resources. Of course, the ability of presidents to lend money safely varies greatly. The modern or scientific method of requiring borrowers to make elaborate statements lessens greatly the weight of this duty. It is not so much a leap in the dark. Still, with all the investigation that can be made, the duty is a grave one, calling for all the foresight and sagacity possessed by the wisest, and even they at times lend money that never returns.

Besides, the business itself, as we have shown, is most peculiar. Millions of dollars are received on the implied or understood promise that it can be had at any time on demand; depositors know equally well that by far the larger portion is loaned out and that, if they all called for their deposits at once, their bank could not possibly respond. Again, they have no intention of calling for all at once, and this is well known by the president and other officers. Indeed, every depositor knows, when opening his account, that the bank expects he will keep a balance on hand. Yet there are times when he needs every dollar, nor would his bank find fault with him for drawing it out. Unforeseen emergencies arise: a bill is presented for payment sooner than was expected; the maker of some note has failed to pay on which the depositor is an in-dorser, and he must draw down his balance to preserve his credit. There are seasons in the year, sudden revolutions in business, in which depositors make unusual demands. It is no small duty of a president to be eagle-eyed, to look into the future, to anticipate the demands of depositors, and be always prepared to meet them. Some presidents, who are not especially intelligent, seem to possess a kind of magical ability to discern the signs of the times, to read the future; like the veteran captain, they are always studying the weather, and are always prepared for the coming storm.