MR. MANUFACTURER: I was so greatly impressed with the complete and, as it seemed to me, practically perfect system that had grown up under the Suffolk Clearing House, which started at Boston in 1818, that I have been wondering whether there were not other instances like that which would help us; for, gentlemen, whatever we may think, or want, personally, one thing is certain, and that is this, that we must take things largely as we find them, and legislate as far as possible in harmony with them, bringing the inefficient, the laggard and the "sucker" up to the approved standards of our banking experience and compelling every individual bank to do its part in providing its own insurance by carrying equal and adequate reserves and by carrying on its business in accordance with the highest standards of banking practices today. Then we must bring all of the banks of the country under the reign of economic law, and into one harmonious whole for the benefit of all the people. We must protect our gold reserves against the demands of the rest of the commercial world. Now, if any one of you has any information about banking conditions before the war that can possibly be helpful, I hope he will give it to us for our consideration. MR. BANKER: I have no hesitation whatever in saying that there were better banking institutions in the United States in 1860 than there are today, so far as the principles are concerned upon which they were operated. But, of course, we must note two things in this connection: First, banking generally was not nearly as good upon the average as it is today; nor could you expect it to be. Second, banks generally were small, and only in a very few states was banking any more under governmental direction and control than the grocery business, stock buying or horse trading. The result was that sharpers all over the country were using the word "bank" or "banker" to swindle the unwary people and defraud the public generally. Third, in some states the legislators were so ignorant of economic law that the laws passed by them only facilitated the schemes of the swindlers in their diabolical work. It was the reaction against the disastrous and disgusting experiences in one state after another because of the rotten conditions prevailing that some of the states finally passed laws for the establishment of banking systems, which for soundness and efficiency had never been surpassed, nor even equalled for the territory covered and services rendered. Let me cite you a few instances; I will take first Louisiana.