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HEN the Old National Bank of Spokane, Wash., and its affiliated institution, the Union Trust Company, recently invited the public to an "open house celebration" to signalize the completion of larger quarters and the installation of a new safe deposit vault, the affair was attended by over 10,000 people. It partook of the nature of a community celebration, and at the same time enabled the management to give the multitude of visitors a "close up" of how a bank and trust company operates, which could not be gained during ordinary business hours. The whole affair was arranged with splendid precision; the visitors, as they entered the palatial main banking lobby, being conducted in groups by members of the staff through the

various departments where the operations were explained by trained men. The affair was so successful that the management plans to hold an annual "open house celebration" and recommends the idea to banks and trust companies generally throughout the country. The event was further enlivened by a musical program and display of profuse floral tributes from patrons, friends and local as well as correspondent bankers.

The Old National Bank and Union Trust Company, although operating under respective Federal and State charters, constitutes an organization that is unique in service and scope. Conducting their business, side by side, in the same banking quarters, they offer every variety of commercial banking, trust, investment and safe deposit service. While

these various functions are delegated to separate departments a system of co-ordination has been worked out which practically creates a smooth-running unit. The spirit of the organization is also such that patrons of one department are readily made acquainted with the facilities provided by other departments which anticipate every banking, investment, fiduciary and safekeeping need.

The new arrangements provide these affiliated institutions with a truly magnificent banking home which is on a par with the best bank construction achievements in any part of the country. In the first place they have their own towering building, fifteen stories in height, which was erected in 1910. At that time the Old National Bank Occupied only about two-thirds of the ground floor. Later, in 1917, the Union Trust Company joined in this Occupancy and the banking room was extended to its full length. The growth of both institutions has been such, however, that the recently completed enlargement plans provided a wide mezzanine around the entire banking floor, extensions of the various departments and the in

stallation of a basement vault floor, increas ing floor area from 14,332 to 26,076 square feet. A feature of the new arrangement is the ornate entrance and marble staircase leading from the center of the public lobby to the vault.

Chief interest, during the open house celebration, was displayed in the elaborate vault

equipment. The 36-ton circular door to the vault is one of the largest in the entire West. The present capacity of the vault provides for 15,000 boxes. Private coupon rooms adjoin and private conference rooms are also provided, some of which are placed freely at the disposal of corporations for shareholders' meetings, civic and fraternal societies. Special attention has been given to ventilation throughout.

The recent large extensions are all in line with amplified and convenient service. The main floor is occupied by the commercial, banking, credit, savings, collection and investment departments. On the mezzanine are

HOME OF THE OLD NATIONAL BANK AND UNION TRUST COMPANY OF SPOKANE

located the trust department and various other departments. On the main floor additional tellers' cages have been provided as well as quarters for officers.

The Old National Bank and the Union Trust Company share a total financial responsibility of $46,000,000. The Old National has banking resources of over $23,000,000 and the Union Trust Company has trust responsibility amounting to nearly $23,000,000. D. W. Twohy, one of the ablest bankers of the Pacific Coast region, is chairman of both institutions. W. D. Vincent is president of the Old National. W. H. Kommers, widely

known in trust company circles throughout the country for his constructive trust company policies, is president of the Union Trust Company. It was largely through the initiative and zeal of Mr.. Kommers that trust companies of the State of Washington have worked together for common ends upon a co-operative basis and that excellent relations with members of the Bar have been cultivated.

It is the uneven distribution of wage benefits which contributes to make this era of business prosperity an unbalanced one, says the Mechanics and Metals National Bank in its current business and financial review. Prosperity in any country cannot for any length of time be one-sided, nor can one class thrive permanently at the expense of another. One class of labor, that which is organized, is pre-eminently thriving today, while others are languishing, or at best receiving only moderate returns for their 'effort. Farmers have for several years sought unsuccessfully to solve the problem of matching rising prices of the things they buy with falling prices of the things they sell. Great numbers of them have given up the effort, abandoned their farms, and joined the ranks of the wage earners. The exodus of negroes from the agricultural communities of the South to the industrial centers of the East and Middle West has lately attracted much attention; it finds its cause in the condition referred to. Many farms in New York State have been abandoned and farm dwellers here have been reduced 32,000 within a single year. In Pennsylvania, according to offcial returns, there are this year more than 9,000 farms vacant and 301,000 acres idle in fifty-five of the State's sixty-seven counties.

CLEVELAND'S NEW MILLION DOLLAR TRUST COMPANY

The Lake Erie Trust Company opened for business in Cleveland on July 2d with capital of $1,000,000 and surplus of $250,000. The company begins under most favorable auspices with a strong board of directors. It also has its own handsome banking home arranged to suit public convenience. Deposit vault and other services will be provided. The president is J. Horace Jones, who has been in the banking business for 35 years and until recently vice-president of the Cleveland Trust Company, having been previously vice-president of the Lake Shore Banking and Trust Company.

BROTHERHOOD OF THE CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE

An old Flemish legend, rich in the folklore of the middle ages, describes an ancient society known as the Brotherhood of the Cheerful Countenance. Its members are de scribed as having a "wonderfully jolly face, finished off, as a sign of good living, with two chins at least."

Statistics fail to prove how many descendants from the fraternity of jolly faces have come down to us during the present age, but every once in a while you can spot one of those fellows whose cheerful countenance is his flittering badge of membership. At his desk, on the street, at the club, at home, he's always an asset-a valuable, hopeful, cheerful individual.

Cheerful people refresh us, inspire us. Their cheeriness is as contagious as the laughter of a rollicking group of jolly picnickers. It isn't hard to get the personal habit of being cheerful. Ninety per cent. of the trouble in this world never happens. The remaining ten per cent. of the trouble is due to the fact that there are not enough members in the Brotherhood of the Cheerful Countenance. (From "Pepperbox," published by Union Savings Bank and Trust - Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.)

"Hand them a letter to this Bank”

Your

patrons and friends visiting California will be extended every courtesy and consideration at

the Security Bank if they bear a letter of introduction from you.

Resources Exceed $195,000,000

Over 260,000
Accounts

The multitudes of visitors to Washington, D. C., as well as those who come and go with different administrations, cannot but be impressed by the commanding position which the trust companies occupy in the capital city of the nation. Their history and growth testify that the flexible services provided by up-to-date trust company organization apply most aptly to the peculiar need of its population. This is true, because Washington is largely residential, although its commercial importance has been growing at a rapid pace. Another reason is that trust companies occupy some of the most attractive and conspicuously located structures in the city. A third reason is that the trust companies preserve the best traditions of fiduciary administration.

The American Security and Trust Company, which will soon enter its thirty-fifth year of service, is one of the four larger and

senior institutions which have given trust company management such prestige in Washington, and including the Union Trust Company, the American Loan & Trust Company and the National Savings & Trust Company. The building in which the American Security and Trust Company has its main office is one of the outstanding architectural attractions in the capital, located across from the United States Treasury and its face, pillars and general outline harmonizing with the impressive dignity of the Treasury building.

Organized in 1889 by a number of local and Pennsylvania men, with deposits of $261,000 at the end of the first year, the American Security and Trust Company is today an institution with deposits in excess of $26,000.000; resources over $32,000,000 and 66,000 customers with a group of five banking offices in thriving locations. It was first incorporated under the laws of Virginia with