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John W. Pole. Of all speeches the one most anxiously awaited was that of John W. Pole, comptroller of the currency. From small-town banks in Oregon to great banks in Wall Street, financiers listened for what Comptroller Pole—and through him, long silent Andrew W. Mellon— would say about the boiling question of BRANCH BANKING.
Comptroller Pole arose, declared "the financial situation of the country is unquestionably sound," spoke for 23 minutes. When he had finished, the issue of branch banking, so far as the Government's administrative branch is concerned, was settled forever. Rarely has a public officer spoken on a controversial issue so unequivocally, scorning the fine distinction between "group" banking and "branch" banking, declaring that 20% of all U. S. banking offices already are branch banks, calling upon Congress this winter to name a committee to settle, not whether banks may operate outside their present limits, but how far those limits should be extended. He reassured timid one-man banks:
"It is inconceivable that any Comptroller would . . . aid a branch bank unfairly to drive a local bank out of business. . . . The successful country bank has nothing to fear. . . ."
He flayed the "group" bank as a "cumbersome," "expensive"' branch-form, pleaded for a uniform nation-wide system which, with broader powers, would lead State banks to national charters.
George W. Davison, President of Manhattan's central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., took sharp issue, upheld "correspondent" banking, now used by many a great bank.