walking one day and greeting him with "Well, Skipwith, how's the family?" "Oh, fifteen of them have colds-the rest are pretty well, thanks!" I remember one of my uncles telling me how he once stayed there when a young man and, finding a house party of forty-four, he gradually discovered that he was the only member of the party that was neither a son, son-in-law, daughter or daughter-in-law. That family broke the Skipwiths, and the property has had several different owners since. On my adjoining estate our family has been nearly six hundred years, descending the whole time from father to son except in the case of the second Earl of Denbigh, who joined the Parliament side in the Civil Wars, fought at the Battle of Edge Hill against his father (who was mortally wounded the following week when trying to raid Birmingham under Prince Rupert) and, having married four times without issue, was succeeded by a nephew. In our neighborhood is Ashby St. Legers, now the seat of Lord Wimborne, and well known as closely connected with Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. At Broughton Castle near Banbury is the isolated tower room at the end of the Battlements where Cromwell and his Generals met in preparing their plan of campaign, with no possibility of being overheard or interrupted.

At the wonderful old Tudor house, Bramshill, in Hampshire, as in other homes of like nature, one sees many relics of the Cromwellian soldiers who were billeted there. What with Civil War associations, priests' hiding-places, spots where some historical murder was committed, like the well at Berkeley Castle down which King Edward II was thrown, being then hauled up and stabbed when it was found he was not dead, and other reminiscences, one appreciates how the country houses were connected with the history of England. In many counties one finds houses in which are beds where either Queen Elizabeth, James I or Cromwell slept. One of these is beautiful old Wroxton Abbey, near Banbury, the home of the venerable Lord North, who is locally beloved as the upholder of all sports and the best traditions of a country gentleman. The well-being of every person on his estate is to him a matter of personal interest and I can hardly picture a new commercial millionaire following adequately in his footsteps. At Wroxton is a magnificent example of the work of

ladies of the Elizabethan period and the exquisite coverlet and curtains worked by her Ladies-in-Waiting are still on the bed where the Great Queen slept. The Dukes of Buccleuch were large landowners of the best type and owned some six or seven large estates in England and Scotland, most of which have, I think, been sold in recent years. One of them, of several thousand acres of good agricultural land, was at Dunchurch, near Rugby, in my neighborhood. The land was well farmed and everything was well looked after and kept in good repair and the people on the estate were glad to have the Duke as a landlord. During the War he received an offer for the estate and agreed to sell on receiving an assurance that the purchaser desired it for residential purposes and was not one of the speculating syndicates that were doing much harm buying properties and then promptly raising the rents of the existing tenants of farms and cottages preparatory to a sale. When too late, and to the Duke's great annoyance, it was discovered that there was such a syndicate at the back of the purchaser and rents were forthwith raised all round to the indignation of the neighborhood. On the estate being broken up in lots and offered at auction in a local hall, there was such a disturbance that the sale had to be abandoned. Later on, most of the tenants came to an agreement to buy their holdings, which in some cases had been held by several generations of the same family, but they had to pay high prices or lose their homes.

It is difficult to say how much land has been sold of recent years, as there is no official record. One of the largest firms of real estate agents informs me that they have sold well over 1,000,000 acres of agricultural land since 1919. They are only one of many.

I do not believe that the great mass of our population in the least realizes the effects of what I have called attention to. It was perhaps inevitable that great changes of circumstances should make themselves felt among the land owning classes of England, but we must not repine or indulge in useless recriminations. There is only one duty before us and that is for all to unite and work for the general good of our country and for improvements in the happiness, prosperity and comfort of all.

LABOR BANKS

BY GEORGE M. REYNOLDS

Chairman, Continental and Commercial National Bank of Chicago

A LITTLE more than six years ago the Mount Vernon Savings Bank, Washington, D. C., and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Coöperative National Bank, Cleveland, were organized. They were pioneers of the labor bank movement. The banking business is very old but organized labor is a new recruit in its ranks.

A good many writers and others who discussed the subject tried to see in this new departure an effort to establish innumerable labor banks that would make heavy inroads on the business of other financial institutions. This view was unfortunate and unfounded.

The fact is sometimes overlooked that banks cannot be established and operated merely in imitation of what somebody else has done, or for the purpose of changing the normal flow of deposits, loans and investments. Banking is too serious an undertaking for that. And bankers doubted that labor leaders entertained any such thoughts. Bankers generally were confident that the investigations made by labor officials, with their intelligence and experience, must have convinced them that it would be unwise to locate additional banks where there might already be banks enough to meet the needs of the community.

It is safe to assume, also, that the principal sponsors of labor banks were aware of the fact that banks are institutions of slow and laborious growth. The organizers should be credited with the knowledge that people hesitate to transfer accounts from a bank that has served them well and where they feel acquainted. There are lasting friendships in every business. And banks strive to serve their customers so acceptably as to hold their patronage and good will against all competitors.

Of course the temptation to enter banking is great. It grows partly out of the well-known fact that some of the larger and older

financial institutions show large earnings and pay handsome dividends. Success is always a lure. But men with sufficient intelligence to direct banking operations soon learn several important facts about profits if they try to manage a bank. They discover that big earnings and dividends are the result of cumulative efforts that have been put forth for many years, possibly by several generations of careful bankers-by men who have painstakingly and gradually amassed large surplus funds which augment the earning power of their banks. Through honest dealings and hard work and through the exercise of vigilance over the financial affairs of their customers and friends, the officers of the older banks have attracted a clientele that can be acquired in no other way. It must be gained over a long series of years. Time and service bring a profitable class of business, a class that cannot be weaned away. Naturally such banks, favorably located, make a big percentage on their capital, or rather that part of their invested funds designated as "capital stock"-which, incidentally, is not all the owners have risked in the business.

Instead of fearing a nation-wide movement for the creation of labor banks and ruinous rivalry, the older bankers welcomed the new members of the fraternity. For the most part they were friendly. They could see that much good probably would come from the broadening influence which the labor banks would have. There was hopeful promise in labor's entrance into the field of banking. It would bring those who are most powerful in moulding the opinions of this large body of Americans into direct contact with the practical, serious side of financial affairs. It would teach the necessity of careful scrutiny, caution and a sense of responsibility in the management of other people's money. It would be imparting this knowledge in a practical way. Early they would learn that handling money which belongs to their depositors requires that loans and investments be made only to legitimate, sound and prosperous enterprises-not to schemes which, when dressed in the fanciful language of the promoter, look brighter than new silver dollars, but which too often, in fact almost always, fade into thin air when tested by actual experience. They would learn, also, that there are legitimate pro

motions and that these should be financed by agencies existing for that purpose, but not by the banks. Another important fact which experience would disclose is that, despite the best judgment bankers can use, they suffer losses through the failure of borrowing customers and excess earnings must be set aside to meet these contingencies.

The influence of the labor banks cannot be other than beneficial. Anything that will bring capital and labor closer together will help to take fear and suspicion out of the industrial life of the nation. The more thoroughly workers understand the risks investors must assume in business, and the more fully business men become aware of the struggles and ambitions of employes, the more easily can differences be composed. Ownership and management of banks by labor will assist in arriving at a more genuinely sympathetic understanding of the problems of management.

Labor banks do not enjoy any greater latitude than other banks that are subject to the same jurisdiction. Those in the national system must conform to the same laws and regulations and submit to the same examinations as do other national banks. Such as hold State charters are under legal restrictions identical with those which apply to all other State banks doing business in the same State. All will be officially criticized for non-compliance with the law.

The effect produced by labor banks has been what might have been expected. A great deal of excitement and enthusiasm can be worked up over some marvellous invention, some great reform, or a political question of intense public interest. It is never that way about business undertakings. After the passing of the first flush of public interest created by a new business venture, it is accepted as a matter of course and the public goes merrily on leaving the owners free to work out its destiny.

This is true of banking as it is of any other business. And so far as results can be traced, the effect has been virtually the same as if a like number of banks with equal capital had been organized and operated in the same cities by capitalists. The progress of the latter would have been governed by the conservatism of the management and its ability to attract business. As a matter of