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COLUMBIA BANKS ARE GOING TO STICK TO SPECIE PAYMENT H. O. FULTON SAYS LOCAL BANKS were NEVER SOUNDER OR IN BETTER CONDITION. NO NEED FOR CERTIFICATES Thinks That Nashville and Memphis Acted a Bit Hastily in Resorting to That Means of Paying Their Depositors Temporarily. "There is no danger of any stringency in the money market. I have taken and maintained the position all the time that some of the banks in the state were making the mistake of slapping on the certificate system of paying their depositors. They simply lost their heads, and got panicky. The people kept their heads and have never manifested the least uneasiness over the financial situation as a result of the European embroglio." This was the statement of, Henry O. Fulton, cashier of the Phoenix National Bank, and one of the leading financiers of Middle Tennessee. "The bankers of this city have been a unit in opposing the certificate system of paying their depositors. They knew that the untold millions of new currency, available under the AldrichVreeland bill, of 1908, would soon be ready for distribution, and that any present uneasiness or tightness of the money centers would be presently relievd. As long as the people manifested absolute confidence in their financial agents everywhere, there was no occasion or reason for bankers to lose their heads." "Business was never better with the banks here than at present. They are pursuing the even tenor of their way, they have enough money on hand to pay their depositors in full if they wanted it, and they are paying no attention to the rumors that have been sent out from some quarters of the financial world. We have not lost our heads and are not going to put our depositors on a certificate basis of payment. Of that you may be absolutely sure. The uneasiness that some of the banks in the large cities have felt has been relieved by assurances from Washington that all the money they need will be supplied by the last of this week from there. St. Louis and Chicago telegraphed me Wednesday to that effect. They stated that the flurry was over, and that even the most skeptical were convinced that there was no chance or opportunity for a panic."
