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Banking by Au quired (By Russell Lowry, American National their h Bank of San Francisco, in the Com"Not merce Monthly.) steering Any gold? rolled Any coin? once o Any greenbacks, notes or silver today? trying There's a big bank auto a-comin' this record way. went w The above sentiment was irresistibly Mussed suggested to me when I first encounawful, tered the latest device in banking in hospital regenerated San Francisco-a receivcaved i ing cage on wheels. Think of the Wher haughty and dignified tellers you have place I met in the east, and imagine them godown tl ing about from door to door, from ofhappen fice to office, collecting deposits and One taking orders for drafts, after the maneven a ner of a grocer's clerk! CO cust But out here in 'Frisco we haven't ple for had time to cultivate dignity and haularly go teur since the little unpleasantness of tensivel a year or so ago. New conditions arissally as ing have called for new methods, and of Chic the proverbial conservatism of the city a hund of the Golden Gate has suffered some out of severe jolts. for his This particular innovation in bankthat a ing came into vogue soon after the big tain da) earthquake and fire of April, 1906. At cisco that time most of the big banks were chances in the vicinity of California and Montto the $ gomery streets. Although their buildpay the ings were badly damaged-in some inCurre stances totally destroyed-by the fire, paper n all the banks were ready to resume culation business within a month. and nearly all ple, ver in their former locations. its circ Then a peculiar difficulty arose. For age Ca three-quarters of a mile in every diand re rection from the financial district many y nothing remained but charred ruins. out of Such few stores and office buildings as islation, escaped total annihilation were unfit these b for occupancy, and the customers of of the the banks were scrambling for quarters this da; on Van Ness avenue, or in the untheir o burned residence district beyond. Cars but ser were running on but few lines, and dents i heaps of broken brick and stone in the prejudi streets made walking or driving diffiGold cult. The banks found themselves isoThe bui lated. Some solved the problem by in the establishing branches on Van Ness coin, mi avenue. Those holding national charwas sil ters, however, were barred from adoptpaper ing this plan, and they faced the prosthe rela pect of losing some of their best cusmedium tomers, whose loyalty could hardly be house i expected to stand the strain of constant inconvenience. in gold the fire In this emergency the idea bf the gave te "automobile run" was evolved. The house, American National bank bought a runsee a d about of sufficient power to negotiate and dis the littered streets and rugged hills of stooped the city, equipped it with a strong box sengers and sent a man out each day to collect ly anot the deposits of remote customers. The with ot latter saw at once the advantages of the gole the system and showed their appreciait to an tion. Some who had strayed from the about ( fold returned when the new scheme was bersom presented to them, and a number of the eas entirely new patrons were secured. custom Before the end of the summer several wonder of the large banks were using this An in method, and each morning a little pro"steame cession of gasoline buggies started in when I irregular file up Sutter street to the den sw new business area. Some of the older the mo financiers, clinging to the time-honored long I idea that Mahomet should come as a nental humble suppliant to the mountain, mail st gasped with astonishment when they ma, wa saw the mountain journeying on rubin San ber tires to the abode of Mahomet. But had en they finally admitted that the exigentances cy demanded unusual measures. necessa When vacation adjustments shifted could t me into the "automobile run" for a few Alert e weeks I welcomed the opportunity. tercept Riding about in an automobile and ors am gathering up other people's money eastern struck me as being a singularly pleascame ant form of occupation. Besides, being came a recent arrival on the coast, I wanted As con to get acquainted with the city. So mail si I armed myself with a pair of goggles, 13th ai a linen duster and a .38-caliber sixthese ( shooter and fared forth to corral the out the wealth of the town, or SO much of it as still se was peaceably proffered. designa In the main. it was pleasant enough. for nes Summer days in San Francisco are train } never too hot and rarely too cold, and craft, rain is practically unknown from May depart to October. There are some disagreething I able features, of course. The trade After winds which sweep in from the Pacific with every afternoon stir up vast clouds of er day, dust in certain unsprinkled streets of antiqua the burned area, and there are days quarter when the fog is chilling. But these practic drawbacks are more than outweighed by the bright sunshine, the soft Caliearthqu people fornia air, and the occasional glimpses day," from many hills of San Francisco bay, tion of dotted with steamers and tall-masted Effor ships, and bordered by the green slopes method of the Coast range. vails i The hills caused me some trepidation house at first. As everybody knows, they are ally or both numerous and steep in San Fransound cisco. Going up on the high-ear I did quently not mind. But the descent was differprobab ent. My chauffeur, Harry McMichaels, throug an old-time bicycle rider of renown, than ii would dislocate the sparking plug, or the Un whatever the thing is, steer the wheels
