Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1867 TO 1901 127wood, in British Columbia, and in Skagway, Alaska, whichwas the northern terminus of the ocean lines conveying passengersand freight to the Yukon. In Ontario, branches wereopened also in Dresden and Port Perry. The following year(1899) saw new branches established in Atlin, B.C., and FortFrances, Ont. A sub-agency of the Cranbrook branch wasopened in Fort Steele, B.C., but was closed again in 1901.In 1900 branches were opened inCloseleigh, now known asWhitehorse, in the Yukon Territory, and in Seattle, Wash. 1In May, 1899, the Board authorized for the first timethe payment of a general bonus to the members of the staff.Every officer and employee of the bank who had been in theservice for six months or over, received a bonus on his salary,computed asfollows:1. On salaries up to and including $500 ten per cent.with a minimum of $25.2. On salaries over $500 and up to $1,000, inclusivesevenand a half per cent, with a minimum of $50.3. On salaries of more than $1,000 five per cent., with aminimum of $75.This was another step taken by the management inthe carrying out of a settled policy that the bank shouldprovide by every possible means for the well-being and contentmentof the members of its staff.The fiscal year 1899-1900 was pronounced by Mr. Walkerat the annual meeting in 1900 "the most prosperousin thehistory of our country;" the crops were good and prices excellent;there was a feeling of confidence in the future throughoutthe country, and manufacturing industries were entering uponthat era of expansion which continued with brief interruptionsdown to the beginning of the Great War. As the statementof May 30, 1900, is the last which shows the figures of TheCanadian Bank of Commerce alone, apart from those of itsamalgamated institutions, it will now be quotedin full :*As from this time on the number of branches opened is very large, the reader iareferred, for information of this character, to the chronological list in Appendix XII.