Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

1901 TO 1914 223selected for this purpose and arrangements were completedfor its purchase. A few years later the building now occupied1by the Montreal branch was erected on the site.About midsummer the branches were asked to decline tomake loans to casual borrowers and to keep their advances at aslow a level as possible consistent with the retention of valuablebusiness, on account of the active demand for money and thenecessity of having in reserve sufficient funds to provide forthe autumnal grain movement. Managers were urged to takethe earliest opportunity to get rid of loans which did notoffer some collateral advantage to the bank apart from themere earning of interest. By August the money stringencyhad grown so marked that it was decided that the rates ofdiscount must be increased. All advances made, not forbusiness purposes but merely to accommodate the borrower,were to bear the minimum rate of seven per cent. The minimumrates for mercantile business, not of the first class, werefixed at six and a half to seven per cent. A herald of theincreased cost of living,of which so much was subsequentlyto be heard, was the announcement in June that, althoughthe minimumthe Board did not wish to make a rule increasingsalary of $1,000 on which an officer would be permitted tomarry, it would be considered imprudent for him to do soon that salary without first consulting the executive as to hisprospects in the bank.The general condition of the country earlyin 1904 was soprosperous as to create apprehensions of reaction, and it wasdecided to make every effort to improve the quality of thediscounts as far as possible, in anticipation of a coming periodof depression which might be expected to develop bad debts.There was ample warrant for this policy of caution so faras Ontario was concerned, because the winter of 1903-04 wasso severe that much damage was done to the fall wheat cropand a considerable part of the acreage devoted to it had tobe plowed up in the spring. About this period also a number1See plates 36 and 37. facing pages 226 and 230.