Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

HISTORY OF THE BANKthe amount was as high as twenty per cent, on salaries up toand including $500; fifteen per cent, on salaries over $500 andup to $1,000; and ten per cent, on salaries over $1,000. As arule, however, the scale of bonuses during the period wastwelve and a half per cent., ten per cent., and seven and ahalf per cent., respectively, to the three classes mentioned.December, 1906, a circular was issued to the branches expressingappreciation of the way in which the staff of the bank hadresponded to the exacting demands made on them during thefive preceding years of rapid branch extension. Under thefavourable conditions prevailing, it was decided in the latterhalf of 1906 that a bonus of one per cent, should be paid tothe shareholders in addition to the regular dividend of sevenper cent., which they had received for many years past.Commencing in 1907, dividends were paid quarterly instead ofhalf-yearly as in the past, and the rate was made eight per cent.This rate was continued until the end of 1909.In its prosperity and progress during this period, TheCanadian Bank of Commerce reflected the development ofCanada itself, which had been steady and satisfactory. Thetotal foreign trade of the country rose from $357,000,000 in1900 to $529,000,000 in 1906; the gross earnings of thesteam railways, from $70,000,000 in 1900 to $125,000,000 in1906; the mineral production, from $64,000,000 in 1900 to$79,000,000 in 1906. These figures show that its prosperitywas not due solely to the great increase in grain productionin the West. The excess of imports over exports ranged from$13,000,000 in 1901 to $76,000,000 in 1905, showing that aconsiderable amount of money was being brought into thecountry by immigration and by borrowing abroad. Theprosperity of Canada, it may be added, had been maintainedduring a period of many disturbances in international finance.A widespread speculative movement in securities had cometo an end in 1902, and during 1903 there was a heavy worldwideshrinkage in the value of stocks and bonds, includingeven British consols. The Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05In