BANKING IN CLARK COUNTY

 

By CARL STANGE, Neillsville, Wis.

 

No other business is so closely connected with the development of a community as the banking business, and as it grows so also grows the banking business.

 

Money is the life, or rather the blood of business and commerce, and the banking business is like the heart in man or beast, the instrument which turns money into the proper channels where it is needed.

 

Money hid in an old stocking or buried in a cellar is dead to the world, just as the it were not in existence at all. Money in the banks circulates like the blood in the body, and helps to carry on the business of the world. There are people who think that banks hoard money, pile it up just for the fun of the thing, as the money piled up would make more money. No bank keep more money in it vaults and safes than is absolutely necessary to carry on business over its counter, All other money is either loaned out or deposited in some bank in one of the money centers like Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, St. Paul, Minneapolis and other cities where the same process is gone thru with as stated before, only with this difference: in the larger money centers larger amounts of cash have to be kept on hand on account of their being called upon by the country banks to supply them with needed cash. In the development of the banking business Clark County has been no exception.

 

When the writer of these lines entered into the banking business, over twenty-five years ago, there were only two banks In Clark County, namely: The Clark County Bank with Levi Archer as president and William G. Klopf cashier, and the Neillsville Bank with Richard Dewhurst president and Joseph Morley cashier, each with a capital of $25,000.00, both located in Neillsville, and if memory serves me right, their combined deposits did not amount to $250,000.00 at that time. For several years thereafter they were the only banks in this county.

 

At that time the main business in the county was lumbering off the timber which covered the county, putting it into the various streams where the spring freshets floated it down to La Crosse and other points along the Mississippi river, where it was cut into lumber and distributed to consumer. Most of the lumber and land was owned by capitalists outside of the county and all they cared for was the profits from the timber. The land was considered worthless and a great deal of it reverted back to the county for nonpayment of taxes.

 

For a long time our timber supply was thought inexhaustible but at last there could be seen the handwriting on the wall. We all began to see the end of the lumber business and soon our timber was gone.

 

In looking back, much as I liked the grand old woods, I am glad It is gone. It is better for the development of the county as a whole. In those days of transition, we all wondered what could replace the loss of our timber wealth, and how we could continue to exist, when lo and be1old, the cow entered in and solved our problems. Dairying and general farming developed and we are more prosperous today and more greatly improved than we ever thought could be possible when we watched the disappearance of our timber.

There is more money to the square rod in Clark County today than there was to the square mile in the old lumber days, and it is more evenly distributed, more people possess it. Most of the money earned in the old logging days was paid out to men from outside the county who left again in the spring, and those who did stay usually threw their winter savings away in a few days by having one hell-roaring time while it lasted.

 

The settlers living about were paid in store orders, and at that time the ruling price of flour was six dollars per barrel. The price was seven dollars with a store order and all other goods were charged for in proportion, as the writer found to his sorrow.

 

To give an idea how scarce money was in those days the writer worked every day in the years from 1875 to 1880 at farming, in logging camps and in saw mills and all the money he got in cash in those glorious golden days could be counted in dollars on the fingers of his hands. Compare that with today. What would you think if you were to get ten dollars in cash for a whole years work to say nothing of getting less than that in cash for a period of five years.

 

How changed are the days from the old way of doing business with the store order when the medium of exchange was groceries and other necessities. Then an order had not its cash value at the store, but was discounted 15 per cent, although the signature of the drawer was as good as ready money. Those were the conditions, and now an order on any bank calling for the medium of exchange, which isn’t groceries and clothing and a few luxuries, but cash, is honored at its face value.

 

The bank must follow where there is production and industry and enterprise to perform its, duties as medium between producer and consumer, and as a greater industry, a greater producing power, has been given this county thru its change from the lumber age to the agricultural age, so has the necessity been seen and supplied.

 

The growth of the banking business has been consistent only with the growth of the county in wealth. And It expands, and there is no cessation in sight, so shall the banks step in and perform their duties to the community, always assisting, always laboring, always improving, to make this county one of the most prosperous, industrious and respected communities in the state and realm.

 

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