Billion-Dollar Concerns

The U. S. has already developed railroad, utility and industrial corporations whose resources have passed the billion-dollar mark, but, except temporarily, no American bank has until recently broken into the "billion-dollar class." Now, however, the National City Bank of New York, with resources of $1,027,000,000 in June 1924, has entered this field alone among our banking institutions.

For a time during the 1919-20 boom the National City was a "billion-dollar bank." In June, 1920, in fact, its resources had climbed to $1,077,000,000. Yet at that time all 'banking was obviously suffering from inflation. Four years ago, when the National City established this record, its deposits amounted to $799,000,000 and it owed $83,000,000 to the Federal Reserve. Now its deposits stand at $843,000,000 and it owes the Reserve Bank nothing. The increase has therefore come mainly from the bank's own assets.

President Charles E. Mitchell, when interviewed, proved gratified but cautious in predictions. "It does not necessarily mean that the bank's assets will stay constantly above the billion-dollar mark," he stated, "for a bank's resources advance and decline just as figures of car loadings or of steel tonnage rise and fall from month to month ... it tends to show that today this country's banks are in better shape than ever before to carry on the financial work that they, as banks, are expected to do."

Apart from the National City Bank, America's billion-dollar concerns consist of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., the U. S. Steel Corporation, the Standard Oil of New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania and the New York Central railroad systems.