Mac Burns

UNIT 4

THE BANKER

After Leslie Waller

WOODS PALMER

He came to New York to wage a gigantic multi-million dollar war — and stayed to win.

VIRGINIA CLARY

During bankers’ hours she controlled his public affairs. After hours, she took care of his private ones.

EDITH PALMER

She had charge of his home, his children, his social life — but she had a permanent IOU on his love.

MAC BURNS

He was hired to influence thе right people. When he couldn’t do it with money he tried blackmail — and women.

“The inside scoop on banking, the power drive of the two-fisted but alluring hero, all add up to a sure bestseller.”.

Life magazine

Palmer trailed the older man along the corridor past the receptionist, wondering as he did so why none of the other top officers had been brought in to meet him. This was not, officially, his first day at work. He wasn’t to start the new job until after Labor Day, but this was his first visit to Ubco and protocol usually called for introductions all around.

“You’ll forgive me,” Burckhardt said after a moment as the elevator descended, “for not introducing you to a few of the boys.”

“I gather this savings-bank thing is urgent.”

“It’s silly and unnecessary as hell,” the older man exploded suddenly. “It’s the kind of irrational thing you don’t expect from another banker. But for all that, you’re right: it’s urgent.”

“I’m not very well briefed on it yet,” Palmer said as the doors opened on the main floor. He was, as a matter of fact, fairly well briefed. Although he’d never had to cope with savings banks in Illinois, he kept abreast of the trouble they’d been giving commercial banks in the seventeen states where they operated. Because most of the money was in New York, the conflict was sharpest here.

“Just what do you know?” Burckhardt asked.

“Just that they ”

“In the car,” Burckhardt cut in swiftly.

The car pulled swiftly away from the curb and headed into the heart of Broad Street’s traffic.

“All right, shoot,” Burckhardt ordered.

Palmer frowned, although it cost him no effort at all to summon up the details. “It’s a matter of new money,” he said then. “The savings banks are paying a better dividend and they’re attracting a lot of new money. The problem is to channel the new money back to us.”

“In the nutshell. There isn’t a great deal more I can tell you.”

“You flatter me,” Palmer said. “I don’t even know what you’ve done about the problem so far. I’d have to know that.” It was a lie, Palmer reflected as he said it, but it was a lie in a worthy cause.The old bird was so obviously dying to unburden himself that any excuse would be enough to start him going.

“Done?” Burckhardt snapped. “We’ve sat around diddling ourselves, that’s what we’ve done. For fifteen years we’ve sat on our butts and let the mutuals snatch every savings dollar out from under our noses because we didn’t want that kind of chickenfeed. Now, when we need those dollars, we can’t get at them.”

“That’s the part 1 don’t understand,” Palmer lied again. “I mean, what is so mysterious about these mutual banks? What are there... a hundred and thirty of them? All over the state?”

“About. With their branches, say, two-fifty.”

“Why, Ubco has almost as many branches by itself as their whole system.”

When Burckhardt failed to answer, Palmer pressed on, trying to give him another opening to unburden himself. “That’s what makes it hard to under­stand,” he said. “Here’s a wage earner. He’s in debt for about two thirds of his salary. But he puts away, say, ten dollars a week. Say five. It doesn’t matter how much. He looks around him for a place to save it. On every corner he finds an Ubco branch, or a branch of Manufacturer’s or Chase or First National or Chemical. What I mean is, he has to search long and hard to find a savings- bank branch as convenient to him as a commercial bank. Isn’t that so?”

Burckhardt shrugged. “It doesn’t explain what’s happened,” he said, more to himself than Palmer. “It doesn’t explain why the mutual savings banks have two thirds of all the savings money in the state. Money we sorely need.”

“You make it sound like witchcraft.”

“It’s plain old American stupidity,” Burckhardt retorted. “The mutuals advertise a dividend rate about a half of one percent higher than we do. One half a miserable per cent per annum. Do you have to have that spelled out for the average saver? It means he gets an extra five bucks on his account each year. If you put it to him that way, he’d see how stupid he was being. But nobody’s explained it to him and nobody will.” He stopped and turned to Palmer. “Can you guess why?”

Palmer pretended to frown again. “I suppose,” he said slowly, feigning deep thought, “everyone’s afraid to mention it because it shows just how lit­tle your savings earn; whatever bank you put them in.”

“ Exactly. When people have it spelled out that way, they’ll withdraw their money and throw it into mutual funds or directly on the market. Or this other idiocy, real estate syndication.

Date: 2015-07-17; view: 533; Нарушение авторских прав