SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18807, 1 December 1932, Page 2

SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM

EXPRESSED BY BANKERS. CONDITIONS IN AMERICA. Voicing a spirit of optimism and confidence In marked contrast to that displayed at the meetings during the last two years, .many of the 400 delegates and guests of Hhe annual convention of the Investment Bankers Association of America expressed the view that “the worst of the depression is past and gradual business recovery is in progress,” says- the New York Times. Members of the twenty-three major committees of the association submitted their reports to the board of governors, preliminary to their presentation to the convention as a whole. The reports represent a concentrated effort to utilise the experience of the depression to provide a definite force for business recovery. Deliberations of tihe board of governors were particularly concerned with the problems of taxes, with a view to recommending the avoidance of taxation that might interfere with a continuation of the business recovery and Increase in employment. . Economy in governmental expenditures and equitable broadening of the tax basis were declared important. Study of Taxation. The 'committee on municipal securities, headed by Henry Hart of the First Detroit Company, inc., has completed an extensive study of taxation in relation to municipal finances and will present a report on its year’s work on municipal conditions throughout the country. A forum will be held on municipal bonds. The president, Colonel Allan M. Pope of the First of Boston Corporation, New York, through personal visits of the seventeen regional groups of 44>e association In the United States and in Canada, has kept in close touch with financial and business conditions, gave a frank and intimate review of the changing conditions in the investment hanking world during the last three years and an outline of the constructive efforts which have been put forth during the past, year. Colonel Pope endeavoured to outline the causes and effects in the depression which have been “frequently distorted bv fear and misinformation” and t-o place criticism where It properly belongs.^ With the attendance at the convention about a quarter greater than last year, the list of delegates reveals' a larger' percentage of senior partners and higher executives of the banking houses and banks than at any convention of the association In many years.