USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume VII > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
More thoroughly expressive of what such an occasion really means
1802
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
were the following sentences from a banker of Aurora, Illinois: "Truly, Mr. Frame, there are few men who are privileged to stand on the top of the hill with fifty years of experience, and the ability to look so far in every direction as you. . . An experience in oue community for fifty years brings one into close touch with all activi- ties of his people, he knows and appreciates the difficulties which men have met with. He knows what success has cost them, and in this case you have learned to wisely discriminate between the good and the bad. The confidences imposed with you have been great, and you have been a safe custodian of the secrets of your customers, and I know from what they tell me that they appreciate in your city those fifty years of untiring energies in the interests of others."
The editor in chief of the "Financier," the well known banking jour- nal, of New York, in a personal letter to Mr. Frame, referring to the rounding out of half a century of continuous banking activity, said : "That is something to be proud of, but when, in addition to the faith- ful and the beneficent career which has been yours, there can be cited the proud satisfaction of having participated as an important factor in the upbuilding of banking in America, abundant reason may be found for the compliments and congratulations which no doubt are being showered upon you.
"It is not given to many men," said a La Crosse banker, "to cele- brate a golden anniversary amid such gratifying surroundings as attend you. You have done manful service to the cause of sound banking and honest money, and the nation as well as our state, owes you a debt of gratitude for your unfaltering stand in what you have believed to be right." One of the officers of the Northern Trust Com- pany of Chicago emphasized a point of view with regard to this half century of service which may well be quoted: "You have established a rather unique record in this country, an age where a change of scene and occupation seems to be most prevalent. I beg to congratulate you most sincerely upon this occasion and still more to congratulate the bank that has had the good sense and good fortune to have you associated with it for fifty years. No wonder it is in a very pros- perous condition."
Bringing out the broader activities of Mr. Frame as a banker and financier, an Iowa banker said, with a touch of humor: "You cer- tainly have a right to feel proud of the fact that in the fifty years you have reached the eminent position you enjoy in the banking cir- cles of America. The many addresses you have made before bankers' conventions in all parts of the country have given the city of Wauke- sha almost as much publicity as the water for which the place is famous."
From Lawrence O. Murray, comptroller of the currency, came the following interesting paragraph: "The comptroller of the cur-
1803
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
rency in his daily work sees much evidence of good banking, poor banking and criminal banking. You have always stood for the ideal bank and the ideal banker, and have been ever ready to hold up the hands of a comptroller, trying to do his duty, and to make conditions better in the banks under his supervision."
George E. Roberts, director of the mint at Washington declared, "You have borne well your responsibilities and played not only a helpful part iu the affairs of your own community, but a useful and influential part in shaping the banking policies of, the country."
The following editorial utterance by the "Financier," published at New York, is specially apposite :
"It is not given to all men to round out a full half century of continuous professional life, nor is it given to many to receive the tributes which Waukesha will extend to Mr. Frame. What a lesson the career of a man like Andrew Jay Frame teaches! Relatively the bank over which he presides may not be so important as many others in the United States, but none is better managed, and by reason of the forceful individuality of the presiding officer and his earnest work in behalf of the upbuilding of American banking, no institution is better known. Year after year, Mr. Frame has labored in the cause of real banking reform. His intellience and grasp of banking prob- lems have made liim a national figure. The honors that have come to him in the various associations with which he is affiliated have been unsought, and are but incidental to his work. Beyond question these honors are valued by him, but the honors of which he is most proud are the friendship which he has made among his own people, and the real respect in which he is held in his own community.
"Mr. Frame was not pushed into power or position. Illustrative of his career is the citation of the simple fact that the chair he now occupies in the Waukesha National Bank is located within fifteen feet of the spot where his father as a blacksmith blew his bellows from 1840 to 1844. Typically American and reminiscent of pioneer days, yet how many hundreds of successful men of finance and of worth in other professions trace their antecedents to similar sur- roundings. Well may the United States be proud of them. As long as America produces such sons there is no occasion to worry about the permanence of the Republic."
Under the title of "What man can do," the Milwaukee Journal said editorially, "In Mr. Frame the country has an example that means more than merely the fact of a successful well-to-do citizen. For when men say that in this age it is no longer possible to rise from humble beginnings to great achievements, we may well point to Mr. Frame, who, an orphaned boy, the son of a blacksmith, entered a Wau- kesha bank as office boy a half century ago. Today he is not merely the best known banker in the state, but one of the best known in the na-
1804
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
tion, and an authority on banking and currency. Mr. Frame is an example of citizenship of whom the state may well be proud. He is a living proof that it is still possible for the boy without capital, who has the right stuff in him, to attain to a position of comfort, honor, and of public service."
"As a national authority and publicist in finance and economics," -it has been appropriately said of Mr. Frame that not only has he demonstrated his ability to build up a successful banking house, but also that he possesses and exercises a broad comprehensive knowledge of what may be termed the modern science of finance. Probably no other American banker, the head of an institution in a city ranking with Waukesha, has enjoyed such distinguished associations, and has exercised a more effective influence on the larger problems of banking and currency questions. It will be the purpose of the second portion of this sketch to indicate, so far as possible, his important addresses and writings and the chief incidents in this larger career of Mr. Frame.
A paper on the subject "Money and Wealth," read by him before the Wisconsin Bankers' Association at Milwaukee in 1894. probably first attracted the attention of bankers and economists over the coun- try at large to this Waukesha bank president, and the article was pub- lished in leading banking journals of the country, and won the com- mendation of a number of noted financiers. Another paper on the subject of "Banking and Currency Reform" read before the Milwan- kee Bankers' Club, early in 1895, attracted still wider attention, and he was commended as being the "clearest writer on financial topics in the State of Wisconsin."
To the cause of sound money and a staple currency Mr. Frame has devoted many years and his best energies. In 1896, the year that marked the climax of the free silver agitation, he wrote a pam- phlet entitled "Facts versus Fiction, or the Comedy of Sixteen Errors to One Truth." This was a very effective contribution to the national discussion, and one hundred thousand copies were sent out by the Wisconsin State Central Committee, and many campaign orators used little else than the material supplied by Mr. Frame.
In 1897 he addressed the Wisconsin Bankers, while serving as president of the State Bankers Association, on the topic "Can the severity of panics be ameliorated?" The next address to be noted showed that Mr. Frame occasionally turns aside from the more spe- cific problems of banking and money to the broader field of general economics. In 1900 he read before the Illinois Bankers Association, a paper "Vagaries of Henry Georgeism," and this address was subse- quently repeated with additions before the Henry George Association of Chicago in a banquet given in his honor at the Auditorium Hotel.
Since the elimination of the free silver heresies from American finance, the attention of legislators and economists and practical bank-
1805
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
ers has been directed to many phases of reform in the banking and currency system. Mr. Frame, in the quiet seclusion of his private office has several times influenced financial legislation in the halls of congress. One instance was the following: In drawing the gold stand- ard bill of March 14, 1900, the conference committee of the two branches of congress left out the issuance of gold certificates. By his effective letter to the committee it was reinserted and today over one thousand millions of dollars of gold certificates are outstanding in the United States. Mr. Frame has always vigorously fought fiatism in all forms, and in none of his contests for this object has his colors been lowered. In his discussion he has taken issue with many of the best known financiers of the country. His work as a financial writer and contributor to current discussions may be best understood by taking up his principal addresses and writings in chronological order.
"Branch Banking and Asset Currency," was a criticism, pub- lished in the Bankers Magazine of December, 1901, of views expressed by A. B. Stickney, of the Chicago and Great Western Railway, and others at the American Bankers Association meetings.
In June, 1902, he addressed the Michigan State Bankers Associa- tion on the subject of "Branch Banking and Asset Currency Means Revolution and Retrogression." This address was published in nearly all the banking journals and was commented on by the daily press.
Ex-Comptroller of the Currency, C. G. Dawes, now president of the Central Trust Company of Chicago said: "This address had more to do in knocking out the branch banking and asset currency scheme than any other paper extant."
"Sound versus Soft Money," an address delivered before the Wis- consin State Bankers Association at Milwaukee, in August, 1903, had the character of a state paper. Congressman Charles N. Fowler, chair- man of the Finance Committee in the national house of representatives, had recently proposed in Congress his bill providing for asset cur- rency, a phase very familiar in economic discussions of a few years ago. The congressman was at that time canvassing among the vari- ous states for support for his bill, and made an address before the Wisconsin bankers. After listening to Mr. Fowler and then to Mr. Frame, the state association adopted resolutions decrying against asset currency. Mr. Frame's address turned the tide against the Fowler bill, and with the overwhelming onset of journals and bankers, the proposition was never again seriously revived.
"Panic Panaceas" was the title of an address delivered in 1904 before the American Bankers Association in New York City. It created a profound impression. As the "New York Financier" said, "It was interesting because of its arguments in favor of conservative and sound laws as preventatives of the development of panicky conditions
1806
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
and it was instructive in that it suggested remedies which were thought likely to be effective in restoring confidence after such con- ditions had unavoidably become acute." The conclusion of Mr. Frame's address contained the following words: "In the matter under discussion the trend of all progressive countries is toward the concentration of the power to issue emergency currency. May the statesmen of this country, which is advancing by leaps and bounds far ahead of all competitors in general progress, not fail to provide such relief in some form, the benefits of which will be incalculable. I care not what that plan may be, provided it be on such sound lines that our standard of value may never be tarnished, that distrust may be dispelled, and confidence, that bulwark of all progress, may be ours to the fullest possible extent."
In 1905 occurred under Mr. Frame's authorship a monograph, which was reprinted in the "Wall Street Summary," on the title, "May Reason Reign in Railroad Regulations." Editorially the "Summary" said: "No cogent and exhaustive presentation of the great problem that the railroads and the public are now confronting has been made than that prepared by President Andrew J. Frame." The "Summary" printed 20,000 copies in pamphlet form on calls for same.
In 1906 at the time of the general agitation for reform of currency laws and management, growing out of the irregularities in one or two of the great eastern companies, Mr. Frame addressed a letter to the international policyholders' committee of New York City,-a letter subsequently copied and sent to the million policy holders of the New York Life Insurance Company,-in which, on the proof of soundness in the company's management, he emphatically disapproved of the de- mand being then made for a revolution in the company's management, and in turn declared it was time to call a halt on agitation which was no longer righteous prosecution, but unrighteous persecution. In- stead of the "lunacy of the period in indiscriminately condemning brains and men who are generally successful in business simply be- cause a few men have gone wrong," it was time in his opinion, "to throw hysterics to the wind and adopt a reign of reason."
Among scientific bodies the greatest compliment ever paid Mr. Frame was his appearance as a guest in Witherspoon Hall at Phila- delphia, at a special session on December 2, 1907, of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, devoted to "The Lessons of the Financial Crisis." Among the regular speakers on the programs were such eminent American and international financial authorities as Frank A. Vanderlip, Hon. William Barrett Ridgely, then comp- troller of the currency, Hon. Charles H. Treat, treasurer of the United States, Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Company, and others. Mr. Frame at the close of the discussion was called out and given a remarkable ovation, after which he briefly addressed the audi-
1807
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
ence on the problems of an elastic currency, citing practical solutions which he had urged for several years before banking and business organizations. The addresses of this meeting were given publicity throughout the United States, England and continental centers, and Mr. Frame's contribution was subsequently published in the Annals of the Academy, under the title "Diagnosis of the World's Elastic Currency Problems."
In an octavo volume, published in 1907 by MacMillan Company, en- titled "Practical Problems in Banking & Currency," containing a number of selected addresses delivered in recent years by prominent bankers, financiers and economists, are two articles by Mr. Frame- "Panic Panaceas" and "Sound versus Soft Money," both previously alluded to in this sketch.
In 1907 he made a notable address, entitled "Lower our Standard ? -Never!" This was an address against fiat money and exposing the fallacies of the currency plan of the American Bankers Association Committee, as proposed by several well known financiers, in the meeting of the State Bankers' Asociations of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana, and in this address Mr. Frame won three battles against three eminent American bankers. It was generally conceded that Mr. Frame had the best of the debate, and the New York Financier said : "It may be observed that Mr. Frame's argument was the first of an exhaustive character emanating from a banker. He has, through his admirable presentation of his argument, given opportunity for his fellow bankers throughout the country leisurely to dissect and, for themselves individually, to criticise the plan of the American Bankers' Association Committee, and there are few, it is confidently believed, who will dissent from his views." The resolutions passed by the State Bankers Association, following his able analysis of the fallacies read in part: "While we are strongly in favor of some well secured method to relieve monetary stringencies that will not produce inflation, yet we are unalterably opposed to any plan or change in our currency that does not afford absolute security ; hence we do not look with favor upon the plan proposed by the American Bankers Association Com- mittee."
In 1909 Mr. Frame addressed a letter to the congressional com- mittee on Postal Savings Bank, under the title of "Fallacies of Postal Savings Banks." This letter was taken up and commented upon by leading bankers and journals and was later published as a monograph by Mr. Frame under the title "The Most Serious Phase of the Postal Savings Banks Problem; Is it Philanthropic or Tyrannical?" The views which Mr. Frame expressed in the conclusion of this article he still maintains, and the following sentence may well be quoted: "I am no pessimist, but believe it a patriotic duty to sound a warning against enacting into law a fallacy that undoubtedly would be an entering
1808
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
wedge to the paralyzing influence of paternalism, under the guise of philanthropy, when all history teaches that paternalism deadens human progress."
In "Moody's Magazine" of April, 1910, under the title "The Advan- tages of a Central Bank," Mr. Frame explains in somewhat popular terms the substance of various articles and addresses, which he had previously written and delivered before more technical and scientific bodies. In this article he elaborates what he believes to be the func- tion of a central bank of issue as follows :
"It should have the right to issue extra currency by paying the government a tax of, say, five per cent thereon to prevent inflation- like unto the Imperial Bank of Germany-and under this authority relief could be had to move the crops or prevent cash suspensions of banks and their paralyzing effects. To illustrate: Farmers, mer- chants, manufacturers and others have now in the banks a reservoir where they can go in time of need to obtain loans or cash, wherewith to meet current obligations, payrolls, etc., that the wheels of commerce be not stilled, but when as in 1907 confidence is shaken and frightened depositors are demanding cash from the banks, thus depleting their reserves, with portfolios filled with good securities, where is the reser- voir that extra cash can be had to meet their insane demands ?
"I assert if we had had a central bank of issue in 1907, the plung- ing New York banks could have been refused assistance and thus weeded out, but the conservative and solvent banks could have had rediscounts for cash to meet all demands. If such relief could have been had by the New York banks in 1907, no notice would have been flashed by wire that the New York banks had suspended cash pay- ments; the reserve banks in other cities having their New York bal- ances at command, would not have been compelled to wire suspension of cash payments to their country correspondents; no clearing house certificates would have been required ; the wheels of commerce would have kept humming, labor continued in employment and general pros- perity would not have been palsied."
In the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science of 1910, in an article "State and Federal Control of Banks," by Mr. Frame. In this paper he reviews the experiences of various states and foreign countries under supervision and non-supervision, and urged the necessity of good banking laws and strict enforcement.
A more technical statement of his views as previously published in "Moody's Magazine" was given under the title of "Reform of the Cur- rency." Mr. Frame's article in this journal was under the title "How to Prevent Cash Suspension by Banks," and was the substance of an address delivered before the Colorado Bankers Association, and con- tributed to the discussions at the National Monetary Conference in November, 1910.
1809
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
In "A Review of the Proposed National Reserve Bank," published in January, 1912, in the Journal of Political Economy, Mr. Frame, after stating the principle that the prime need was an elastic currency in abnormal periods, but combined with a scheme which would pre- vent inflation or over-expansion of credit in normal times, asks "would the proposed National Reserve Bank accomplish these ends?" and replies :- .
"In my judgment, as to capital; stockholders, including state banks and trust companies ; earnings and dividends; executive officers, directors, and methods of electing; deposits, disposition of United States bonds; general loaning functions for relief measures, as enum- erated in paragraphs 38 to 42 of the revised plan-in most material respects, yes. But as to the loaning functions of the local associations ; acceptance privileges to all national banks; unnecessary branches; reserves of the National Reserve Association; and easy methods of note issues-in most respects, no."
As a remedy, Mr. Frame maintained that the emergency issues, uncovered by gold, should be subject to such a tax or penalty that they might come out as a relief measure, but would be quickly retired when the trouble ceased, thus avoiding the peril of inflation. His article, which of course is too long for general quotation, concludes as follows: "Therefore, give us a National Reserve Bank that will not dissipate our reserves on loans, that aid may be vouchsafed in the day of trouble, and thus prevent cash suspension by banks, and the train of resulting evils. Give us a bank that under no circum- stances will undermine our independent banking system, or serve to inflate either currency or credit."
In 1912 appeared in pamphlet form "Diagnosis of the National Monetary Commission Bill," delivered by Mr. Frame at Memphis and elsewhere as an address before banking and business organiza- tions. New York Banking journals claimed that this address turned opinion against the proposals for a national reserve bank, as presented by the Monetary Commission.
About the same time appeared his monograph entitled "Conserva- tism; our watchword," being a criticism offered by Mr. Frame to the amendment offered by the American Bankers Association Cur- rency Committee to the plan of the National Monetary Commission for a national reserve association. Among the various comments on this article was the following from the "Wall Street Journal": "There is food for thought in the argument of A. J. Frame in regard to the amendments proposed by the American Bankers' Association to the Aldrich banking plan on the subject of acceptances. Mr. Frame is probably correct in his contention that 'easy methods of further in- ternal credit expansion would aggravate, but not relieve the disease.'"
Mr. Frame has won distinction not only as a banker and financial
1810
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
writer, but also as a gentleman of broad culture, a student, a traveler, and a man of the world in the best sense. His addresses and writings have been noted for a clearness of statement, a trenchant argument and purity of diction, and they take rank not only as economie pro- ductions but as literary articles. The recognition of his abilities along these lines was very fittingly recognized by Carroll College in 1907, when it bestowed upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
DANIEL EUGENE FROST, postmaster of Stevens Point since 1907, for years a practicing lawyer in this city, and identified prominently with many of the leading industrial and financial interprises of the city and county, as well as having manifold outside interests of wide scope and importance, has been a resident of Portage county all his life. Few men of the county have been more active in the development of the resources of the district, or have identified themselves more entirely with the commercial and industrial enterprises that have meant so much to the community, or have been more active in affairs concerning the civic wel- fare of the place. His life has been a busy and effective one thus far, with the promise of greater things in the years to come.
Daniel Eugene Frost was born in Almond, Portage county, Wiscon- sin, on September 18, 1860, and he is a son of Josiah Locke and Maria Jane (Frost) Frost, both of them natives of the state of Massachusetts, where many of the name are yet to be found. The Frosts came from Ips- wich, England, to America in the days prior to the Revolutionary trou- bles, and it is of record that one Rev. Edward Frost, lineal ancestor, located in Boston as early as 1637. As already stated, the family is still a prominent one in the state, and in Boston a brother of the subject, J. Fred Frost by name, resides in the old ancestral home of the family, built there early in the seventeenth century by Captain Stephen Frost.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.