5. Who Act As President And Clerk

At these meetings the president presides and the cashier serves as a clerk.

6. Who Can Vote

One other point remains for consideration, who can vote at a meeting? Every shareholder is entitled to one vote on each share. He can also authorize another to vote for him, and this is often done. The person thus acting is called his attorney or agent, and the document whereby he acts is known as a proxy. One of the peculiarities of the national bank law is, no officer can act as attorney for another at the annual meeting. The law aims to keep the officers apart from the shareholders as much as possible. But when a person has sold his stock, which has not been transferred on the books of the bank, who can vote thereon ? The real owner is the new purchaser, yet his name is not on the company's books. It must follow the record. Accordingly it is a well-known rule of law that one who has sold his shares has a right to vote on them until the transfer has been recorded on the books of the bank. The pledgor of a stock has the same right, and for the same reason.

7. Comparison Between Bank Meetings In The United States And Canada

The annual meetings of banks in this country are usually very brief and tame affairs. In Canada shareholders proceed very differently. An elabo rate statement is prepared by the manager setting forth the history of the business of the bank during the year, accompanied with suggestions pertaining to future operations. Many shareholders attend and often ask numerous questions, which he answers. They are given a full history of the bank's operations, and go away feeling that their bank is not a mere blind pool into which they have thrown their money. The practice of these institutions can not be too highly commended.

It is often said in defense of American methods that a successfully conducted bank must be, after all, largely a one-man affair. It is true that its business must be largely given up to a manager, but there are times and seasons when it is proper to ask him to give an account of his stewardship, however competent and worthy of confidence he may be. Too often shareholders wait until some grave misdeed has been committed before making inquiry. It is well to have confidence in one another, to give bank officers all the authority they need for the successful conduct of the bank's business; nevertheless, they should be required to report what they have done, and inquiry be made into their work on all proper occasions to the end that they may never relax their vigilance, and continue to serve with the utmost fidelity.