An act of the last Congress authorizes the Controller of Currency to organize several new national banks and permits the circulation of about a million dollars in paper money in the state of Illinois. The Honorable H. R. Hullburdt, Controller of Currency, deserves the gratitude of Chicago's Germans, because he appropriated one fourth of this million for the establishment of a German national bank in this city, providing, at the same time, that this bank may increase its capital to $1,000,000.

The Controller of Currency has entrusted the firm of Henry Greenbaum and Company with the task of organizing the German National Bank. The choice is very fortunate. It is hardly necessary to point out that this banking house enjoys an enviable reputation, not only among Chicago businessmen, but also in the commercial circles of the entire country. it is a well-established fact that the 2American public has great confidence in Mr. Greenbaum's institution. And the fact that the list of stockholders of the new institution contains the names of many prominent local Germans is directly attributable to the confidence which the commercial world has in the Greenbaum Bank, and especially in the firm's president, Mr. Henry Greenbaum.

The following German business houses are among the stockholders of the German National Bank of Chicago: Henry Greenbaum and Company, bankers; Beck and Wirth, wholesale tobaccors; J. and E. Jaeger, glass and porcelain ware; Bergho, Rubling and Company, toys; Theodor Weber, boots and shoes; Peter Schuttler, wagon manufacturer; Leopold and Austrian, commission and cartage; Andrew Schall, real-estate brokers; Hart Brothers, manufacturers; Leopold Kuh and Company; Edmund Juessen, revenue collector; John Hertling, distiller; Joseph Liebenstein, wholesaler; Charles Rietz and Brothers, lumber; Louis Suess, liquors; Simon Floersheim, secretary of Germania Fire Insurance Company; and Adolph Loeb, real estate.

The native American element was represented by the following prominent men and firms: Marshal Field, of Field, Leiter and Company; Charles F. Grey, leather goods; and David A. Gage, City Treasurer.

Next Saturday a board of directors will be elected at the German Savings Bank, as may be seen from the announcement that appears in our advertising columns today.

As soon as the necessary preparations have been made, the German National Bank of Chicago will enter upon its business career. The Greenbaum Bank will serve as a basis for the new institution and will be absorbed by it. Truly that will be a firm foundation for the new bank.

Through careful management the firm of Greenbaum and Company, especially the trust department has built up a much larger clientele than any other private banks of Chicago can boast of, and this fact, together with the favorable prospects previously alluded to, cannot fail to result in an expansion and a 4rating that will make the German National Bank of Chicago the pride of all local Germans.

In connection with this matter we cannot help but acknowledge the success of Mr. Greenbaum's past activity. It was but a short time ago that he organized the German Savings Bank, which already enjoys great popularity, and now he is busily engaged in the establishment of another useful German institution. Thus he is erecting a monument that will long bear witness to the fact that, although he is an American citizen in the full sense of the word, he always has a warm heart and an open hand, whenever it is a matter of promoting German interests and German honor.