Background

James Graham Cannon was born on July 26, 1858; the son of Ann Eliza (White) Cannon and George B. Cannon, a local business man of the small town of Delhi, New York. In 1872 his parents moved to New York City.

Education

James graduated from Packard's Business College in 1875 in New York City.

Career

Cannon obtained a position as a messenger in the Fifth Avenue Bank, soon transferred to the Fourth National Bank, and steadily advanced through the different grades until he became vice-president in 1890, a post which he retained for twenty years. He became president on August 9, 1910, remaining in that position until the Fourth National was amalgamated in 1914 with the Mechanics & Metals National Bank. Cannon's earliest service to the financial community, outside of the performance of his duty as a faithful and exceptionally efficient administrative officer of his own institution, was rendered in connection with the study of commercial credit. During the decade or two after he became vice-president of the Fourth National Bank credit study and analysis in American banking institutions was at a low ebb. The profession of accountancy then hardly existed in the United States, and it was not until the early nineties that credit departments began to be established even by metropolitan banks. During these formative years of the American credit system, Cannon rendered valuable service through speeches, addresses, and articles designed to enforce the necessity of sound credit analysis as a basis for careful banking. It was not, however, in connection with credit study and analysis that he became most widely known. In the course of his work as an operating officer he had become impressed with the importance of the clearing-house system. In due time his studies of clearings were elaborated into a volume entitled Clearing-houses, their History, Methods and Administration (1908) which passed through various editions and became, for its time, the standard work of reference on clearing-house practise. Cannon was one of the earliest proponents of a plan to make use of the clearing-house associations of the country as institutions for the issuance of an elastic currency on a semiemergency basis when required by the needs of trade. He advocated this view before the so-called (Pujo) Money Trust Committee of the House of Representatives in 1912-13, and both his testimony and his earlier writings furnished material for use in connection with the framing of the Federal Reserve Act. In addition to becoming president and one of the chief factors in the National Association of Credit Men and chairman of the committee on finance and currency of the New York State Chamber of Commerce, Cannon also played an important part as a director or trustee in various commercial and financial institutions. He rendered extensive service to educational and charitable institutions and was also prominent in church work (Congregational), besides having an active share in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association.

His career, closely bound up with a single institution, was terminated at the time when the bank was consolidated with the Mechanics & Metals, a combination brought about against Cannon's wishes and presenting a situation in which he refused to participate. His death at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight was by some regarded as having been hastened through disappointment.

Achievements

• He was one of the earliest proponents of a plan to make use of the clearing-house associations of the country as institutions for the issuance of an elastic currency on a semiemergency basis when required by the needs of trade.

Works

More photos

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  • The currency problem and the present financial situation: a series of addresses delivered at Columbi

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Clearing-Houses: Their History, Methods And Administration (1900)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Successful Methods In Business: And Other Papers...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Personality

Of a somewhat stern, rather uncompromising appearance, Cannon well represented outwardly the traditional ideal of the New York banker, but associates found him an unusually kindly and well disposed chief.

His writings represent the same qualities of accuracy, system, and attention to detail without great brilliancy or ingenuity, which were characteristic of their author. Both in his early work as a "credit man, " his later career as a leader in the scientific credit movement, and in his activity as an exponent of correct clearing-house practise, these were, however, precisely the traits that were of immediate practical value.

Connections

Father:

George B. Cannon

Mother:

Ann Eliza (White) Cannon

Wife:

Charlotte B. Bradley