The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1850-08-21

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Banking is done; and you may ask:
What is the objection to making public,
or even to printing, the private accounts
Of the Directors of the Bank and Of
those whose bonds, notes, &C., they
have endorsed? Bear with me mo-
mcnt, and will try and explain.
Banking is pursuit or business: just
us much so as planting, or mercantile
pursuits, or manufacturing, or as is tho
practice Of ley, or medicine. IF it is
carried on by the State, it must be con.
Quoted, us il is, by private Corporations,
or Banks; for they have, by long expe-
rience, ascertained the safest and most
profitable mode Of management. They
have, for hundreds Of years known tha,
they must keep the accounts Of those
who have business with them entirely
private and concealed from the public;
because, if they show their accounts,
those who deal with them will quit them,
and 90 and do business with those who
do not expose their transactions.
There are twelve Banks in South
Carolina, and nearly one thousand more
in the United States. Not one Of all
these Banks read out their Directors
accounts, and publish the Indebtedness
or responsibilities Of their managers or
customers. never knew but one oc-
casion when it was ever proposed in
Charleston; and that was in 1899, at n
meeting Of the Rail Road Bank. The
Directors themselves asked, then, that
their accounts nigh, be read out; only
the amount. And the stockholders re-
fused 10 allow il to be done; becLusc i,
would injurc the Bank. II i, were pro.
posed TO do it in the Planters and Me-
chanics' Bank, does any man dream
that Mr.. Mcmmingcr would support it?
No!-not he. But, he first opposed i,
in 1880 and 1912, and afterwards
cnuscd it TO he done, in the case
Of your Bank, in 1916 1913 and $40.
Now, if j, is good for your Bank, would
il not be good for the private Banks!
If il is injurious 10 them, is it no, so TO
yours?
The State was 20 fully sensible Of
this, that in the 10Th clause Of the char
ter, Comp. p. ~ i, is declnred that no
'dfiss ~shaH have ga right 10 inspect the
accounts ofany individuals, or any body
polite or corporate, with the Bank"
In the 7,h clause Of the Act of 1913, the
same protection is again declared,
Compilation, I'D also, III Cd clause
Act Of 1917, Compilation, l5,) Act Of
ls43, Compilation, CO., And it was
upon the faith Of this protection Of their
private accounts, and Of the Resolution
Of 1889, which copied at the head OF
this article, that all these accounts were
made with the Bank which were Sc,
forth in the Private Report, for the in
formation Of The Legislature, and which
MIR. Memminger contrived 10 have made
public by reading in The House, send.
ing the names and private debts Of hun.
drcds Of the debtors Of the Bank into
public exposure and gossip. Why do
they not send the names Of their debtors,
in the same way, 10 The public, in the
Planters aud Mechanics Bank? Be-
cause none but its friends can vote there,
and they are too wise to do it SO great
an injury.
The requirements Of the Resolution
Of 1880 was afterwards enlarged so as
10 embrace the Branches, and 10 make
tho Report show the accounts on the Is,
Of each month. must here ask par.
tIcular attention 10 the phraseology Of
this Resolution, as the force and effect
ofwhat will follow depends on keeping
the exact words and their true meaning
always in The mind. The Resolution
Of 1889 requires an "Annual Report
of whit OF the "indcblcdncss and
responsibilities Of the several Directors
with the said Bank" And to whom is
this "Privalc Report" TO be made?
"To the Senate and House Of Repre-.
sentativcs."
Did the Legislature mean public
report, when they required "privatc
rcPort2' Consul, every Dictionary Of
note, and there is not one but susains
the construction that the words .'privalc
report TO the Senate and House Of Rep
rcsentatlves" was restrictive term
designating it for their own private in
ipiillukiOil--uhu IlOt iOI tllc pubic.
There was not only reasons Of policy
for making this "privatc.' but the char.
ter protected private accounts from be-
ing exposed. If there had been moth
ing restrictive in the word private, why
was il inserted? 1t was, in fact, when
introduced by Mr.. Trevllc, in $50, in.
troduced as substitute for, and in an
llhcsis, TO proposition, for general
public report. But is it needed to prove
what is palpable? The resolution is
nonsense, if it does not make tho report
"privnlc TO the Senate and House Of
Representatives, and not public TO the
world.
But what does the Resolution call
glor2 a report Of two things; and here,
again, beg special attention to these
two things, us not one and the same
thing, but as being MS different in fact,
truth and meaning, as they are in words
They are st: "The indebtedness OF the
Directors I'd. "rhe responsible
ties Of the Directors"
Do these two, Indebtedness" and