The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-04-28

ers. had no agency whatever in the passage
of the Bank bill. lfimproper influences were
brought TO bear upon the Legislature which
enacted it. the parties now interested in the
Bank are not responsible for them. Without
their aid it became law. They found it up
on the Statute Book, and those who were not
original subscribers. purchased their stock oil
| those who had the legal right to sell. 1T mem
bers of the Legislature acted corruptly, let the
condemnation of the public fall upon their
heads, and not upon those who had no par
| ticipation in the corruption. IL is due, how
| ever, to the members of that Legislature to |
state that it is understood that as far as the |
| investigation has progressed, the charges |
against them. so confidently made, hare nat
| been sustained Jy pyoor-and the people. with |
out the strongest unimpeachablc testimony,
/ will hardly be disposed to believe that their
representatives some of them among the
| most respectable men in the Stakeholder
ately perIured themselves in the discharge of
their high official duties. But whether the
charges which have been made against them
are true or false. the Bank, at present con-
stituted, has nothing to do with them.
This, however, leads TO the inquiry hetl-
er there are any provisions in the charter OF
the Bank so obnoxious and dangerous that
| honest men could not vote for them without
being liable TO the charge of corruption.
1t seems now to be generally conceded that
banks Of circulation, under institutions like
ours, are of indispensable utility. The hard
money experiment though the Ex-Governor
seems still to regard it Us the penacea for all
commercial ills has proved to be failure
and those states in which the experiment has
been tried, are now doing most to encourage
investments ofcapital in banking. They have
given to their citizens charters with satisfac-
tory privileges, and are deriving, IN facilita-
ted exchanges. ouickeped business activity,
3 and their developed resources, the anticipated
result. Missouri herself has at last repudia-
ted her long-cherished delusion, and embark
ed extensively in banking.
, Now, among all the banking institutions Of
the West, not to say the Union, what bank is
there that has enjoyed so much OF public con-
) fdence, and SO fairly merited it, rs the State
E Bank of Indiana! j. there citizen of the
State, whatever may be his notions of bank
ing and the currency, who has not felt proud
c of the character and credit of his own State
: Bank! The benefit which the people of In
o diana, for the last twenty years, have derived
+. from system that has proved itself adequate
u to any emergency, safe to the bill holder and
e profitable to the stakeholder, cannot be esti-
, mated. And to what is the success of the
State Bank to be attributed, while so many
other banks have '-gone by the board!'
n answer, to the peculiar features of its ehurter,
n and the prudence Of its managers. Now, will
: it be believed, that there is not single really
he Bank, which was approved of and voted for
by Gov. Wright, which is not contained in
: that of the new. and that a large portion OF
those persons who are now engaged in man
'e aging the latter, have had for years an active
- participation in the management of the form
10 er. Everyone knows, who knows anything
about the State Bank, that the interest whiol
le the State had in its capital neither controlled
l. its action nor secured its safety. The State
of was powerless in the Board of Control and in
:. the Branch Boards. In the former, its rep
" resentatives stood five to thirteen; in the lat
c, ter, three 70 seven. The success of the STATE
d. Bank is unquestionably owing to the facts
:, that the State Board had full control of tn,
business OF the Branches; that the Branches
nt though independent in their profits, were mu
1t tually responsible for the deposits and cir.
20 culation of each other, and that the mcr
who managed them had both character anC
u money to lose by mal-administration of theil
us affairs.
IL BY the charter Of the new Bank, the sam,
. conservative power is vested in the Stat
Board-the same responsibility rests upon tin
Is Branches-( the same or equally safe men ar,
mt managing their aifairs) while the stockhold
"A ers of each Branch n provision not oontaine>
in the charter of the old Bank are liable fo
Oh an amount equal to their stock. in addition {,
n it, not only for the debts of their own Branch
in but those of every other branch; so that, will
:. every other provision for his protection afford
=" ed by the charter of the State Bank, the char
mt ter of the new Bank gives to the creditor TIN
d, additional guaranty Of the double liability o
h. its stockholders.
IN In this connection it may be proper to say
because the contrary has been atlirmed-tha
Id the management of every Branch of the new
Bank is in the hands of citizens of the State
a of well established reputation. Of its fiv
Sc hundred stockholders, not one in ten is a non
vi resident. There Is scarcely one of the twent
" Branches, whose stockholders collectively ar
", not worth from three times to ten times tn
70 amount of its present capital. Whether the
are men likely TO put in peril their good name
TIC and fortunes by dishonest practices, or Sc
it their stock to those who would diseredit til
Inv State and swindle the people, is submitted
~ the candid Judgment of those who know then
IL There is one provision in the charter of tl
to Bank of the State that is not contained in tn
i'm charter of the State Bank about which
- good deal has been said, and which has bee
I" violently denounced, as containing unusu;
lat and dangerous privileges. refer to eli
of power of the State Board to authorize tn
nm, Branches to discount on or loan their dc
,r posts.
'u- To practical bankers, and intelligent bus
ness men, an objection to the Bank. predic;
rut ted upon the existence OF such "A provision j
tho its Charters simply ridiculous. The oil
nuAlOuS sCNtlfii lltitiN tit Dan
ms TO do. what it would 10 without any sue
the provision. This power TO discount on depo
,ro its will not. it is probable, increase the di
counts of the Branches single dollar.
IT, point of fact all Banks discount on their d.
ct posits. The loans of Banks in all commcl
nd cal cities are largely--while those of priva
- Bankers everywhere. are almost exclusive
ny based upon what they owe TO depositors.-
ed. If no provision similar to the one objected
can be found in the charters of other Bank
it is because none was deemed to be necee
Nm sary. 1t is neither a valuable nor dangerol
provision. Prudent bankers will use the
deposits as they do their circulation. in sue
manner as to be Mt all times prepared
II meet the calls of their creditors. whether d
the positors or bill holders, and no intelligel
rd- man perceivcs any more danger in the use
the the one than the other.
But the great objection to the Bank seen
to be found in the manner in which the stoS
: s was said 10 be subscribed in some of Il
Branches.
> 81 Upon this point discussion would seem
be unnecessary, because il does not involr
the solvency of the Bank or its claims to pul
lie confidence. The provisions of the chart
/, Il under which the sub-commissioners were ~
thorized to close the books as soon as the r
quired amount of stock was subscribed. w
C. saverely criticised in both branches of n
. 81 Legislature. and by the Governor in his We
message; but it nevertheless received Il
e sonction of both Houses and became a pa
& IN 0f tho laws NJ the State