Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-02-23
The Bank of Pennsylvania.

The Bank of Pennsylvania.
 From a report which the directors have re- gently made, it appears that the whole of the capital of this institution S1875,OOO, and the whole of the surplus fund, S205,316, have been sunk. The stockholders will not get one cent.
 The notes in circulation amount to S546,- 392, and the deposits to S413, ,396: together S96O,788. These will be paid in part, perhaps in full-if the note holders and depositors wait long enough.
 To the other banks of Philadelphia, there is due the sum of S964, ,288 To cover this debt bills receivable to the amount of S1 222, ,965, have been pledged as collateral security; but, it is believed that part of these will ultimately prove unavailable.
 To foreign banks,''i e to banks not within the bounds of Penrsylvania, the sum of S225,- 4S3 is due. For this no special provision has leen made.
 Our limits allow us to make only the follow ing extracts
 Among the assets were found notes checks, etc, of an insolvent house, the head of which is the brother of the late president, amounting to Sll9,266 57, of which a small portion was secured by doubtful colaerals, and the effects in the hands of the assignee of the firm are ex- pected to pay very small dividend Of this large sum, but S12, $50 vas discounted by the board of directors. * 1.-The obligations of former director and his firm, appear to the extent of S146,818,21"
 "The best inv estigation which the board have. under the pressure of other duties, and in the very short time left them for that purpose, been enabled to make, has satisfied them that some of the declared dividends were not earned, al- though from the manner iu which the books of the bank were kept, and the results exhibited to the board, there was in every instance an ap- parent surplus, which oud have justified their being declared; very large proportion of the deficiency can, in their opinion, be accounted for by the enormous sums paid for usury by the late president, who sold large amounts of the best bills receivable ot the bank whenever its exigencies seemed to him to require it, and allowed to some parties excessive interest for deposits without consultat on with, or report to the board as to either. The proceeds of two such sales to a single individual, amounting to Sl70,l2o O8, were credited to Mir. Allibone's private account in December, 1858, and March, 1854, and do not appear to be accounted for. Other credits in that account are for sums Of money which obviously belonged to the bank. That account which amounted to more than eight millions of dollars during the per- iod for which he held the office ot president, embraces very large transactons with brokers, but for whom does not appear"
 The transactions of the Bank of Pensvlvania, of Thomas Allibone acting as President of the bank, and of Thomas Allibone in his indvi- dual capacity, are strangely mixed up together On thorough examination it may be found that he was not actuated by dishonest motives, but desperate speculation produces as much evil in some cases as does downright dishon- esty.
 With the readers consent we will now in- dulge in few moral retlectonsn
 list. The Bank of Pennsylvania was one of the oldest in the country It was established in 1892 Only two or three of the existing banks could boast of greater antiquity It stood through all the vicisstudes of peace and war, of embargo and non-intercourse, of suspensions of specie payments and resumption of specie payments. It did, indeed, occasionally lose a hundred thousand dollars or so through the de fault of clerk, or some such little accident. but all those mishaps served only to reduce its capital from S250O,OOO to Sl,875,OOO Yet 1t has gone at last. Ought not its melancholy V fate to be warning to other banks?
 2. While the Bank of Pennsylvania, had no profits to divide, it was making large and hand some dividends. May not other banks equally as unsound as the bank of Pennsylvan be do- ing likewise?
 3. Though the bank of Pennsylvania was rotten to the core it made, in its quarterly re- turns to the auditor, good show of assets as any bank in the country. Can any one, after this, place implicit reliance in the statements which the other banks make of their condition? ?
 A. The personal standing of the president, or other officers of bank, is not even presump- tive evidence that the bar k which they control swhat a bank ought to be. Mr Albone was one of the most jealous members of the church (the P. E. O in Philade!p phia, and of exem- plary walk in all the departments of life. ex- cept, as now appears, the banking department. Here he was tempted, and here he fell. as Der. maps many others would fall, if placed iu like circumstances. Let no man he so salf oohiiueh' ln his own virtue as to say what he would do, and what be would pot do if be were fresldent of a bank, the affairs of which should be so desperately entangled as were those Of the bank of Pennsylvania, and his own personal affairs so entanged with those of the bank, that it would be impossible to sepa- rate the one from the other
 We have room for only one more ev.roo. from the report:
 MT. Allibone estimates the estate he nro poses to transfer as giving the bank maroip =, $l50,OoO, over and above all encum brances. which amount upon enquiry we think may in tune, be realized, under proper management. if we are correctly informed as to the amount ol the prior liens'' VI