Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-01-23
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out the establishment Of a banking house
or place of business, accessible BY ordinary
means to the public, open at regular BUSH
ness hours, and with officers we'll known 10
the community in which they reside; and
it was, Of consequence, anticipated that
persons having such bark bills, might pre-
Isent them for payment at any time, and in
default Of payment have them protested,
50 that they could secure payment by the
established legal method. 1t could never
have entered the minds Of the trainers Of
the law, that bills should go into %cireulas
%lation, directly from the Comptroller's Of
flee, without ever going into a bank or pas
fsing over the counter Of a bank in the or
binary coarse of business. I cannot regard
such issues IN any other light, than as a
manifest peryersion Of the spirit and intent
tof The Law; an erasion Of its terms, for the
purpose Of preventing bill-hoiders from OBJ
tanning payment Of their dues, and thus
far at least, fraudulent in design. What I
ever may be said Of legitimate banking as
an abstract question,or It's henefts as eom-
pared with acmrency o. coin, this practice
has ceftainly rendered it impossible. No
ASSOCIATION, however desi; ous, can carry on
a legitimate and honest business on real
capital. while such Institutions as those al.
luaed to are permitted to exist. The ques1
ton is narrowed down to a single point
Honest or FraudulentBanking. Both can
not long exist at the same time, and it is
your duty to determine which shall pre-
vail, and whether the interests Of the peo-
pie Of Wisconsin in the premises, shall or
shall not be protected. 1t is my earnest
wish that the great and gro ing efil should
be speedily checked and removed, and no
proper effort Will be spared BY my Depart
mnnt to accomplish that result. An ex-
animation AS to the manner in which one
eff that class of banks was started discloses
facts more or less app~eciable to all per-
sons, and which cannot in justice be witl,-
held here. In the case alluded to stocks
were issue,l at the Capital OF M~issourlj on
the 18th day Of December ult., and were
registered by the Auditor Of that State on
The same day. On the 2sth of the same
mouth they were registered at St. Louis,
by The President of the Pacific Railroad
Company; and on the 31st of the same
month were assigned in the bank Compt-
rollers Office of this State, as security for
the issues Of bank notes. On that Day the
receipts in the Treasury Of all funds were
q little over two thousand dollars, as ap-
pears by the books in the Treasurei's office.
After that date no business was done 40
money received Or disbursed, until the 4th
day Of the present month, when the a.
ln6nut of $~l24,224,2S, which was in the
Treasury on the 3lst Dec, was paid over
by the retiring Treasurer to the present IN
cutnbent of that office, and the sum of Sl2,-
900 Of bank notes, issued on the aforesaid
Missouri bonds, and dated in July l~ast,aods
a part of the funds so paid over.
These notes had evidently just been
signed, and it might be concluded, passed
directly from the Comptroller's to the
Treasurer's office. The bank was a new
one, unheard Of before, SO that the plate
must have been engaged under the order
of the Comptroller, and the bills printed in
advance of the issue of the stocks By the
State ofMissouri and apparently signed be-
fore their deposit in the Bank Department;
and the State Treasurer must have taken
the currency in exchange for other funds in
the Treasury, before a dollar of it had been
put into circulation elsewhere. This instl-
tuition is sowaguely located as to be wholly
inaccessible to the business public. L,
need but little sagacity to forsee that If
such banking is to be tolerated, or # the
Legislature at this session shall fail to pro-
vide stringent remedies for the evil, that
all legitimate banking is ended for the
present, and wide spread financial ruin
must soon overtake the people and the
State. Another fact in this connection Is
well deserving Of your attention, and the
application Of proper legislative correc-
ton. The funds found in the Treasury by
the new incumbent amounted to the sum
Of $l~24,224,28, nearly all in bank paper,
except, $2,457,86, which was in gold aud
silver coin, notwithstanding the law pfoflib-
its the receiving Of any funds but coin in
payment Of public dues. 1t is apparent
that whatever specie might reach the
Treasury, commanding as it does a large
premium, might hold ont q great tempta-
Lion to the Treasurer TO exchange it for cur
rency. The effect Of exchanging bank pa
per by any bank at the Treasury must
work 10 the detriment of all institutions
uot similarly allowed the privilege. In
view of the many3circanlstancn pointing to
operations Of this nature, and the facttlfat
they directly tend to peril the public inter
ests and put in jeopardy the funds OF the
State, I recommend the passage of a law
prohibiting, under the s~everest penalties,
the State Treasurer from trafiicking in, US
ing any monies belonging to the public on
his own account, for any purpose whatsoev-
err. | also recommend the passage OF q
law, making it a high crime for the Bank
Comptroller, or any officer or person in the
Bank Department, to act as agent Or de-
positor for any person or association, de-
signing to establish any bank, or as agent
of aayStare for the sale of any of us stocks
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