The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-07-21
Thu Press and Banner :
w. A. LEE, EDiToR.
"Wednesday, July 81, 1875.
The Solomon Bank Failure.

Aneen.I.-->
The Solomon Bank Failure.
The recent failure of the Carolina
Bank and Trust Company, one of the
chief repositories of the State funds and
the loss to the State of over 100000 de-
posted, haye very naturally excited
great interest as to the causes of the ca.
tastrophe, and the responsibility of State
officials for the same. The report of q
recent interview with Treasurer Cardo.
20, by correspondent of the News and
Courier, and letter of Comptroller.
General Dunn, throw some light upon
the subject.
The Treasurer attributes the failure to
the large investments made by Mr.. Sol
onion of the State bonds deposits du-
ring the past two years in class:ot
State papers whlch were considered
fraudulent, andfor which no Legislative
appropriation had been made. These
papers were purchased by him at large
discount, and by inducing the Legisla.
ture to provide for their payment at par,
he hoped to realize handsome profit
for himself and his friends. Under
these circumstances policy of reform
and retrencbment was fatal to the SOL
vency of the Bank and ensured its inev-
liable failure. The real cause of the
bitter fight last Winter against Cover
nor Chamberlain and the Treasurer, &C.
cording to the latter, was the attempt of
these officials to withdraw the deposits,
and to inaugurate a policy of reform
which would have been fatal to the in
terests of Solomon and his friends. The
influence of Solomon with the Legis-
lature was such as to induce the passage
Of an Act to make his bank and another
the sole repositories of the State funds.
But for the veto of this Act which was
only sustained by one vote, the State,
in the opinion of the Treasurer, would
have lost five hundred thousand dollars,
instead of two hundred thousand.
The Treasurer states that for two years
past he has anticipated the failure of the
Bank, and disclaims any responsibility
for the loss to the State. A board con-
sisting of the Governor, Comptroller
General and Treasurer, designate the
bank or banks where the State moneys
shall be deposited, and the Treasurer
states, that he has always opposed the
increase of those deposits in Solomon's
bank, but was overruled successfully by
Comptrollers Hoge and Dunn, and in
the term of the former was ordered to
increase the deposits from $25, 900 to
Sl6O,000. Mr.. Dunn himself after be-
coming Comptroller-G General moved to
increase the deposits to $25O,0OO which
was overruled by the Governor.
Mr.. Dunn in his letter admits that he
voted for an increase of the State depos-
its in the bank toS2OO, 900, agreeing with
the Governor at the time, and having
no reason to doubt the solvency of the
bank. He thinks it strange that the
Treasurer, if he really believed that the
failure of the bank was only question
of time, should have deposited $50,
there on his own volition. But as we
have stated above, the Treasurer denies
that the deposit was an act OF his, and
states that in fact it was made against
his consent. Each party very naturally
seeks to shift the onus of responsibility
upon other shoulders, and to relieve
himself from all blame in the matter.
If the Treasurer's statement is true he
certainly is not to be blamed, and the
blame if any, must attach to the other
members of the financial board. It
would seem strange that the constituted
guardians Of the public funds should
have been entirely ignoranto of the finan-
cial condition of its depository. The
more plausible explanation, is that they
saw the crisis and sought to tide over
heperil by the rash and lavish use of the
public funds. This was entirely unjus-
titiable' The consequence is, that the
Public Treasury is locked up for six
months, the payment Of the interest on
the debt is stayed, all operations under
the Funding Act delayed, and serious
financial loss entailed upon the State.
Solomon and his assets are responsible,
but before they can be made liable they
will doubtless take wings and fly
away"