Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-09-05
ssc eAMk FAILURE.

4 r.
The suspension of the Illinois State
Savings Bank, one of the leading
financial institutions of Chicago, has
created great excitement among its
depcsitors, who are, for the most part.
small capitalists and poor people, who
can i'll afford to have their savings
locked up by suspension, even if
they ultimately secrre 80 cents on the
dollar, as is now promised by Colonel
Abner Taylor, the Receiver. ~ea-
The following arc the assets and
liabilities Of the bank, as given by
the Receiver in our last nights dis
patches
Loans secured by mortgages 81 $780,
lS4; by col!aterals $1, ,l69, $50; taxes
advanced on loans $4,242; Grlndy
county, Highland Park, South Park
and Ut. Dodge Coal Company bonds
$l94,500; real estate Sl05 031;' new
building sl2l ,625 deposit vaults $92,-
625; furniture and fixtures $S,74O;
cash on hand at sundry banks, aboM
$25, 600; total assets S3,050,947.
LIABILITIES.
Due savings depositors $2,931 1856;
creditors deposits $i,53l; due savings
and deposits of South Branch $47.177;
bills payable $4,000 total Sa,036,OE.
1t is stated that the bank has paid
out over 100000 since the run was
commenced on it last month. wa'
Now, that the bank has failed, and
gone into liquidation, it has all at
once been discovered by its patrons,
that d. d. Spencer, President of the
defunct institution, has been from the
outset pennyless wildcat banker,
and an adventurcr on general prin-
ciples. lie was engaged in the free
banking swindles at Elkhart, Wiscon-
sin, and at Morris, Illinois, before
going to Chicago, in the halcyon days
of democratic free banking, when
even a good Christian found il nec-
essary to study the bank failures and
quotations in his Counterfeit Detector
more closely than he did his bible.
The public disclosures made in all
the Chicago papers several years ago,
as to this man Spencer, oughtto have
put people on their guard but not
wiihstandiHg his notorious character,
and perhaps without caring to en-
guire about ii so long ms he offered
exorbitant interest on, deposits, the
people have gone on placing their
money in his gilded den, until the
final collapse has come, which shows
nearly S30o0,000 of such, deposits.
No bank can receive and pay out
money for the mere fun of the thing,
much less a savings bank, paying as
much interest on the deposits as the
money is really worth for any legiti-
mate business. Every man.. il would
seem, intelligent enough to accumu-
late any money, ought to have known
that in depositing bis money with
Spencer's saving bank, aud receiving
big per cent. interest on his deposits,
he was really going into partnership
with the concern, depending upon tho
sagacity of its managers to make
enough out of the deposits by real
estate and other speculations, to pay
this high per cent. and.a decent profit
to the bank, including legitimate pun
ming expenses besides. a8
i While times are prosperous and
real estate firm and salable, the i'm
vestment proves to be profitable, but
in the hour of the depreciation of Sc
curities upon which the money was
loaned, in comes the depositor de-
manding his money instantly, which
he knew was loaned OH notes and
corner lots, and Of course the banker
can't convert these assets at once, and
down comes the tabernacle, involving
banker and depositor in irrctreivaBle.
ruin.
Banks are an Indispensable adjunct
to civilized and commercial people,
and the greatest safety to, the depos-
itor lies in the character of the men
who manage the bank, When a
banker offers you all your money is
worth as an interest on your deposit,
avoid him as yon would a. iaro-bank
dealer, because it is absolutely certain
that he must invest your funds in
some sort of a hazardous speculation,
which may or may. not prove success
full. In any event, if you must spec
ulatc or gamble, gamble with your
own money, for, in that event, you
will occasionally have. yourself, cut
and shuttle at the pack. ..s5f
Tho National Banking system (the
State Savings Bank was a private af-
fair), is. SO far, the best and safest
system Of Banking yet discovered.
| The safeguards thrown around them
are such that bill-holders cannot loose
q cent in any event, and depositors
ARE usually as well secured. f'with
! this system, yon have men In the busi-
.lncss whose character and wealth are
Ia guarantee that your deposits will
k be managed with the same care and
sagacity they give TO their own pri
vatc affairs, then you have the best
! guarantee of safety which ran bcats-
+ lvised by man.
Ottumwa is fortunate in having
such men only, engaged in the bank
} ing business. -,
; Particular about Her Associates.
II The Dubuauc Uowa) Tines, of the