The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-02-12
Our New York Letter.
Prince" Harry GenesAIEradaai Escape
of the Bauditii-Bank DefaIcatiens.
NEW YORK. Febrnarv11 1875

been so prolific, was produced the other day by
the temperance Of the notorious Henry w.
Genet at the bar of the Supreme Court. Nc
body reading the details of this performances
would have supposed that the actors in it had
carefully rehearsed their parts beforehand;
taere was such charming affectation of sur
prise on all hands that it seemed perfectly genu-
inc, which is the highest type of histrionic
talent. But the scenery aud properties were
all 10 readiness and elaborately set; the surren-
der wes made to appear like the repentant act
of an ahappy fugitive; the stern rgor of JUS
tice WIS appeased by the touching spectacle of
contriton; the unhappy felon was admitted to
bail-the bondsmen being by striking coinci-
dence in readiness, so as to obvate the necessi-
ty of the slightest delay-and in the course of
an hour, the fugitive withdrew in peace, and
can henceforward walk the streets with safety,
with no price upon his head, no baiiff iu pur-
suit.
Thus it is that another of the banditti whose
plunder of the city laid upon it an iuextricabls
bardsn of debt and taxation virtually escapes
the expiation of his crime. There are only two
or three more wanderers to be reclaimed and
forgiven before the end will have come of that
the history of these gigantic frauds painful
memory to all good citizens as well in respect
to the pecuniary losses they entailed, as to the
failure of all attempts to bring the malefactors
within the exemplary discipline of penal servi-
tude. Doubtless there is little danger of a repe-
tition of the misdeeds, which have borne such
bitter fruits to this plundered community, but
our future exemption from them will not be
due IN any very great degree to the severity
with which they have been punished.
Tweed is now the only culprit whose person
the law holds within its iron grip, and it would
occasion very little surprise if he were pres
emily to find some way of release. He has
damaged his prospects by manifesting dispo-
sition to be garrulous. He has protested to be
willing to tell the whole story of the conspiracy
in which he was chief, but the statements
that bave been wrung from him have so evil
IDENTIFY been made up with the purpose of in
| culpating some, and exculpating others, that
| they have sigually failed to impress people
with sense of the sincerity of his confession.
His revelations fall very far short of complete
ness In fact they do not begin with the be-
| ginning nor follow with historical sequence to
| the end. The tale of the building of the neu
Court House-sn old edifice now, lis founda-
| ton having been laid eighteen years ago,
though the superstructure is still unfinished
| If it ever is told, will involve multitude of
| accomplices, who have as yet been suspected
only by the few who followed the details of
| that stupendous combination of robbery But
Tweed has gained SO little by what he has been
telling that it is not at all unlikely his future
inclinations will be towards reticence rather
| than volubility and the narrative may remain
unwrittep, unless 1t is borne to the public
| through the death bed confession of some one
| of the numerous participants 10 the spoil
| That the return and release of Genet should
have caused SO little talk about town, shows
conclusively that the people have grown weary
| of thinking of the Ring rascals and their do
ings. The subject certainly has no points Of
attraction and since no possible advantage has
ever come of discussing or dealing with it, they
may well acquiesce in its dismissal from further
| consideration.
just now there are other kinds OF offences be-
| ing brought to light, that may well s,srtle the
community. Unhappily bank defalcations are
not new thing; they occur periodically; but Ii
must give the owners of shares Of corporations
a disagreeable sense of the insecurity Of that
kind of property to learn that deficiency Of .
hundred thousand dollars can be kept concealed
for number Of years, as was the case In
the Bank of North America, with capital Of
| a million, twenty per cent. of which had been
| previously lost by other reverses. Some five
/ years ago the institution was placed under the
direction of new officers. At its head was placed
retired merchant of competent fortane and
a high reputation. 1t is the strangest thing i'm
aginable that he should have assumed the helm
without having first taken a most careful in
ventory Of all the effects of the concern, and
without charging off everything that had the
semblance but not the reality of an asset. 1t
was an excellent opportunity for him to have
measured the effects with such nicety as to
have relieved him of incumbrances for which
be was not responsible. But bank officers very
often are careless and confding their business
makes them SO; honesty is the rule; it is very
| seldom that fiduciary trusts are violated. When
We think of the vast sums that are continually
| dependent upon the fidelity of their custodians,
/ it is creditabe TO human nature that pecula-
tions so seldom occur. And yet their very ia.
frequency diminishes the diff culties that lie In
the way of their perpetration. 1t was because
this teller was not distrus'ed nor watched that
be was enabled to carry on his embezzlement
| and conceal it. Even then he had to have an
| accOmplice, one of those weak minded creatures
| whose conceptions of rectitude were SO feeble
that he could not realize that the sin of abet-
ting the guilty act by Withholding the knowl-
edge of it, fell very little short in enormity of
what it would have been if he had actually
been participant 10 the fruits of it.
| That the Bank of North America, under the
auspices Of an able and popular President,
could not recover the shrinkage of its capital
occasioned by bad debt of prior administra-
ton, may be taken as proof that the business
| of banking in New York is not as profitable as
it used to be; the fact is, there are more Of
those financial establishments at present than
the business of ths metropolis can support.
There ara several of them that ought to 60 into
liquidation; they have lost their prestige and
their business, and what with heavy expenses
and excessive taxes, manicipal and natiousl.
coupled with sharp competition and low rates
of interest, the struggle is too much for them,
| and it would be better for their stoc ockholders if
they Were promptly wound up. The uckiest of
| them cannot avoid losses by insolvency. In
times like these, when there are so many FASH
ions and contrivances for raising money, the
shrewdest lenders have difficulty iu guarding
against the insidious approaches by which in
genious borrowers get at their hoard. The
exploits OF Henderson, Gilman, Meter, Dau-
niog and fellows of that ilk drew large
amounts of cash from several of the soundest
and most conservative banks 10 New York
Ths traffic 10 single name paper is very exten-
sve and vast deal of is fiads its way into the
discount lines of our moneyed institutions, so
that whenever there is failure they are dis
covered to be among the victims. This system
is bsneat to merchants, who whenever they
find themselves exceeding the Limitations Of
prudence in the amount of credit they give to
their customers, sell the notes through brokers
and thus diminish the risks Of mercantile busi-
ness. But it is extremely hard on the share
holders ia banks to be obliged to do duty as
guarantors of commercial credits. The cheap
ness of money has tended to keep up bank
stocks above their natural value, but they are
| pradually DECLINING and will nrohably kaap