Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-03-01

icrs ttcy u VOLUNTARILY. 1nefe hcfS oShiiic
| assetJ OF that bank stockholders that were re
! sponsible over and above the assets. say the pro
posed amendment is infinitely more ooJectionaoit
than the former Dill. IL is an attempt To oniii w
an other class OF Puneys, and Duncans aid Names
read from the report of the b INK Comm ssioners
Alarksyou, the gentlemen here say that II you de
| prive these savings ei that two per cent. you Will
crush the country-that you are injuring the citi.
zens say you ciiiiio5 deprive every other class ci
banks, and the other industries ef the State OF this
advantage, and apply iF to the benefit OF savings
| banks.
+ read first from the repert in regard to the Hi
bernia Bank say it wisfiont malice and without
prejudice it is the inexorabis duty imposed upon
US TO make known the condition of these banks. and
then YOU can Judge of their sIety. The capital OF
| the Hibsrnia Bank is nothing. Not one dollar Of
individual responsibility. Its reserve fund is what
81 ,2oS s32 Let us do exact Justice. Now, il you
owe one hundred dollars you don't owe any less.
Well, the Hibernia Bank, ii it owes one million dol
lars, 1t doesn't owe any less There is no le3uction
You can only exact the actual amount due upon any
one piece q property, a1d there is always n
liability to loss upon another. Now, what
are the assets Of that banke Liab;Ii les
other than cap tai and reserve fund, SIS 325 PAL
The ratio OF capital is Is per cent. Ii they owe
Sl0e then their assets are S0S 000 Each s10900
indebtedness that be paid is secured By los 600
in assets. hat kind OF bank is'thatf Suppose
my friend here from Lake 500 600 and he had
only Sl0S 600, would you invite all your friends
| go and give him their money-ads ise them to take
| their chances! do not believe you would. Sill
| these banks come here and demand that the State
| shall take from the toer, and the mechanic, and
from all the other industries of the State per
cent and give it to these Institutions call them
what you please. Now take this at home. Take the
institution that has been represented on this
| floor and in committees Take the insti-
tuition and see how it stands, and am
not responsible for the report 1t is of
mine. They are the statistics of the State, and
they are forced upon us by this constant pressure
upon US to turn over the property Of the State to
these iasti 1tions- Take the Sacramento savings
hapE al A nf maid a1
none. Reserve fuEd, $75 sos. hat looks pretty
respectable Liabilities over the capital and reserve
fund. 81, Ops 1885, Here is reserve fund Of $4,000
to 81 900 900. Now, what ratio is this !?
use their own Language. CRATIC of capital and
reserve to liabilities per cent. 3.75' And these
are the institutions that are pursuing u.s. II they
owe $l00 o00 the ratio is that they have Sl03 900 to
il. These the institutions that asking
US to take from the toilers and from all the in
dustries of the State per cent and turn
it over to them, and before said they have not
one cent of responsibility except that 5000. L
ask again who would ask his friend, knowing that
owed 500, ,00o and that he only had sl03 600
pay it with, ~ go and deposit his money! 1t is not
the poor man who has his savings IN bank that
comes to and asks for this exemption. 1t is the
man who is drawing fat salary--,he men who
are drawing fat salaries and living in princely
rooms in these institutions who come here. But,
say they, we have loaned this way and that way
and the other way. They do not have to loan it in
this way that way. L have in my hand the
statute which places all banks having capital of
over $500, 900 on an equality. Whenever bank has
$500, ,0C0 reserve fund and paid up capitai it has
right to take notes and bonds and stocks and mort
cages it chooses. All distinctions are wiped out.
Eleven Of the principal banks of this State stand in
that class-the same as the commercial banks. Now
we are commanded by the Constitution, in plain
language, to tax credits The Constitution does not
say that you shall take two per cent from class
Of institutions and give it TO another, or that you
shall release this bank that bank, or this industry
or that industry. 1t is laid down in language that
cannot be misunderstood, and We must enforce it,
Mr.. MAY-To my mind, Mr. Speaker, the gentle
man from Napa has utterly and entirely failed and
missed the question at issue. He has made an able
speech here prove to the people of California that
the savings banks are rotten to the core and un-
worthy Of their confidence and, in the interest of
the State, ought to oe abolished. II such motion
had been before the House, his speech would have
been able one. Now cannot stand here and
talk bank expert have never in my life had
any other relation with banks than that Of depos-
itOr. The gentleman from Napa has a savings bank,
be ieve, and can speak from experience.
Mr.. HARTsoN-Let me correct you Ours is a
commercial bank-a stock bank. We pay depostors,
for their money when they deposit 1t is the Bank
Of Napa.
Mr.. MAY thank the gentleman. l did not in
tend to misrepresent him. Now, II my amendment
covered banks like that of he-gentleman from
Napa, that borrow money and agree to pay depos
itors certain amount of interest, then wouldn't
have word to say to the gentleman. say, tax
them; they should be taxed. II the, gentleman is
President of bank that borrows money and agrees
proceeds to loan the money at one per cent. per
month"; expecting 10 make four per cent. clear on
the transaction, l say with all my heart,
tax the gentleman. He should be taxed.
But | am not talking about that kind of a bank 1
refer to the banks that have no capital stock He
undertook to make the point against me that these
savings banks have no capital stock. thank him.
was going to try and prove that very thing to
YOU. They don't preteni to have. They hold the
I.ss IN q iiaeiaFy easaacity Offering their own in
tegrity as security to the depositors that
they will faithfully perform their trust. II they fail
to perform it, have State Prison waiting to
ceive them. Now, take the Hibernia Bank a dis
tingushed illustration. Il has capital stock and
never had. The only security 1t offers to its de-
postors is the security OF twenty five
thirty years unblemished reputation OF its
officers, and there is not that man living
in San Francisco out of the 20 0e0 who have money
in that bank that is uneasy about his deposits. 1t
is not to be presumed that after that many wears
the officers would turn out to be scamps. Now let
me give practical illustration There eighty of
us here. Saw we have 500 apiece that is burden in
our pockets. What will we do with 1t? The honor
able gentleman from Napa is an able financier and
we select him for President of the association, and
the honorable gentleman from Ventura as Secretary
and another gentleman as Cashier. We give them
modest stipend for their services We place
money in their hands. We DO not loan
1t to them, but place it in their hands
that they may use the aggregate
of our little sums more successfully. They take it
and loan it for us. Now the gentleman comes in
and says, "What sort of a savings institution is
that? There is no surplus. 1t has only IS 900 to
pay you gentlemen 5000 with. Would anybody
trust such a institution thatf" | say these
three gentlemen are our agents; that is all ; moth
ing else. There is capital stock no pretense of
any. They pretend to have honesty, and believe
they have it. The gentleman said yesterday that
one-thrd of the savings banks had gone to ruin in
the last year, and the balance were the verge of
bankruptcy. He told half truth. The first
| half believe is something near true believe the
Bank Commissioners have siIted the wheat from the
chaf and the fine gold from isckens. The last half
of the assertion l dissent from with some indigna-
tion | do not believe the savings banks OF this
State are on the verge OF bankruptcy or anywhere
near it. 1t is perhaps true that they would be If
real estate should depreciate in value so per so
as to uncover their securities. In that there
might be loss to individual depositors. Now, the
question comes down to this if we had formed such
an association this, would it be right that the AS
| SCISSOR who comes to assess the gentleman from
Napa and the Cashier and Secretary on this S. O0o
| should then come to us and assess us individually
| not think 1t right, because it would be
| double taxation That money only in
vested for by our agents. Now, it seems
to me that the gentleman does not perceive the diff
| ference between the two cases. One is where the
bank borrows five thousand at certain rate of in
terest ard the other is where it is invested simply
| by an agent Will any man In his senses say it was
| lust or right to tax man for money that he had
placed in the hands Ct an agent, and then tax it to
| the agent also?
Now. the gentleman says this is credit, and un-
the Constitution says SO, but deny that it is
credit in the sense Of the Constitution The Con-
stitution says the word property shall include all
moneys but all moneys are not taxed As Mr.
Leach said, the newspapers have raised the
question as to whether goli notes can
be taxed. If gold notes are not taxed, then all
moneys are not axed. The Supreme Court Of the
United States says that greenbacks cannot be taxed
that national bank notes cannot be taxed Now, If
this be true, then say all moneys are not taxed
The Constitution says bonds shall be taxed hut all
bonds cannot be taxed-United States bonds canuot
be taxed. am here to obey the Constitution and
God giving me wisdom, will obey it, but do not
| believe that the Constitution says tina. any man
shall be taxed twice for the same thing and will
| not vote for any law that believe is unjust
want all property taxed but what want to do is to
| say that when these savings banks-these agents
| = have paid taxes once, that there shall
| be no tax levied upon the Individual de.
| positor | ak nothing for any other
| kind of banks. Then yougO home and say to one
Of these depositors, this is not double taxation He
will tell you, sent my money down TO San Fran
cisco and beg cd the savings bank to invest it for
me. have had TO pay twice-once there AM once
here" II was distinctly understood by the people
when they voted for the Constitution that these de-
| posits should not be taxed twice. And do not
believe any political party lived in San Fran
cisco that sufficiently deeply rooted in popular
| favor to withstand the overwhelming wrath that
would swespit from existence if it perpetuates this
| fraud upon the people. l mean it. / am not much
of politician but VIII pledge you my faith that
believe popular Indignation will sweep party from
existence that perpetnates this fraud. IL you re-
fuse that amendment there rs 600 people in San