Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-02-21
Bank Failures.

present time, locally and generally, is
the failure of various banks throughout
the United States. One cannot pick up
paper without reading of banks clos
ing their doors. The reasons given are
various but in the majority of cases,
speculation" is the result arrived at
The desire of the average American, in
these days of extravaganza, is to accu-
mulate great wealth in the shortest pos
sible time. The Boards of Trade offer
the greatest inducements in this lines
Man is made up of much selishness.
He cares not for the general public so
long as he can further his individual
advancement. He gets the idea that by
investing few dollars in margins,
either in grain, provisions, railroad or
mining stocks, single turn of prices
will make him independent. and his
worldly cares will consist only of how
he can use his riches to the best advan-
tage for his own enjoyment. He knows
that he holds the winning card. He is
sure of it, and in goes the money. 1t
is lost. To recover that and gain his
object more money is thrown into the
great NAV of the Chamber of Com
merce.
The man at last finds out that he has
made mistake, but still thinks the
best place to recover what he has lost
is to work out the lead in which his
money was buried He draws on his
friends. Perhaps the village banker is
that friend. The funds of the bank are
made up largely of the deposits placed
there by persons who have implicit con-
fidence in the owner or owners of the
institution. In aiding his friend, the
banker draws from the deposits, think
ing, the meantime, that the person in
vesting the funds will appease the tickle
jade fortune, and make due returns for
the accommodation. Aid is further
rendered until the depositors learn what
is going on, and run upon the bank is
the result. Failure follows, the bank
closes its doors, the depositors, most of
them poor people, have lost the savings
of a life time, and business, for the time
is'paralYzed.
Everybody knows that cases of this
kind are transporting almost daily. The
depositor's only show for his money is
the pro rata of the assets of the bank
over its liabilities, and in most cases
there is deficiency of assets to cover
the liabilities.
The question now naturally follows
What is to be the remedy? That is
question hard to answer. Yet it is
plainly evident that some measures
should be provided by law where
by the rights of depositors would be
held sacred The bank should be, at
all times, in condition to pay dollar
for dollar to its depositors, and this can
only be done through legislative enact
ment, and as it is not the province of
THE HERALD to draw up laws, the
means required will have to be provided
by the proper body-the State Legis-
lature.
The bank failure period seems to be
upon us. While the banks, as a rule,
are supposed to be so constituted that
they are better and more safe, than
were the banks of 1855, yet the people
are losing just about as much money,
fully as much, in proportion to the in
habitants, as was lost during the ''Wild
Cat" period. In all probability the
people of this country will have to be
their own bankers, generally, just as y
few are now. Under the present system
of banking, depositors are in no wise
protected from loss when bank fails,
and the only ones who receive a bene-
fit from failures are those who have
been careful enough to keep their money
out of the bank.
1t is to be hoped that the reader will
not think The HERALD is opposing
banks, as a rule. Far from it. Sound
banks, conducted by careful, prudent
officers, men who, in making loans,
out of the bank funds, are secured
against possible loss; men who, under
no circumstances, allow depositors to
overdraw their accounts, men who never
double in margins, are good thing to
have in any community, and are. in
fact, great adjunct to business facili-
ties. But even under the most favor
1alaIsa- e,irl.ilaastanoes in which a bank may
be placed. the depostor would be JUS
tined in closely watching the keeper of
his funds, for, in an hour he knows not,
disaster which may have been long
pending. and of which he would have
been informed, had he been a close OBJ
server-may come, and his savings go
like chaff before the wind
Democrats in Congress.
The only thing needful in this country,