Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-11-27

oording to the statutes Of tie state for 4
treasurer 70 deposit money for his own
personal gam W profit.
On re-dlrC,tam gXlnatlOn witness in.
sisted that no demands for loans Of trust
funds were made TO his knowledge, that
were not responded to, and that the treas.
urer was active in attempts 10 secure IN
vestmentS of state money.
Mr. Frank W. Hoyt, of Madison, was
placed On the stand by the state to give
the results of computations made by him
as TO the possible Its of investments
in government - IN the years In CUES
ton.
Mr.. n. b. Van Slyke, Of Madison, was
sworn and testified as TO the methods and
cost Of making investments in govern
meut bonds. He was kept on the stand for
an hour and was closely Questioned and
croSs.questiOund on New York and local
brokerage, cost of exchange decline and
huctuah0n in the price of bonds, and
kindred topics. Many questions regard
ing Hypothetical transactions were put by
the attorneys, who evidently considered
the testimony of the veteran banker rs Of
especial Importance 1t contained little
that could be condensed into a statement
At this stage Of the proceedings Mr.
Feker entered an objection in the second
HarShaw case on the ground that neither
the governor, the state treasurer nor the
secretary Of state had power under the
statutes to confer on the attorney general
authority to bring the action. He also
submitted us evidence statements of Inter
est received during Harshaw'S term, which
had just been comriled by Cashier
SChreiber.
Mr. Schneider testified that the account
involving the interest moneys was kept in
the name of s. NJ. Hay, trustee, Mr. Hay
was trustee FOR witness
Question--For whom were you trus-
tee?
Answer-lt was my own money.
Witness said the account was kept in
this way because he had private account
in the bank Mr.. HarShaw did not check
against this account himself No interest
had ever been accredited in the ac.
count. No demand for interest had
ever been made. Mr.. Harshaw gave
notes for money advanced by the bank. 1t
was expected that these notes would be
paid out Of tie balance of this account at
The time If final settlement, If they were
not paid before. The notes were still in
the witness possession, at Oshkosh. A
balance sheet was made out from the book
in which this and all other
individual accounts were kept and
submitted to witness. Hetad never seen
President Hay look over the balance
sheet and did not know that he had done
so.
There was an account with the state
treasurer on the books of the bank, some
times with a balance of $50, 600 or $50, 900
Mr.. Schneider told how he happened to
act as adviser and insurer of the state
treasurer. Sometime before Mr.. Harshaw
entered upon his first term he asked wit
ness if he would advise him where the
state funds could be safely deposited and
witness replied that he would. None of
Mr. Harshaw's bondsmen ever spoke to
him on the subject. The conversation re
ferred to took place before the bonds were
made out. Witness did not know who
they were to be until about the time the
bonds were made out.
Question DID you act as financial agent
of Mr.. Harshaw because the surcties de.
sired it?
Answer-Mr Harshaw was the only one
that spoke to me about it.
Cashier Charles Schneider of Oshkosh,
was recalled to the stand when court open
ed in the treasury cases trial Thursday
morning. Continuing his testimony of
yesterday he said that there was an ar
rangement with the banks regarding the
rate of interest to be paid ON public
moneys d posted, AS cashier of the
First National bank of Oshkosh he paid
to himself as financial agent of Harshaw
interest on public funds in the bank. He
did this without consulting the other Off
GERS of the bank concerning the deposit
aud payment Of interest He said he was
to receive compensation for attending to
the business and he thought his services
during the four years were worth SIC, 900
Guenther paid him $4,000 for services
rendered him while state treasurer. He
never received from the Ratavian bank, of
La Crosse, any interest and was not aware
there was deposit in that bank. He
| treated all the transactions involved the
same as any otter private business. He
had no agreement to keep ii secret and no
reason for doing 50, but dld not publish it
TO the world.
Mr.. Schneider said that thirty.eight
banks had deposits of state funds during
Harshaw S term of office. The Milwaukee
banks reduced the rate of interest from 8
to 215 per cent, and this reduction was
quietly accepted Money was plenty at
that time Some of the other banks still
raid per cent Harshaw was not used
TO handling large sums of money prior to
! his election as state treasurer, and this
was the reason why the witness was en-
| ployed to examine his accounts as an ex-
pert. He did not give notice when his
visits would be made. If there had been
any losses in The office the interest received
and deposited with the Oshkosh bank
would have been used 10 make them good.
He did the same with Guenther as with
Harshaw-kept the interest money until
the summer after the term Of office closed
Mr.. harshaw had given additional securi-
ty to witness to the amount of $4,000
to cover losses.
Testimony of James I. IIlsIey, of the
Marshall q lIlsley bank, and Of F. F.
| Day, president of the Plankinton bank.
was read. The pith of all these
depositions was that bank officials would
not testify TO any definite agreement Us
TO tie rate Of interest. to be paid or the
length of time that deposits we're to be
left in the bank. All stated that it was a
common practice among banks in Milwau.