Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-10-05

w. I.'en Cne company June 30. previons
10 Ihe present examination of 's55- 'Q so
! Sne apparent purpose of making tbe boni.
books agree with books of said co,,,a lam
ana about which the treasurer conldr aiSS5,
no information. Investigation showed a.
lhe New England Loan and Trret o ,,,,''
pany IN 1892 sent the bank n Loom
winch, together with the interest was
charged the bank at $1,000, and the treas.
urer, instead of making payment for tLo
same, covered it by not endorsing two
payments of 5000 each credited the banl,
as payments collected on loans owned hy
the bank, nor IS interest and enteriny
from side to side of the day-book the SG55
oalahce' The following copy of a letter
from the New England Loan and Trust
company more fully explains:
r,,,,,.. lG9 BROADWAY Y, Sept u. 1894
dUdtorS OF Wilmington Suuings bank.
an tthps'e iH' understand that the account
namely: lux NeUls'
July 3, 1893, a credit of s652
July - 1898 debit of s652
January !, 1894. credit of SG52
January H. 1894 a debit of $3.50
Februa'y Z, 1891, a credit of SIPS
-, June 30, 1894, a credit of S525
SG59 ''' '''' '"o items amount to
books % corr
10 Ihese ana we know of no reason whv these
various debts and credits should have been mad.
me item appears to have originated as folloVs.
l-uun No i'5Sl' carpenter, was RENTED to the
savings bank, and later, the loan having h, en- re-
hewed, the papers were returned to the bank and
Jne Investment accepted, and the bank was
EuaIscu oy us with the amount of the loan and
interest namely $1,000 On the other hand in our
letter OF Nov. Il, 1892. we notified Mr. Willard
that we had received the following payments for
t.e credit OF the bank, being partial payments
1888 Bechler, $500; interest on both IS; balance
due us S652. Our statement rendered Dec ~
lSSs, showed these items of debit and credit as
stated above, and in Mr.. Wizards letter of Dec
q 1872, he advised us to deduct the amount our
Que out OF the proceeds of loans sent us for col.
lection, which was afterwards done The whole
account was settled before the date of the va
rious debts and credits on your books, as men
TONED above, and we, therefore, see no reason
why they should have been made.
Yours truly,
W. F. BARTLETT, Treasurer.
The treasurer's excuse for not crediting
the payments on notes referred to, that he
never received the statement of Dec. %,
1892, is disproved by the discovery of said
statement among a lot of old letters of the
bank, together with part of letter of said
date, some of the writing of said letter
having been carefully cut off
The Gilman loan, upon which one of
the 5000 endorsements should have been
made, was paid just before the last visit of
the inspector, and the treasurer had been
obliged to put 5000 into his cash, which
the auditors forced him to admit before the
| inspector of finance and five trustees.
Without going further into details the
result of the investigation may be sum-
married as follows: We have found eleven
| interest-received items, extending over a
period of about four years each, showing a
deficiency varying from SS6 to 1925, the
amount dropped out of the item latest in
date. These shortages increased by inter-
est on the same, the unadjusted payment
of 5000 on the Bechler loan, together with
interest on the use of the $1,000 of the New
England Loan and Trust company matter,
amount to S3031.23, for the restitution of
which demand has been made upon Mr..
Willard. While it may be cOnjectured
that he expected the 1878 cash produced
would meet probable discrepancies discov-
cred in the interest account, it happens
that the amounts in which Willard said the
cash came into his hands do not fit the dis
crepances found, except the Sll5 item fol
which he was credited in his accounting.
As the assertion has been made by Mr.
Willard and some of his friends that all hi;
troubles in this matter are attributable &c
a bad set of books and worse system OF
bookkeeping transmitted to him by his
predecessor, and allowed to continue by the
trustees land of course by the inspector o.
tinance), it may not be out of place to cal
attention to the fact that the Wilmington
savings bank has one of the simplest anC
most perfect systems of bookkeeping il
use in any bank in the state. Its day
book is almost exactly like that in use by
the Brattleboro savings bank, having line
for the explanation of every item, and sep
arate columns for deposits, loans, expenses
interest received, ETC., so that the entlr
transactions of the day are shown at
glance Its deposit-subje ct-to-check sys
TEN is kept in books similar to those in us
in the Peoples national bank OF Brattle
boro.
When Mr.. Willard produced the packag
of surplus cash, with no dates as TO Whel
it came into his possession, in ans wer to IN
ouiries of the inspector Mr.. Willard CAV
him to understand that the bank had N
cash book usually kept by banks to sho'
the cash balance each night so that IN
date of any Overplus or shortage would al
Lear: also that there were no loan registers
If the inspector had looked through one q
the safes he would have found an elegan
hook made especially for keeping cash pa
ances, and a loan register also speclall
made for the purpose of keeping complet
descriptions of loans necessary only t
save trouble in case of loss by fire c
theft. or to trace out interest receipt
after the loan was paid, both of whlc
books Mr.. Willard kept until about IN
; time he commenced to enter the lntere'
: receipts without explanation. Also rec
ord of western loans would have been dl'
4 covered, kept by his predecessor, Wn'c
: Mr. Willard converted into private dire
tory for his own use. ii.
; The auditors would give due credit
: Mr.. Willard. He kept his books neat
9 and evidently thoroughly understood then
The bank has prospered while he has pee &c
. treasurer. but certain comparisons WIN u
= mast record of the bank which he III
made seem to be so misleading as 10 a
g serve a moments notice. lie refers TO u
= fact that the assets have doubled wlIIill
Years. or since he has been treasurer; an
: that the surplus has increased from ~
e 7460S to S5O,OS2.41, and that there a
Il now no bad debts. This last statement
{ appreciated by the finance commute l,!e
whose duty it is to decide upon an apPllc
: lions for loans, of which committee one
Il the auditors is chairman, and we presul
e 80 -, ,,,oro had debts the treasurer won