The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-06-17
LIGHT TURNED ON.
FACTS CONCERNING NATIONAL
BANKS.
Their Origin, Growth. Uses, Abuses
and Power.
Their True Place in Our Political
Economy.
By A. E. BALL. of Minnesota.
Written for The Represen ta tive.1

By A. E. BALL. of Minnesota.
Written for The Represen tative.1
CHAP. VII.
LIQUIDATION AND RECEIVERSHIPS.
We have now reviewed all the law con-
corning the corporate existence of national
banks; but, Of course, there are legal pro-
visions relating to winding them up, which
would have no relation to the purpose of
this book, were it not to expose the man of
straw" set up, and the way the scarecrow
Is legally pummeled afterwards. It is
wholly immater:al how these banks go into
liquidation, provided the public is unin-
jured; but section 1926 of the Revised Stat
utes provides, Whenever any national
banking association fails to redeem in law
full money Of the United States any of its
circulating notes, upon demand of pay
ment duly made during the usual hours of
business, at the Office of such association,
the holders may cause the same to be pro-
tested in one package by notary public"
The above would be very we'll, if it were
not for several contingencies
1. The government bonds are deposited
with the comptroller to secure the payment
Of these bonds, at the rate of ten dollars
plus premium for nine Of circulation; hence
there is only a very remote possibility of
notes being presented for redemption.
2. The government receives them for all
dues, the same as other money.
3. They are included in the phrase
United States currency" State VS..
Casting, % La. Ann, 1909.
4. The banks at any time can deposit
lawful money with the comptroller equal
to the outstanding circulation, and shift
the redemption of it's bills upon that officer.
After having thus removed the necessity
of all or any redemption by the bank, what
use Of several pages Of penal statutes Of the
most dire quality as well as quantity to
compel what there Is not the most remote
possibility of ever occurring? Who cares
If any or all the national banks fail to re-
deem their bills over their counters, or II
they fail up in toto and 60 out of the bust
ness entirely? The circulation goes on and
on, until at last it comes to the treasury,
and Comptroller Eckles, on the 30th of
September, 1895, reports:
1.-The total amount of their (the national
bank notes. circulating notes outstanding
was $213,887,630. OF this amount $780,
1870, 961 was secured by United States bonds,
and $23,706, $50 by lawful money deposited
with the treasurer Of the United States"
All Of this twenty three millions will
come in If not destroyed, in which case the
government is the gamer. If these are all
destroyed, it will show that just about ten
per cent of the average national bank note
circulation has been lost in thirty-three
years.
What good then, Of all this provision of
forfeiture, where nobody, in the usual
course of business, ever wants redemption?
This part of the liquidation law is bombast
pure and simple, which is merely noted to
show how furious the banks can be against
themselves, when they have SO fixed the
law as to transfer redemption on the gov
eminent.
Receiverships have no political concern,
and 50 we pass over them, except as further
on we may treat them incidentally in con-
nectiOn with court decisions
The crimes and m.sdemeanors defined in
connection with the banking laws is for
'unlawfully countersigning or delivering
circulating notes" "for offering or receiv-
ing United States or bank notes as security
for loans,'' and for the various forms of
embezzlement when committed by officers
Of the bank Into this criminal law there
IS smuggled, very innocently, definition
of the menaing of the phrase "Obligations
or other security OF the United States"
which is as follows: Cal! bonds, cert.fi-
Gates of Indebtedness, national bank cur
rency, coupons, United States notes, treas
ury notes, fractional notes, certificates of
deposits, bills, checks, or drafts for money,
drawn by or upon authorized officers of the
United States, stamps and other represen-
tatons of value, Of whatever denomination,
which have been or may issue under any
act of congress"
It is certain that any federal judge would
have held to the above, had this been left
out of the law. The effect Of this has been
to hold all such exempt from taxation as
evidence of government debt.
AN ILL-SPENT LIFE.
Of the late Mr.. Partridge, the famous
Chicago plunger, it may be said by the
way of eulogy that in the game Of spec
ulation which he had carried on with
varying fortune for the past Is years he
was always willing to put up his last dol
lar on the game, and that after his re-
verses he never asked to come in again
until after he had made good liabilities
from previous ventures.
The same eu.ogy may be passed on Mr..
Riley Grennan, the best known of the
surviving plungers on the turf, or on the
late Mr.. John Oakhurst, immortalized in
the pages of Bret Harte. This is merely
equivalent to saying that Mr.. Partridge
was gambler pure and simple, and that
his transactions, covered by the respecta-
bility of the corporate exchanges of the
country, were merely the same kind of
gambling as that which the law aims to
suppress and punish as it deserves when
carried on under any other circumstan-
ceS.
The gamblers trade, whether carried
on with cards or on the race-track or by
options or deals, is one which produces
nothing and adds nothing to the worlds
stock AS stock or grain gambling it
disturbs and unsettles regular values and
legitimate transactions, and tempts hon.
est men from honest industry by the pros
pect of enormous gains to be acquired
without the disagreeable preliminary ne
cessity of laboring to produce them.
Among the many forms Of human
meanness one of the lowest is the
gamblers desire to get somebody else's
money by trickery, cunning or luck in
game of chance. It is greed in it's worse
shape.
CHAPTER VII.
OUR FIRST BANKING.
The first bank in the United States,
then colonies, was the Bank of North
America, which commenced operations
January Z, 1882. 1t was without charters,
and though it ostensibly had its origin
in an institution to supply the army of