The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-28
Danger HEIGHT of
THE OTHER SIDE.

The New York Times has an inter
esting article on the experience of the
Sullivan County Savings Bank of New
Hampshire, which it applies to show
the average man that the money
power Of the East is not the grasping
and constituencies monster that it has
been depicted. 1t says that this bank
went to the wall because it had. in
vested it's deposits in Western
farm mortgages. The officers of the
bank put their own funds into the same
secure place. AS result, there is
great poverty and suffering in the
county whose people used this as
place of deposit for thfAr savings Some
Woodworking women. ~ without their
support, have lost the savings of a
lifetime and must now live upon public
charity. The lesson which the Times
draws from this is that the New
Hampshire legislature should take
measures to protect depositors in saw
tngs banks by requiring bank officers
to invest their funds only in securities
which are safe, and to prove that the
Eastern money power has suffered.
as well as the state, by the example of
the oppressor.
There is another phase Of this mat
ter which it seems to us ought always
to be borne in mind. There are a great
many people in different parts Of the
EQCt who
ern investments that did not fulfill their
promise, and these people have been
In the past almost as bitter against
what they were pleased to call the dis
honest spectators and loan agents of
Western states as the unhappy people
OF the West, whose mortgages have
been foreclosed and whose property
taken, are against the money sharks
and "Wall street" In each instance
the suffering and loss of the individual
make him blind to certain general
considerations that reflect his own
folly. Take the case of the New Hamp-
shire Savings bank, for example. Its
misfortune is certainly it's own fault.
From million and a half to a million
and three-quarters of money were in
vested in this concern, and it is re-
ported that scarcely any of it can be
recovered. Says the Times: 1.-THE
money was lost because the officers of
the bank relied upon the representa-
tions and guarantees of Western
agents in Nebraska and elsewhere and
were misled by these persons"
What sort Of a fiduciary agent a man
considers himself who invests the saw
1ngs of poor people on representa-
tions" which are so far from the fact
that the entire sum is subsequently,
lost we cannot conceive. Out this way
even among the robbers" of the mort
gagged classes, we should consider that
such a bank official was either abso-
lutely incompetent or false to his trust
A gentleman from the West not Iona
ago attempted to negotiate a loan or
ample security at the East The cap
italist applied to admitted that the
proposition was an acceptable one but
Cc'AA IAAe]I LIS OOdIO VI QlIGClOTS WOulC
not listen to it simply because they ha6
lost large sum of money on an in.
vestment in the same locality, where
it turned out afterward that the mort.
gage loan which had been made was
more than the actual selling value OF
the property at the time that 1t was
mortgaged. He admitted, when the
question was asked, that he had never
gone West, never seen the property
never had valuation of it by third
parties, but had put money of his com
pany into the mortgage on the bare
representation of an agent who dressed
well and had a gentlemanly air. Now
we submit that, whether people like
this are presidents of banks or insur
ance companies, or whether they carry
carpet bags and 6aggy umbrel
las and are known as "hay
seeds" they are in equal de.
gree the prey Of the confidence man
The hope of gain which inspires a mar
to bet that he can call the turn of G
card is in no wise different from the
hope of gain which induces a mar
whom others have trusted with theil
money to invest it in loans whose only