Evening star., 1901-07-19
PARDON FOR BANKERS
Records Of Mckinley and Cleveland
Compared.
ONE EFFECT OF EXCESSIVE PENALTIES
Political Intercession Not Regard
cd as Influential.
REASONS FOR CLEME ENCY

representative of The Star today inter-
viewed James s. Easby-Smtth. pardon at
torney in the Department of Justice. on the
subject of pardons granted to violators of
the national banking laws. In answer to
the question to whether the .ecent
newspaper reports were correct. that Pres
ident Mckinley had pardoned. during his
first term, thirty-fiye bank wreckcrs, MIR.
Easily Smith said
This Is not true. During President Nc
Kinley's first administration he acted upon
sixty applications for pardon of persons
convicted Of violating the national banking
laws He denied twentyfour of these ap-
plications. granted fifteen unconditional
pardons. commuted twelve sentences. COM
muted and restored to citizenship four ap
plicants. and pardoned to restore the civil
rights of five applicants. OF course. you
must understand that pardons to restore
civil rights are not granted until consider
able period after the convict has served
his full term of imprisonment. and 1t Is re-
Iuired that he present certificates of good
conduct during this period So that the
total number of acts of executive ciemency
whereby the terms OF imprisonment of
viOlaters of the national banking laws
have been shortened Is thirty-oue Presi-
dent Mckinley has acted favorably upon
~ per cent OF the total applications filed,
and has granted absolute pardons In about
p per cent
In considering the question of the exer-
else of executive clemency. especially in a
particular class of cases mere numbers
convey little meaning. 1t is really i'm
possible to form any proper judgment in
this matter without considering each case
as 1t is presented to the President
Mck inley and Cleveland Adminfstra-
tfOns.
How does the proportion Of bank cases
favorably acted upon by President McKin-
ley during his first administration compare
with the number favorably acted upon by
President Cleveland during his second ad-
ministratjon?''
well. / have given you the figures of the
action upon cases of President Mckinley
during his first administration. President
Cleveland. during the four years Of his
second administration. acted upon forty
four applications for pardon In bank cases.
He denied three applications and acted
favnrabiy upon forty-one applications, as
follows: He pardoned absolutely twenty
one. committed eighteen, granted one par
Ion to restore civil rights and granted one
Communication with restoration Of civil
rights So that he acted favorably upon 93
per cent of the applications presented to
him. and granted unconditional pardons
III iS per cent of the cases, as compared
with ~ per cent favoraby acted upon by
President Mckinley. and p per cent of
unconditional pardons. The total number
Of acts of clemency by President Cleveland
and the total number of unconditional par
dnnS granted by him are largely In eX-
CESS Of the same totals during President
MCkinleys first administration
Political Influence Not Powerful.
Are the statements true that these par
dons are brought about by means of polit
cal infiuencer'
II only give you the facts In this
matter. and you can draw your own infer
ence- 1t Is said that the great majority Of
national bank officers are republicans.
President Cleveland. a democrat. acted IA
Yorably upon g3 per cent of the applca-
tionS presented TO him. and President Nc
kinley has acted favorably upon Go per
cent of the applications presented to him.
/ might add that my own experience has
been that great array of political infiu-
ence is more apt to damn a case than to
help # with the Attorney General or the
President.
Concerning banking cases. there are
many matters to be considered that are not
generally known to the public. In the first
place. the penalties for violations Of the
banking laws are very severe. the minimum
penalty for any offense. however trivial
or technical. being five years in the peni-
tentiary- Many of the trial judges In re-
porting favorably upon applications for
pardon recommend pardons commuta-
tions upon the ground that the minimum
penalty prescribed by law is excessive and
that had it been In their power they would
at the time of trial have imposed punish
ment much less than that prescribed by
the statute. 1t must also be remembered
that offenses against the banking laws
vary from the embezzlement of hundreds of
thousands OF dollars and wholesale falS-
fication of books and reports, down to the
embeZzlement of a few dollars, or a mere
technical though really false entry in
book OF report; yet in case of conviction
the defendant cannot be sentenced to 'ess
than five years"
Usual Grounds of CIemency.
What are the usual grounds of ciemency
in these cases?'
"A few cases which take at random are
fair samples Of the great majority. One is
that of a cashier of a New York bank an
old man about eighty years of age. He
drew a check of 500 on his own account,
having a balance of about $500. thus over
drawing his account in the sum of 800.
Before he could make this oyerdraft good
IL discovered. He was convicted and
sentenced to Imprisonment for five years.
Reputable physicians reported that any
Imprisonment, even for a few months.
would necessarily result in his death. On
account Of these representations. and
account Of the really trivial character of
the Offense. his sentence was commuted to
the payment of a fine of 500.
Another case Is that of young boy
who was clerk in a bank iii Kentucky. who
transferred to his own account about s2DO
from the deposit of a customer of the
bank. who woman and who always
had A large balance on deposit. Before he
could replace IL the transfer was discover
sd, and he was sentenced to five years in
the penitentiary. After serving all but
three months of his sentence he was par
doned at the earnest solicitation of the
woman whose funds he had transferred
tn his credit He had in the mean
time fully reimbursed her and the bank
Another case Is that of the president
of bank in Texas He made a number of
false entries In reports to the controller
Of the currency. These reports did not af-
feet the standing of the bank. in fact did
not affect the bank or any person in any
way Some time after these false reports
had been made the bank failed He owned
most OF the stock in the bank. and by sur
rendering all Of his property paid the de-
positors and stockholders in full. Yet he
was indicted for making the false entries
in the reports. pleaded guilty. and was
sentenced to five years. The sentence was
commuted to two and a half years impris-
onment.
In two other cases where pardons have
been recently granted the basis of the ac-
tion wss that the applicants, while await
ing trial and sentence. had been imprisoned
in jail for long periods The pardons
merely operated to credit them upon their
sentences with the time thus spent In jail