Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-26
MEAT TRUST TO BLAME
TEN BANKERS ARE SELF-SLAIN
IN IOWA DURING 1904.
Record Year of Disasters, With Forty
Failures and $12, OOO, 900 Lost
to Depositors.

| An unprecedented record of disaster
| among Iowa banks will be disclosed by the
report of the state auditor Of Iowa for 1904.
eliminating last week with the closing of
| the savings bank at Dedham this Is the
years startling record:
| Ten bank cashiers dead by suicide.
Forty banks wrecked and their surplus
| squandered.
| Twelve millions OF dollars lost to depos-
| itors.
| In two instances bank officers have alb
seconded with funds. thus accounting for the
failure. but the remarkable number Of fail
ures due to similar circumstances has
| aroused the curiosity of the whole state to
ascertain the cause.
| These are the suicides of the year due
to bank failures, so far as the state Off
Gals know:
Fl. C. Spencer and his son, cashier and as
sistant cashier of the Grinnell National
| Bank.
George D. Wood, cashier of the Bank Of
| Cofax, Colfax, Iowa.
Charles Wood, cashier of the Citizens
Bank of st. Charles
F. L. La Rue, cashier of the Corning
State Bank.
| c. D. Utterback, cashier of the Sigour-
| ney Savings Bank.
| II. w. Main, cashier of the Linn Grove
| Bank.
| Cashier Of the Lone Tree Bank.
Two other suicides early in the year.
whose names are not recalled by the at
taches of the state auditors office
Tragedy Followed Tragedy.
| 1t is only within the past few days that
| the state has become aware of the magni-
| tude of the disaster and the tragedies at
| tending them. many Of the failures having
been kept quiet. Not until the two suicides
| in quick succession at Lone Tree and Linn
Grove, and the failure Of the Sheldon State
| Bank, with losses amounting to many
| thousands, creating a statewide sensation
was general attention attracted to the
serious condition of affairs. The failure OF
| the bank at Colfax, the National bank at
| Storm Lake and the bank at Siogurney
| with the suicide Of the cashier added to
| the sensation.
The suicide of Cashier Utterback of the
| Sigourney Bank was followed by the dis
| covery of extensive forgeries which he had
| perpetrated to cover up a shortage which
had been running for some time. His
| shortage. like those of the eight other
cashier suicides, was apparently due to one
| OF two causes-speculation on the Chicago
board OF trade and the Juggling of prices
| by the meat trust.
Disasters Charged to Meat Trust.
Inc meat trust is blamed by thousands
throughout Iowa for the years tragedies.
In almost every bank that failed large
quantities Of paper. based on higher prices
for live stock, were found, the makers be-
ing unable to meet their loans, owing to
the cut in prices Of live stock. In almost
every case the cashier had trusted to the
prices of cattle remaining high, and this
coupled with speculative plunges on the
board of trade, accomplished their ruin
Back Of this recklessness. State Bank Ex-
aminer Cox declares. is the lax banking
years melancholy record efforts are already
making to amend this law.
The epidemic of banking suicides started
with that Of Cashier George D. Wood Of the
OF the shrewdest and most Trustworthy
bankers Of the state, and his suicide
caused great sensation. Investigation de-
veloped that he personally had been large
investor In live stock and had loaned ex-
tensively for cattle purchases. Tho drop in
cattle prices brought him face to face with
ruin II not dishonor, and he took his life.
Wood had been accounted tina weaIthiest
| and most public-spirited man in his county,
and imputatton of dishonesty Is hotly re-
sented by every man in his home city. The
cause OF his downfall is illustrated by the
sale after his suicide. Of paper representing
face value Of SITS 600 for $s4O State Bank
Examiner Cox declares that such worthless
| paper would never have been admitted to
the bank II the institution had been subject
| to state inspection.
A Sx-Fgure Failure.
The death Of E. H. McCutchon, one Of
the best known politicians In the state.
| precipitated the wreck of the bank at Hol-
stein. Directly after his death it was dis
| covered that the losses at this bank would
ypta %La etx
| WOodmen were caught for 100000.
The collapse of the savings bank at New
| Liberty, one of the most recent to fail. was
due to the embezzlement of $4,000 by
| Cashier Arnold Beuthien, who had become
| an investor in the Cleveland Theater at
Chicago
The bank failure at Imogene was due to
the embezzlement of $4,000 by the son of
| the president, but every cent of this loss
| was made good by the president The son
| later returned and was not punished.
pefalcations and forgeries, as well as
| suicides have attended the many failures
| In the list of failures made up by the state
| auditor the defalcation of $4,000 at Iowa
| Falls and the more recent defalcation q
$50 GOO from the Wappelo Bank are not in
Guided. In both of these cases the guilty
| men are doing time in the penitentiary.
| Curious features of the situation are that
| the suicides at Lone Tree and at Cedar
| Rapids were not followed by failure. Bank
| Examiner Cox insists that the causes Of
| the wrecks are normal, and that robbery
| and crime by the bank officials, followed
] by speculation on the board Of trade, have
| marked the failures. He says that the
| Iowa banking system is at fault. because
| private banks Of the state are not subject
| to state supervision. At present private
| banks are treated just as private business
| concerns are State Auditor B. F. Carroll
| shares the view Of Examiner Cox.
| Senator Lewis of Page county, a promi-
| nent banker and member Of the committee
| on banking says that in most cases the
| ruined banks have loaned money extern
| siyely on mortgages and cattle. In the
| case Of the bank at Mount Ayr It was
| found that Day Cummings failure In live
| stock precipitated the collapse.
CONSPIRACY IN HAYTI.
Prominent Men Found Guilty and Sem