New-York tribune., 1908-11-07
MORSE.S SENTENCE.

The whole city said amen TO the conviction
of Charles W. Morse and his exemplary sen
tence to fifteen years in Jail. It SATISFIED the IN
stinct for Justice No circumstance In any
wav extenuated his conduct or would JUSTIFY
the slightest sympathy for him. Ana the
effect OF his sentence is strengthened py the
suspension OF Curtiss sentence. The law
reached for and got the zone really respon-
sibe man." and it could afford 10 pass over
the pitifuI victim Of an evil association.
Every now and then the public reads of a
defaIcatIon in a bank caused by the gambling
of some trusted clerk or teller on the racetrack
or in the stock market Gambling by one OF
these subordinates has only one emu. so GER
tain is this that if the officers of bank learn
that an employe is gambling they dlSchafge
him at once without waiting for the de1aica-
ton, if the experts they set on his accounts
find the banks funds still intact In the de-
funct Bank of North America the situation
was only different in that the gambler who
had access to its funds was not subordinate
hut IFS owner Morse bought banks to gamble
with their funds. He and his friends CON
troled a chain Of banks in order TO use them
in carrying on Stock Exchange operations on
scale too large for their private fortunes or
personal credit The methods OF the gambler
in control of a hank were pretty well exposed
in tbe Morse trial. The board OF directors
Judge
pine" The president of the bank was under
the thumb of its owner. AS the judge said
of Curtis: 'TIe did not dare to oppose the
master for fear Of losing the most remunerative
"place he ever had or ever could expect to nave
Morse bought his banks In order to have
at his command a credit which properly
managed banks would refuse TO him, and as
his operations became more and more ex-
tended his banks became more ana more IN
yolved in them so that their fate was bound
ND with that of his speCulatons His man
agement of his banks was governed not by
banking principles but by the e1igencies Of
his own situation If money was needed to
keep his paper financial structure from top
pling down the banks had to furnish it, re-
gar1Iess of the quality Of security offered
His own account was literally overdrawn. \
sneculatfve associate in desperate straits could
have his check overcertified. Loans Of huge
sums were made in the names Of penniess dunn
mics. Stock Of the speculative owner offered
as collateral was not subjected to Sucn
scrutinv as if would have received from unprej-
udiced bankers. The money Of the bank was
used TO give a fictitious value 10 stock which
II held as collateral or which other banks in
the chain accepted as collateral at the nct-
tIous value The gambler IN control Of the bank
did lust what the smaller gambler in subor-
dinate capacity always does-he resorted ~
crime. misapplying the banks funds and max
inc false entries TO conceal the mlsapplicat1on
from the Controller Of the Currency. The ht-
tie gambler steals and falsifies his accounts 10
hide the theft The big gambler makes dummy
| loans and falsifes his accounts to hide them
| When the gambling banker happens TO be as
big q gambler as Morse-who blew two big
| Wall Street bubbles besides manipulating sun
drv pooIs and corners-the evils of speculative
| banking are widely felt. Morse's operations
| sapping their credit, brought 10 ruin whole
| string of banks, whose crash frightened de-
positors all over the country. He did not cause
| the panic, but he did much TO intensity It's Sc
| veritv The strain credit might have been
| adjusted with less disturbance but Tor the eX-
IRENE weakness III all the institutions whose
| ioanng capacity he had misused in hls spoch
| gambling The power for evil Of such man
where stable credit is of such vast consequence
| as in modern industrial society is tremendous
The lesson Of the Morse operations had al
ready been largely applied in the new bankin?
! laws of this state and in the recent instructions
| Of the Controller of the Currency TO the DahK
examiners. It was completed yesterday.