The Washington herald., 1908-05-18
Fly IN HIGH FINANCE
Woman Cashier is Swindled
in Wall Street.
BANK RULE IS RESPONSIBLE
National City Bank of New York
Forced Her to Pay 3l1 Per Cent for
Gold, which Other Banks Got st
= Per Cent--A Pathetic TaIe-wiII
This Congress Take Actionf

A pathetic tale OF how the largest bank
in Wall street sheared a little eve lamb
Of a cashier is told by Mr.. James C.
Halloek, prominent In the financial
world Il comes from the bluffs OF the
raging Missouri, at the furthermost bor-
Ger OF North Dakota, near the mouth Of
the Yellowstone, and is narrated In SEN
ate document No. 4s5, containing the let
ter Of the Secretary of the Treasury as
10 the refusal of New York banks &c
furnish currency for needs Of interior
banks.
The Citizens National Bank of Willis
ton. n. OAK, may be called an interior
bank. but it was on the outside when il
came to dealing with the National City
Bank of New York, in this instance.
Transferred the Surplus.
This worthy bank of far away North
Dakota has a capital of $4,000, and de-
posits of some $200,000. II is also United
States depositary, and was authorized TO
retain s5ooOo of any public moneys de-
posted with it, Early in November, hav-
ing more, the lady cashier transferred
the excess by sending the assistant treas
urer at New York a check drawn on their
New York eorrespOndent-the National
City Bank-who telegraphed her on No
vembeT that she must not transfer
funds in that way again. But she did.
On November Z the National City Bank
wired her: Assistant treasurer will ac-
eept only gold. We have bought for
your account gold al 81 per cent to pro-
tect your check. They also wrote her;
I'VE have charged your account s226.55,
being the premium at the rate of 81 per
cent"
Three days later. November l5. they
paid three checks. aggregating s.. 49, and
were obliged TO pay premium Of per
cent for the gold to protect these drafts,
and, accordingly. charged her banks ac-
count SlsS62. They charged, altogether.
nearly as much as ! per cent Of the
capital stock Of the Wllliston bank
Anyhow. they bought the gold at q
lower premium than at first. And they
were not obliged 20 treat all their cor
respondents in this way.
Another sting for WiIIiston.
On November z, when they were
obliged to charge Wiiiiston 81 per cent.
they telegraphed a South Carolina bank:
Assistant treasurer will accept. only
ggld We have bought for your account
gold at 4 per cent to protect your check
1878. $5.Io0." Their buyer must hss4
picked up in some Wall street cellar
cheap Job lot Of faiT-to-middiing greasy
gold. good enough to pay into the Treas
ury for a Southern bank. but not that
Al clean. dainty money they charged the
lady OF the Wiliston bank seven times as
much for The South Carolinisn paid
1850 on $500. and the fair one Of the
far West SOS for what he would have
paid S323s; that is 20 say, she paid about
500 more
Really. the girl did not pay at all 1t
was taken from her. that is. charged TO
the account Of her bank. In a sense the
money is still in Wall street and her
bank. It can be recovered by suit at a
cost Of several thousand dollars after
few years, TO carry the case through
every court, from the lowest 10 the high
est.
To get even, this inexperienced female
learned her lesson from the New York
experts in high finance, and pounced like
q wildcat on all the public money within
reach.
Writes Treasurer.
First she wrote the Treasurer Of the
United States this civil letter. soft as a
woman's hand:
Citizens National Bank.
''Williston. n. Oak. Nov 10. 1907.
Dear Sir: Inclosed find two letters
from the National City Bank, New York,
in which the assistant treasurer has ex-
acted gold in payment Of our drafts for
transfer Of excess funds, which has cost
US s4l5.l7
Would be pleased 10 have this adjusted
so that we could get this amount credited
back. as We cannot afford TO stand this
loss; and as I wrote you before, We
Will hold up the transfer Of any more
excess funds until this Is adjusted. Await
ing your early reply. we are.
Yours very truly.
CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK.
BERTHA MALOY, Cashier"
Their excess funds were sl2.S98 on No
vember 16. s232 go on the 23d. sS1.S7S on
the S0th, and 1914 on December Z. At
this rate Of accumulation the loss of sil5
must soon have been made up from the
interest earned on these funds.
WIN Congress Acts
The National City Bank Of New York
is a United States deposltary. and on
November 16 had $1s. 49,, coo of the public
money, which on November 80 had in
creased by S1.6O0.0O0 TO $15095. 900. On No
veuber z and Is the assistant treasurer
refused to accept checks drawn on this
government depositary. and "exacted
gold" which. the National City Bank
says. 1t had to buy at a cost of $415. This
very gold" after being paid TO the
assistant treasurer, was within two
weeks returned TO the National City Bank
as a deposit of public money, so that the
Western woman's bank was literally
cozened out Of SIS by this singular COM
bination OF the United States Treasury
and the New York bank
Win Congress adjourn without eompell-
ing the Treasury to accept checks on
United States depositary banks? No
financial measure can row be passed
without the consent of Democratic Sena-
tors VIII both parties, the majority and
the minority, in Congress go home 70
their neglected constituents without re-
quiring the government TO take checks
on its own depoSitaries?
FROM RECENT NOVEL.
F7r7n1 STrrpzs Nfaraziue