Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-09-25
with itr

down there and investigated. They
got guaranty law down there and
bank got reckless down there 10th
er day and the other bankers give
the bank commissioner the tip tits
to their interest 10 DO it tnere) and
Mr.. Commissioner walked in and took
charge. If that'd a .een e. q e,e-,
body'd made run on every bank in
town, and if they hadn't busted 'em
they'd scared 'em into. fits and they'd
a drawed into their shells like
clam does when you poke it with a
stick. They'd had TO-, and they'd
shut down on making loans and a &C.
gun to quietly draw in their Ions
to meet the deposits that were GO
in out and business would "a cone
to a stand7still right there. That's
what's the matter with us here right
now; hedgin,' everybody's a hedgin.'
'Well sir, that bank commissioner
walked into that bank and got some
red ink and put up a great big sign
readin' Come and Get Your Money"
and set down and cooked his heels up
on the desk and went to readin' the
baseball news till they come. Some
Of 'em went in and got their mon
ey and put it in the bank across
the street. One Teller who had been
in bank failure before did that and
went home whistlin' like seven
year old. And when he got home lie
give his old woman the surprise of
her life; he walked right up to her
and Rugged her first time in five
years. She kindly hoped the other
bank'd fail. Some Of 'em phoned in
and said they didn't need the mon
ey and didn't come in for a week.
Think of excitement like that. wy
If somebody'd a busted one little
rotten egg against the meanest shan
ty in that town it'd created rip
pin old storm side of that bank
failure. S'pose my money had beenI
in a bank Ike that: I'd be just twen-
ty five hundred ahead. And s'pose
I'd owed that bank; when them
other folks put their money in the
confident I'd sailed over there and
bank across the street all serene an
borrowed enough to pay off my note
and gone home to weedin' my corn.
But here I'd had to rush some
and while l was a hustlin' round the
steers to market maybe at a loss
weeds, d got such a start I'd lost
my corn. Now d'you understand why
l am going to Oklahoma?"
20 that looks all right, Bill, but
one little bank goin' downs quite diff
ferent from flock of 'em going un-
der-a flock of big ones. Suppose tn
d happen in Oklahoma?"
well banks have failed ever since
we've had EN-. Sometimes several
of 'em fail at once. But that's near
ly always because of run on 'em if
not always. If its not that its be-
cause they've loaned more to some
body than is prudent; generally to
the banks officers. There must be
a penalty agin this of course and
that'll stop all the smashes except
the ones that are started by a rum"
Il reckon big bunch of banks
could go under all at once on account
of bad loans, couldn't they?"
well hardly. That'd mean that
the whole community had suddenly
gone busted and busted the banks.
And communities don't bust that
sudden. If bank is decently manag-
ed run on its deposits is the only
think that'd bust 1t. What a guar
anty law does is to prevent runs.
When every man knows that his de-
post is secured by all the banks and
BY the state he'd feel like a fool lin
ing up down the street and sleepin'
on the sidewalk. He'd know his
lite wad and other little wads would.