The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-10-08

The same proposition was submitted
to the Democratic convention at Denver.
By unanimous vote that convention
demanded the passage of statute pun
ishing by imprisonment any officer OF
CORPORATION who shall either contribute
on behalf of, or consent to the contIibu.
ton by a corporation of any money or
thing of value to be used in furthering
the election of a president or any mem.
ber of congress and the further enact
ment of a law prohibiting any contribu'
tion above reasonable minimum and
providing for the publication before
election of all the contributions above
reasonable minimum.
GUARANTEED BANK DEPOSITS.
The Democratic national convention
adopted this plank: I'VE pledge our
selves to legislation under which the ma
tional banks shall be required to es-
tablish guarantee fund for the prompt
payments of deposits of any insolvent
national bank under an equitable sys-
TEN which shall be available to all bank.
ing institutions wishing to use it, 1t
will be noted that the guarantee fund Is
not to be provided by the government at
the peoples expense, but that the ma
tlonal banks and the state banks if in
cluded shall themselves be required to
establish guaranty fund for the pay
ment of the depositors of any insolvent
national or state bank.
Why not guarantee the bank deposit
ors? Who are tney?. They are Is, ,00O,-
600 of our own people; they are
the business men who entrust to the
bank portion of their working capital,
which means life to their business and
employment to the laboriDg man. 1t
represents the savings of the profession
al and laboring people which will pro-
vide for them in their old age or in case
Of sickness or distress. The depositols
are the industrious and the frugal, who,
often by denying themselves sometimes
the comforts and oftener the necessities
of life have saved few dollars to pro-
tect themselves.
THE PLAN Is PRACTICAL.
| Is the plan practical? 1t is. Statistics
| for the last forty years show that an an
nual fund of one tenth of per cent Of
the average deposits in the national
banks will be sufficient to protect all de-
po-itors in the national banks against
failure from whatsoever source.
On the failure of the bank under the
present law the depostor must wait
months or years for the liquidation of
the assets of the bank and then ne usu.
ally receives but small percentage of
his deposits. Under the proposed law
the depositor would Immediately be paid
in full. The government would draw
at once on the guarantee fund for suf
ticient funds to pay all depositors in full,
| 1t then converts the assets of the defunct
bank as rapidly as possible and turns
the proceeds into the guarantee fund.
The double liability of the stockholders
when necessary also serves a similar
prupose
Is it practicable? Absolutely so. Dem.
ocratic Oklahoma has such a law. On
| May 2lst last the bank commissioner
closed the bank of Colgate because the
officers of the bank We're violating the
law in loaning themselves more of the
| depositors money than the law allowed
| They refused to refund it; the bank com.
missioner closed the bank and imnedi-
ately posted the following notice:
NOTICE
"Tbs bank is in the hands of the state
bank commissioner. Depositors will be
paid in full by the state banking board
Please call and get your money.
May 81, 1908.
H. A. SMOCK,
Bank Commissioner
Within two days every depositor was
paid in full out of the guarantee deposit
| fund The assets Of this bank were con
verted into cash and the fund replenished
and the stockholders received dividend
of SO cents on the dollar.
That the Oklahoma law has won the
confidence of the people aud bankers of
that state is shown by the fact that the
national banks of that state are rapidly
surrendering their national bank charter
and are accepting state charters instead
MAKE ALL BANKS GOOD.
1t is objected that such law would
make all banks equally good Why not
make all banks equally good?
1t is objected that the bankers would
become careless and negligent and
would misappropriate funds. We an.
swer that that often happens now, but If
the bankers should become careless or
dishonest it becomes the stockholders
duty To remove them