Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-16

Governor C. N. Haskell of Oklahoma
in a statement to the Wall Street
Journal, which denounced the state
guaranty law as either a premium on
bad banking or a humbug, issues
defense of the new law as practiced
in Oklahoma, setting forth as false
the accusations brought against IL by
the. Wall street element of banking
and declaring it the best system OF
banking in force today. Referring to
the failure of the Columbia Bank and
Trust company, September 29 ne says
immediate payment was begun and
that every claim presented and
sworn to was met, and that sucn WI WI
he the practice until the end. He points
with evident pride to the fact there
have been only two bank failures IN
Oklahoma in twenty-five months out
of a list of over 600 state banks.
Have you got" he continues, any
record anywhere else where out OF
over six hundred banks you have less
than one failure a year"
Governor Haskell refers to the ma
tional banking law as relic OF par
barism. grown stale with age and
proved inefficient by a hundred eX,
amples, and in reply to the charge that
the Oklahoma law encourages weak
banking he declares there has never
been a quarterly report since the law
was passed which does not show con-
clusiVely that the state banks Of Okla
homa are stronger than any other class
of banks in the state. He emphasizes
that the Oklahoma banks, in contras
to the national banks, are exception
ally strong.
Statement to Editor
The statement to the editor Of the
Wall Street Journal from Governor
Haskell at Guthrie, with excerpts from
that newspaper, is as follows:
In your issue of October 1, referring
to the closing of the Columbia BanH
and Trust company of Oklahoma City
by our state board, i extract the fol
lowing:
"The bank is confronted with the ne
cessity of paying it's depositors in full
irrespective of the indebtedness Of the
depositors to the bank, and to do sc
it is necessary to call upon the othel
banks of Oklahoma, who do not snow
that alacrity In paying up that GOV
ernor Haskell would doubtless like:
The above statement is false. De
positors are paid only the balance OF
their account after deducting their In
debtedness to the bank, which Is the
same as a solvent operating banf
would do. The state bankers pay as
easements promptly on sight draft.
Again you say:
"It has been said in these columns
before that the guaranty of bank de
posits is either a premium on pax
banking or a humbug. In Oklahomf
II is a premium on bad banking. Th'
suspended institution actually had or
deDosit one-sixth of the guarant!
fund" etc.
Oklahoma has over 600 state banks
Our present banking law was passet
two wears ago next December, during
which time we had small bank fail
ure in May, 1908. The creditors Wer'
all paid within forty-eight hours. INT
draft on the guaranty tund was re
nlaced within five weeks, and within
seven weeks the stockholders had b
cents on the dollar on their stock, AM
thus that incident was closed.
Immediate Payment Begins
The closing of the Columbia Banl
and Trust company took place on Sep
tember 20, this year. Immediate pay
ment was begun, and every claim pre-
sented and sworn to was paid In tn
order in which it has been presented
during the ten banking days that nav
ensl1ed and the Columbia Bank an(
Trust company, under the charge o
the state banking board and commls
sioner, has been open regular panKIh'
hours or longer every day, and Will 81
continue to the end. That gives yo'
| two bank failures in tWenty-tW'
months.
Now kindly advise me on wha
theory YOU claim that the Oklahoma
| banking law is a humbug and pro
notes bad banking? Have you got any
record anywhere else where out o
over six hundred banks you have less
| than one failure a year? II you are
anaIyZing banking for the purpose o.
finding reckless bankers or humbugs
I beg that you will begin by explain
| ing the Walsh failure in Chicago anc
the RigeloW failure and dozens OF oth'
| ers within the shadow of your owl
printing office, where bank failure
means a riot on the street, locking
I'M of patrons funds. depression o.
| bi1siness and widespread disaster
throughout the entire sphere of intiu
ence of your failed institution.
The examples to which l might re-
fer under your present national bank
! ing law (Which is a relic of barbarism
crown stale with age and proven inef
| ficient by a hundred eXamples), is GER
| tainlv not model that you woul(
recommend to the state of Oklahoma
or any other state or nation.
lgnorantly Unfair
Your reference to a portion Of the
guaranty fund being on deposit In thli
| hank was either purposely or ignor-
antIy unfair, and ignorance of the
facts does not excuse an editor wh'
takes the freedom of discussing q
question of fact. You should have told
your readers the truth, that whal