Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-17
Mr. BRrAws BACK soxERsAubrs.

putting his preachings into practice,
Mr.. Bryan seems to have discovered
that framing q political platform and
framing a workable law are not neces-
sarily identical. During the cam
paign Mr.. Bryan talked long and loud
about the beauties Of his bank deposit
guaranty scheme, but now In outlining
the plan Of action for his Nebraska
democratic Legislature he turns a uc-
cession Of back somersaults that take
him far from his starting point.
MIR. Bryan's classic on bank deposit
guaranty is his carefully prepared adj
dress delivered at Topeka, in which he
eulogizes the Oklahoma law and
proudly pictures its perfection. The
bulwark of the Oklahoma law is that
It requires immediate payment Of the
~depositors of a failed bank. Said Mr..
Bryan at Topeka only last August:
The Oklahoma plan is working satisfae-
torily. A bank recently failed in Okla
homa. Within forty-eiEht minutes after
the notice Of suspension the officer in
charge had authority to pay all deposit
tors. In oklahoma the bank commits
sioner telephoned the farmers to come in
and get their money and the answer was,
Il am busy today with my crop; l will be
in In a day or two"
In his latest procurement on the
guaranty of depositors Mr.. Bryan says:
Provision should be made for the
prompt payment of depositors in failed
hankE muiAAiaNohu uAoN the aqtahliRh-
ment of the depositor's claim.
1t is explained on the outside that
under the ordinary procedure Of bank
~receiverships 1t requires at least
twenty to thirty days for . depositor
to establish his claim.
The Oklahoma law fixes an unlim-
tied liability on all the banks on
%tributing to the guaranty fund for any
and all banks that may fail, thus CIV
ing preference as creditors to the de-
positors Of any one bank over the
shareholders Of all the banks. On this
score Mr.. Bryan said at Topeka:
There is another reason why the claim
of the depositor is superior to the claim
of the stockholder. The stakeholder has a
voice In the selection OF the bank Off
Gals; the deposition has not. If anyone
must lose, therefore, as the result of bad
management II ought to be the stock
holder rather than the depositor. I ven
turo to ask, II the banks will not trust
eachl other, why should they expect the
depositors to trust the banks?
In his newest scheme Mr.. Bryan
%abandons altogether the unlimited liza
bility. Seeking the line of least re-
sistance, he suggests:
It Is wise to make the experiment in
such a way and under such conditions az
to produce the minimum Of friction and
a maximum OF assessment, therefore,. IL
suggested of not less than l or 2 per cent
in any one year.
IN other words, while in principle
the depositor's claim is superior to the
shareholders, he Is to be preferred
under the modified guaranty only to
the extent of 2 per cent a year, and II
the fund Is exhausted, wait a year for
the next annual assessment.
The Oklahoma law is supposed to
be primarily for the beneit of bank
depositors and on this point Mr.. Bryan
dwelt specially at Topeka. as follows:
1 submit that In this effort to make all
banks secure the democratic party is the
champion of the farmer, the laboring
An, the business man, the professional
man and the champion OF the banker a.
well. No class is outside of the benefits
of this law, for 1t bestows its blessing
upon all.
To sugar-coat the law a little more
for the banker, Mr.. Bryan now pro-
poses this improvement:
Solvent banks should be permitted to
borrow from the fund upon approved Sc
curity In anticipation OF a run, the
amount so borrowed to be repaid within
a reasonable time with a fair rate of In
terest
Presumably after the bankers who
c~onjure up runs have borrowed all the
guaranty fund on approved security
the depositors OF banks that really
suffer runs and collapse may have
what is left II they wait long enough
for 1t.
II is reported that in the makeup
of the legislative committees at Lin
coin Mr., Bryan protested against put
ting so many bankers on the banking
committee until he ran up against this
retort: do you want the banking