The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-11
JAIL FOR BAD BANKERS.
 MILLER TELLS COMMITTEE
Cells Yawn for Bad Trust Company Magnates Responds President Marsh-Arguments For and Against Making Bridgeport Trust Company Depository for City Funds Take Tragic Turn.

get together and pay two per cent,
 Answering Alderman Gould Presi-
 cent Marsh declared that combina-. tion in bidding to receive funds is against the best interests of the city.
 There is no other place on earth I FnoW of where they make a distinc-
 ton against the trust companies. The record of the. trust company in this
 city is big enough and strong enough
 to permit to receive the city'S money.
 Why not let the private banks
 bid ?'' asked Alderman Gould.
 ,sph They 2 can't do it. They are not examinations by the state," retorted
 MT; Marsh, who added:
 There are things we are entitled a treasurer, once, who took the funds from @ bank that was paying interest
 and put them into a bank that paid
 none. The bank that lost the count took the matter up and the
 treasurer had to pay the city the in tereSt it lost.''
 D. Fairchild Wheeler who was the
 next speaker said that Waterbury Fow has a bid of 2.9 per cent. from 3 National bank. for the funds of the 1 city, because there is competition and no com moination in that city. He said that if com petition only brought gain of s4 of one per cent. to the city 1t would mean $33,70 a year to the city.
 He said: Rhode Island and Mas , companies and national banks to be Repositories The state of New York allows trust companies to bid and receives 8 per cent on all deposits'' After reading from the draft of the postal banking bill he continued, There is no tax lodging in this We
 and remember that you are just as
 much responsible to the city in this
 matter as the New Haven official who 1 removed the funds from one bank to another-''
 President Iiller denied that there ! was any national~ bank combination. One of the first calls he had. he sail.
 when. he became a bark president. was from the mayor of Bridgeport, M L.. Reyno1ds.) The mayor l Wanted him to meet withs the other | funds. He also wanted the banks to have their share of the funds and he interest. This was agreeable all l around and he declared that it was the only combination between the l banks he knew of.
 As to interest rates, he said, tFWe have $275, 1000 worth of bonds in our 1 bank that bear per cent. interest cent for them by trust company i'll | New York. It turned out afterward 1 that it was best that the bank con- tinued the low rate of interest be- l ca use it was safe Last week l sent 31A per cent. bonds to London and
 scld them at par. Might have chang 1 ed to 4 per cent. bonds, but would | they have sold at par? The low rate
 of interest is safer and there was less | Sponsibility ''
 He said that the capital stock, sur l plus, and undivided dividends are | s319, 1000, while the four national
 hanks represent between $4,O0O,0OO
 and S5,0OG,0O0.
 He closed saying that the trust
 companies had more scope to invest l in than the national banks The l latter were safer because they were
 confined to tine scope allowed them 1 by the National ioa hiking laws. City Treasurer Hall said he did l rot want to speak for, or against, tn e l proposition because of his position,
 but he wanted to clarify the state 1 ment of MT Miller, by saying that
 pany represented it's capital, surplus,
 and undivided profits. That when
 MT. Miller referred to $5,000,000 for | the national banks he meant the
 capital stock, surplus and stock l holders liability.
 | Chairman John J. F'inlan of the
 committee on ordinances declared the ] hearing closed.