Evening star., 1915-05-15
TREASURY OFFICERS
DENY ALL CHARGES
Of THE RIGGS BANK

Continued from First Page.1
with any of the alleged purposes Oh 'he
suit. .,:
The Secretary shows the relat'oiS, ~ Sa,,
between the National City Bank u ~. ~,
Work ana the Riggs Bank. the repot .so @
close relation of these banks Win .i,e
Treasury Department IN the P"s., nd
yeaIs the character of the una" u go
IRREGULAR operations of the latter inst
,ution which caused him to withdraw the
Treas,Iry deposits, in line with Il eo!'9tc r,s .
policy of distributing government, nd
in the interest of business seheiaS g,
Of withholdjng government deposits IL NJ
banks that use their moneys
for stock market operations
Close Relations Between Banks.
1t was explained TO me th'' ,'''
tionaI CITY Bank. through the '''S
,,uritv Company. which 1t ors"'''"
am auxiliary and the entire
which is owned b! the sto'khoi'''
tho National City Bank IN the pi
tions in which they own SION SION 81 the
latter. was large shareh",',ri Me
plaintiff bank, says
Adoo's return ,b.t Milton T..
,il.s the yic. president of Inc p''' - -
bank. receives about two-l na f7.,,i the
total annual salary of Sls.ao" - md
National City Bank OF Nc" int.iuin..
that the latter was theh ~, .ity
tha following employees IN .hl ~
who were also identlheo WIN .,,,,,int of
lift bank and who We're m tron, th.
the following annuai ~ ~Sat York. Mil
National City Bank OF New 30 ana
49,. q Allies annual salary. Hi,'uuon.
George g. Vass. annual s:'iaa y r,,ne
Jerome J. Wilbur .$l.2eo 70 2oo Miss
1914: S2,10o thereafter 80 s54U:
,.SIr aiies. besides being a vice pre-
r -,5.mt of the plaintiff bank. is the spo
cial representative in tins eivS
EEational City Bank of New iot t n ann
.,iiss Taylor was clerk in the el.'o
1a, Of the National City Banh' VIZ
FormerIy had an office i'll the irea SUI ~
huiIdins. and whose duty IT VIZ
compile statistics OF si,;nn mas
after each report OF cohdi'ion.
Alleged Hostility of Riggs Bank.
.chor,lv after assuming office and on
,scertaining that the National ti'S
Bank and the plaintiff bank had resu-
lar employe in the person of Miss Tay-
lor. with desk room i'll the controllers s
office. and that she was being, given ia
ciIities for making advance reports
from that place upon the CONDITION OF
national banks TO the National CltS
Bank and the Riggs National Bank, on
April 49, 1918. ! directed that 'his
privilege be discontinued
Continuing. the Secretary says:
Il adopted this action i'll an entirely
impersonal spirit and solely Tor the
purpose of putting an cnd 70 VIVA.
regarded as an unjust discrimination
ana an improper use OF the government
offices and facilities. | assumed that
the manifest propriety OF this action on
my part would be appreciated by the
banks affected. but it seems, on the
contrary, to have aroused their hostli-
ity, although not SO intended.
"On assuming office ascertalned that
the repositories of government FUNDS
were not being required to pay interest
on their deposits. lnasmuch as the
banks in the reserve cities were and
had for many years last past been IN
the habit of paying per cent interest
on the balances of their correspondent
banks | regarded this arrangement as
a waste of public moneys According
Iy. April 80. 1913, | directed that al
repositories of government FUNDS should
he required to pay interest at the rate
of . per cent per annum. beginning the
1st day, of June. 1913 At that time the
National City Bank had $ioO.ooo OF
government funds and the pialntlf
bank had 100000 of such funds Inc
National City Bank refused to pay in
terest and surrendered the account.
Out of the 1870 banks that We're
government repositories there We're not
more than seven in the Inited states
that declined at the time to comply
with that requirement
II know of no reason for the per-
sonal hostility displayed toward me by
the plaintiff bank in and prior to De-
eember. 1913. other than the two inci-
dents above mentioned.
When ] became secretary OF the
Treasury | was not acquainted with
any officer of the plaintiff bank. nor
had l ever. directly or lndlrecuy; mad
any transactions of any kind with the
bank or any officer thereof: nor had
ever heard of them; nor did ! know any
of them by name; nor that the plaintiif
bank had any connection with the Ma
tional CITY Bank of New York: nor was
4 aware of any connection between
said banks and the Treasury Depart
ment, except what / had read in the
newspapers.
Interview With Riggs Officers.
The Secretary takes up the allega-
@tions in the bill of complaint in con-
nection with the interview between Of
4 fcers Of the Riggs bank and himself
regarding articles published i'll the
New York Tribune. December } and
l. 1913.
The Tribune's articles 1pDeared at q
time when the situation. although inI-
proved was still sensitive, il is stated
aud they were so harmful and SO IKE
Nv 10 cause new disturbance that the
Secretary says he concluded to inVes-
tigate their origin and endeavor &c
stop them.
The ftlda Wit continues
Il had been informed that the pub
Iications had been inspired by ofti-
Ger OF officers of the plaintiff bank
! hnally concluded to invite Presldeu'
Glover TO come TO the Treasury ~.
~