Evening star., 1915-04-13

uidHuS OF tno COutfOiier OF tHo SuA
rsncy. which. in their opinion. were
made without "ofacial propriety and
authority" they so notified the con-
troller In tho following letter. made
public by the bank officials last night:
washington, March 8. 1915.
Controller of the Currency,
Washington, D. C..
Sir: Your letter Of February 20 was
duly received: but we have deferred
whose signature it required was then
out Of the city.
During the past nine months You
have written more than forty letters
of them You have insulted its officers
with some direct imputation against
their veracity or with some insinuation
against their integrity. Many of your
YOU had no right to ask. and such.
therefore. as We could have properly
refused to answer: but We answered
them. In the expectation that when you
were fully advised about the affairs OF
this bank and the conduct of its ofh-
GERS your sense OF official obligation
would prevail over your personal feel
ing. and restrain you from abusing the
power OF your great office to gratify
your personal resentment. Your last
letter, however. makes 1t manifest that
our forbearance has only invited your
moro persistent attacks. and we feel
that We owe 1t to ourselves as well as
to our stockholders to recall to your
mind the events which convince us that
your course Is due to your personal
hostility toward the officers OF this
bank.
Secretary of Treasury Involved.
December 3, 1919, the New York
Tribune published an article severely
criticising you with respect to a GER
tain transaction conducted by YOU as
assistant secretary OF the Treasury.
and when another article of similar
import appeared In the same paper on
the following day Mr.. c. C. Glover.
the president OF this bank, received q
request to call at the office Of the Sec
retary of the Treasury. Mr. Glover
promptly complied with that request.
though he had not the remotest idea
OF why 1t was made: and he had hardly
more than entered the Secretarys Of
nee when he was charged. in the most
offensive manner. with having inspired
those publications. Mr.. Glover en-
phatfcally denied that charge. and the
Secretary then declared that il he
(Glover) was not himself responsible
for those articles they were instigated
BY some of his associates in this bank.
Mr. Glover demanded to know who Of
his associates were supposed to be re-
sponsible. and the Secretary named
Siio VIC MI. fla1nef ana
Mr Allies. Thereupon Mr.. Glover re-
pied that before accusing those gen
tlemen the Secretary of the Treasury
should send for them and hear what
they had to say about the matter.
Accordingly, Messrs. Allies and Fla
Department. and there in your pres
ence and the presence Of Mr. Elliott,
the Secretary proceeded to question
them about tho Newspaper articlea He
r. rY
clared that he had not been connected
with the articles in any way. and had
not known anything OF them until his
attention was called to them. The Sec
retary then turned to Mr.. Allies and
charged him with having instisated
the articles. Mr.. Allies asserted, dis
tinctly and unequvocally. that he was
in no way responsible for them, but the
secretary grew increasingly violent in
his denunciatfon. and finally exclaim-
ed, with an oath. that he would order
Mr.. Allies out of his Office, and. turning
to Mr.. Glover, said:
Mr. Glover. you know what this
means to the Riggs National Bank"
But notwithstanding the plain threat
implied in this last expression, and
Of public official calling private citi-
zens into his off1ce to examine and de-
nounce them about newspaper criti-
cism, we could not believe that a Sec
retary OF the Treasury or an assista MT
secretary OF the Treasury would abuse
the power of his great office in order
to avenge himself for what he sup
posed to be a. political offense against
him. and we had right to expect that
the disagreeabIe incident was closed
when we left the Secretary's office. But
that we were not to realize this just
and reasonable expectation was soon
made apparent by the following cir
cumstances: