The Penn's Grove record., 1915-04-16
BANK ACCUSES
TREASURY HEADS
In Suit, Riggs Institution Of
Washington Attacks Officials
RESORTS 70 AN INJUNCTION
Declares MeAdoo and Williams Tried
to Wreck It's 5usiness-Repiy
by Comptroller Says Bankers
We're Guilty Of Unlawful
Practices.

Practices.
Washington.-The Riggs National
Bank, one of the strongest Of the in
sttutions OF this city and allied with
the National City Bank Of New York.
has appealed to the courts to protect
1t against the alleged malice Of Sec
rotary McAdoo and John Shelton
Williams Comptroller of the Currency.
The officers of this powerful bank
charge McAdoo and Williams in effect
with attempting to wreck the banks
business in order to vent their per
sonal vindictiveness. The officers
further aver that Government and
other deposits have been forced from
them as a result Of the McAdoo-
Williams campaign and they declare
that they have been harassed beyond
further endurance.
The bank shortly after the fling OF
its remarkable petition in the Supreme
Court OF the District Of Columbia got
a temporary injunction granting the
relief asked pending argument.
John Ske-ton Williams, Comptroller
OF the Currency, Issued a statement
making sensational charges against
the officers of the Riggs National
Bank. He accused them of irregulari-
ties and unlawful practices and de-
scribed their court action as an effort
to pose as martyrs.
He announced that the practices
complained of we're Of sufficient i'm
portance to warrant their reference to
the Department OF Justice. He added
that the Department had engaged
Louis d. Brandeis, the Boston lawyer,
as counsel in the case, probably for
the purpose of ascertaining whether
Or not the facts warrant prosecution.
Comptroller Williams is careful to
point cut that the Riggs National
Bank is entirely solvent, but charges
that if the practices Of the officers had
been permitted to continue the results
would have been serious. He accuses
the officers of the bank of making
dummy loans to themselves and other
parties of conducting a stock broker
age business anu OF making false
statements in reply to his inquiries.
In the Williams statement was this
extraordinary announcement;
"In view of the unsatisfactory and
dangerous conditions which have come
to light as the result of the investi-
cations Of the bank by this office and
the national bank examiner in view
on the unreliability of the statements
made by your officers under oath or
otherwise and your long continued
defiance of the law and disregard for
the instructions of this Office, you are
hereby notified that the Comptroller
of the Currency will until further no
tice refuse to approve the Riggs Ma
tional Bank as a depository for the
reserve of other national banks"
The officers and directors Of the
Riggs bank are among the most
powerful financial factors in this city.
The hostility Of the Treasury Off
Gals to the Riggs bank was apparent
almost from the day that Secretary
McAdoo entered the Treasury Depart
ment.
One of the first things that Secre-
tary McAdoo did was to issue a state
ment denouncing the Riggs bank for
obtaining information which was open
to all at the office of the Comptroller
Of the Currency. Since then it has
been a matter of common comment in
Washington that Secretary McAdoo
and Comptroller Williams were sub
jecting the Riggs National to a grill
ing examination covering many years
before they entered Office.
The significance of the court action
is regarded here as going beyond the
Riggs National Bank. Other banks
have, it is understood, been sub
jected to a somewhat similar expe
rience. The complaint IS believed here
to mark the beginning Of a fight in
the open between the present regime
in the Treasury Department and the
Riggs Nationals allied interests.
The complaint filed in the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia
charges that McAdoo and Williams
have conspired to injure the bank IT.
~reparably and have iagrantly exceeded
their powers.
1t accuses McAdoo and Williams OF
having "prostituted their high Offices
- ls ---z--. III. ---Ns--
lawfully 30 destroy and unconstitu-
tionaTy to conhscate the property OF
the bank"