Evening star., 1915-05-19
.UNTERMYER CALM
IN RIGGS ARGUMENT
Continued from First Page)

IIv uINNV IutSAOuul1lV
Continued from First Page)
McAdoo in this suit upon these charges
of conspiracy as a wanton. unprovoked
and an indefensible abuse of the
process of the court. He is not identi-
fed, in point of fact. with any of the
relief that is sought in this action: the
relief could be granted without his
ioinder. Except for the possible con-
tention of the other side with respect
to the manner of the drawing of the
check. which we will discuss hereafter.
and assuming that they had such con-
tention in their minds, he could have
heen ioined as Mr.. Burke was Joined, in
a formal way, as cabinet officers are
ioined in actions involving the payment
~ money out Of the Treasury of the
United States. for the purpose OF giving
Rut to have joined him here upon these
allegations, say, was unprovoked and
wholly unjustifed.
Now. what do they want? They
want to enjoin the ,d3ainn payment 9 OF OF this this
the imposition Of the fine; he has no
officIal ,Nty with respect to it. They
wanted to enjoin the imposition of
other fines He had nothing to do with
tory injunction. apparently. IL 1 cor
rectly understand the bill. to compel
the controller of the currency to ap-
prove them as reserve agents. with
which the defendant McAdoo has moth
ing whatever to do. / have been un-
able to discover in this bill any point
at which 1t was necessary or advisable
to have dragged Mr.. McAdoo into
court upon these charges. but l say that
it was wholly gratuitous and inde-
ND oh doc n n.
strate that to your honor.
ut is true, as has been repeatedly
| stated by counsel on the other side
that cabinet officers have often been
they have always been mere formal
parties, in cases in which the consti-
tutionality or the construction Of a
statute was involved, or in which they
had a mere ministerial duty to per
form, and where nothing was present
ed beyond a bare question of law
Never in the history Of the country
SO far as l have been able to learn
has a spectacle of this kind. wholly
unprovoked, unnecessary for the de-
| termination OF any issue in the case
been presented to the court.
Function of a National Bank.
Let US see what was tho situation
Of the Secretary of the Treasury and
of the controller of the currency when
they came into office with respect to
this bank. What did they flnd upon
tho proof hero presented to invoke
and require the controller of the cur
rency to make Investigation into the
affairs Of this bank? What did they
find in its past history? What was
there apparent upon the face of the
situation that required some sort OF
|
was a prosperous bank Yes. but tina,
Is not all that tho law requires
! THE prosperity of the bank is a fins
thing for the shareholders. but nationa
banks are not primarily organized fol
| the benefit of the shareholders. The.
are primarily organized as a publ,
utility. and the people are invited t.
put their funds into these nationa
banks because of the rigid supervision
to which they are subjected. and tn,
reputation-th enviable reputation
that they have acquired as agains
some of the state banks. by rea
son of the completeness of that super
vision. national bank gets all sort
of favors from the government
can go out into the market and bu,
bonds. deposit those bonds and, subjec
to the payment of the tax. which Il
trifIing. can continue to get the interes
on those bonds and still get circulation
against the money which 1t can use
That Is a privilege accorded to no othe
class of corporations or individuals il
the community. 1t Is also eligible 70
government deposits. and 1t has a righ
to invite the public to place its money
there. and to make money on the in
vestment of the public money.
'If a national bank can justify what
ever 1t does. however consistent an,
persistent law-breaker 1t may hav,
been from the date of its organizatio,
to the date of this controversy, by th
nero fact that, largely through Its VIC
lation of law. 1t has become rich an.
successful. then We ought to have on,
set of laws for successful banks an,
another set of laws for the strugglin,
ones. If it can engage in one kind o
business outside the scope of its au
thority 1t can engage in another I
1t can engage in the stock brokerag,
business 1t can engage in running :
race track. or running departmen
store, or running anything else tina
you please; and. SO long as It make,
money. no matter to what extent It ha,
been violating the law. it can say to tn,
controller. Keep your hands on here
This is a prosperous bank 1t does no
need your attention. even though i
may be abusing and violating ali th,
terms Of the charter under which n
has been acting
when the Secretary Of the Treasur
came into office he found that the vic
president of the Riggs bank was /,
salaried employe Of another nationa
bank in the city of New York, drawn,
$4,000 year from that bank. an,
that that New York bank-the creates
financial institution in the country per
haps-had a corps Of three or four peo.
pie located in Washington, with tn
| vice president Of the Riggs bank a
their head He found that when Mr.
Allies resigned from the assistant sec
Iretaryship of the Treasury and cam.
into the office of the Riggs Nationa
Bank these people in the National Cit,
Bank at the same time became identi
ned with the Riggs bank.
Questions Purpose Of New York Bank
what else did he fnd7 What wa,
the purpose of the National City Banl
of New York maintaining a high-p priced
employe In the city Of Washington
our National Capital, with q stan o
people here? The purpose became ap
parent as soon as there was some lit
tie further investigation made into tn,
relations between the two banks, ant
that investigation disclosed a remark
| able situation, which the Secretary oil
the Treasury had the right to take int
] account when he was subsequently tt
| determine upon the deposit of govern
| ment funds in the different banks O.
the country