The Washington herald., 1915-04-14

Il SSSScAeS OACStco W anu
him during the summer and autumn
OF 1914. At time when financial con-
ditions were exceedingly uncertain in
TINS country because Of the great war
And he claims this credit in face
OF the fact that. although early in the
controversy, he was requested, first
by the directors Of the bank, and then
by the attorney of the bank. to specify
the practices to which he objected, he
persistently refused or failed to do
so. responding to such a formal re-
quest by the board Of directors, your
artless inquiry Is understood and ap-
preciated." and making no response
whatever to the request Of the at
torney OF the bank. transmitted
through the national bank examiner.
Women's Collateral Good.
The Comptroller complains that the
bank is loaning more than 81 .00O. 900
to women. and adds that much of 1t
Is on highly speculative stocks. The
truth is that the 100000 loaned to
women was secured by excellent COL
lateral, with a value Of about $4,000
600. Descending into particulars, we
will say that notwithstanding the fact
that for nine months the Comptroller
has been searching this bank for sub
jews VI SiiblClSIH anu OIL possible legal
action, and although he has in more
than one communication referred to
these loans to women, he has ven
tured to criticise but one loan of that
class. and that the bank promptly re-
duced on its books by charging of
a portion of it. although the Comp
troller did not so direct. and the COL
lateral behind this loan today is worth
so per cent more than the amount at
which the loan is carried on the books.
The Comptroller does himself NO credit,
and his department NO credit. BY crit
lcisinE this bank because IL has loaned
to women. We can see no reason why
. woman Of sumcient credit or with
ample collateral should not receive
accommodations At this bank, and the
fact that such large sum of money
is loaned to women is due to a condi-
ton peculiar to the city of Washing
ton. Of which the Comptroller cannot
possibly be ignorant. for we have here
tofore advised him of it,
Losses from Women Slight.
There is perhaps no city of it's size
in the world where there are SO many
women with fortunes ranging from
moderate competence to the millions.
who both in law and in morals have
IlSHl " o"h OOsilitSS
and make their own contracts They
seldom request a loan without tender
ing ample collateral, and this bank
Is not only glad TO accommodate them.
but it cheerfully testifes that its
losses on loans to women have been
negligible.
Another example of the Comptroller's
effort to misead the public can be
found in his statement that the stock
brokerage business which certain OF the
officers of the bank formerly conducted
in their individual capacities has tempted
young men and women to ruin in specu-
lation. The comptroller knows. or at
least ought to know. that such a charge
is utterly unfounded.
One side of Correspondence.
The Comptroller's unjust and deter
mined effort 10 create false impression
regarding the policy and methods OF
this bank are strikingly illustrated by his
quotation. from his letter of July %
1914. of his comments on a loan to a
Washington business man. and his omis-
sion to accompany those comments by
the reply made by the bank on July %
which was as follows:
Your citation of the case OF Nj is
characteristic OF your methods through
out this entire correspondence. Mr..
any officer Of this bank TO buy the stock
In question. On the contrary. he was I'D
vised against its purchase. The fact that
his purchase turned out badly is a mis-
fortune which he refused to contemplate
and for which he alone Is responsible
Your malice consists In this. that you
are endeavoring to make the propriety of
the business conducted in the manner
stated in this correspondence by the Of
ficers of this bank depend upon the re-
suit of an investment voluntarily made
by a customer of the bank. This cri-
teriOn has never been applied either In
law or morals. even to the business OF a
broker. and it is apparent that you have
for Interior purposes OF your own used
Mr.. IS case not as an illustration
but as fallacious and misleading ar
gument."
''Malicions Representation" Charged
A malicious representation in the
Comptrollers statement to the public
is his reference to a loan to the CASH
Ter. In order to create a general suspi-
cion that the officers of the bank have
been in the habit Of borrowing money
on speculative collateral. Mr.. Williams
selects one loan made to Henry H.
Flather. cashier. and enumeratcs GER
tain stocks which he describes as
speculative" The unfairness of his
insinuations will become apparent when
We explain that in addition to the
stocks named by the Comptroller. the
loan was secured by other collateral.
which he does not list. having a ready
market value of more than $4,000.
Likewise. he criticises a loan to
Vice President F1ather because among
the collateral by which that loan " as
secured were "415 shares of Green
Cananea Copper stock. etc. The
omits to state that this
loan was also secured by other col
lateral as follows: rs shares American
Telephone and Telegraph stock: 100
shares Lanston Monotype stock: 11S
shares American Security and Trust
Company stock: 1856 shares Washing
ton Railway and Electric Company
preferred stock.
"Overlooked" Bonds He Sold.
II the Comptroller had been pursu-
Ing his Investigations into the char
acter Of collateral along other lines