The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-10-05
BANK CLOSING
POLITICAL PLUMBER
State Banking Department Under
Governor Cox
WHAT OFFICIAL RECORDS SHOW

0epositors' Money Wasted to Pay Po-
IitieaI Debts, Illegal Appointments
Made and ExtraVasant Eees Col
leoted--Department an Asylum For
Democratic -Inefficiency
and MaIadministratio Shown.
Columbus (SreciaD In no uncer-
tain terms the search'ight was turned
on the State Banking Department un-
der former Governor Cox by the state
Republican campaign textbook issued
here today. The textbook asserts that
its statements are backed up by
official records. 1t says:
Not as a campaign declaration, but
as a demonstrated fact, the Depart
ment of Banks and Banking under
Governor Cox stands out cOnspicu-
Ously as unparalleled in the history
of Ohio in any branch of the state
government, for ineficiency, arbi-
trariness, wastefulness, extravaganza
and general NAL administration.
While the superintendent of the de-
partment, Emery Lattanner, is to be
held directly responsible, there is no
escape from the conclusion that Gov
ernOr Cox himself is personally
chargeable with much of the blame.
In the first place, Governor Cox ap-
pointed Mr.. Lattanner for political
reasons in the face of ell-grounded
protests on the part of reputable citi-
zens of the latter's home county who
knew him we'll - most of them being
Democrats with no relation to faction
alism; the Governor was duly warned.
Mr.. Cox also had information gath
cred by federal judge concerning
Mr.. Lattanner. Then, it is inconceiv-
able that Governor Cox would not
have known what was going on in
the department had he exercised even
ordinary vigilance and prudence-and
the official evidence is overwhelming
that the Governor himself took an ac-
tive part personally in making the
Department of Banks and Banking an
asylum for Democratic politicians
without reference to their capabilities
for the lucrative appointments given
them.
Reference is here made particularly
to the liquidating bureau of the bank
ing department. This bureau pos
sessed tremendous power - no branch
of the state government had greater.
1t could ruin a financial institution
by closing it, and it could waste the
money of the depositors by needless
expense in liquidating it. The sworn
evidence is that under Superintendent
Lattanner,.a number. of banks were
summarily closed unnecessarily, IL
afterwards being demonstrated that
their assets were ample to cover their
liabilities had proper "hOrse sense
been shown by the department; and
it is incontrovertible that there were
gross extravaganza and recklessness
in the liquidation proceedings. That
the liquidating bureau was made a
political clearing house in which ia
reward partisan and personal friends
of Governor Cox is thoroughly estab.
lished. AS politics generally go this
in itself would not be deemed a helm
Gus offense were the recipients of the
appointments capable and did they
earn their salaries; but the proof is
that the opposite was the rule. That
the money of the depositors in the
closed and liquidated banks was used
to reward Democratic politicians is
evident from the fact that of the
eighteen deputies or liquidating
agents employed, seventeen were
Democrats; and of the thirty-fve at
torneys employed twenty-nine were
Democrats.
The facts and figures presented be-
low are taken from official documents
the principal being: The report OF
the select committee of the Eighty
first General Assembly (1915), printed
with all the evidence verbatim in vol
ume 106 of the Ohio Senate Journal;
reports by Special Examiners Bliss
and Tatman ON file in the Office OF
the Auditor of State, details of which
have not heretofore seen much of the
sunlight of publicity; annual reports
of the department; and reports OF
special inquiries by official examiners
supplementary to the other reports.
Extravaganza and Inefficiency
False Reports.
The total amount expended in the
department during the year ending
November Is, 1914, was $84,193.22;
but Superintendent Lattanner report.
ed only $78,338.81 "a difference Of
$5,854.41. The legislative investigat.
ing committee declared that this in.
correct report was evidently intended
to deceive the governor, with whom il
was filed, and all persons who might
read it." That this condemnatory
finding of the committee was justified
is shown by the testimony of John A
Bliss, the official expert in charge Of
the examination of state department.
and institutions, commissions, etc.
who, in December, 1914, began an in,
! vestigation of the banking depart.
ment under orders from the Auditor
of State "a Democrat). Mr.. Bliss tes,
titled that Mr.. Lattanner's report GOV.
cred only IL months so far as expendi.
lures were concerned, while under thC
law the practice of the department
he should have covered the entire /;