The Washington herald., 1916-04-06
.FORCESHOWDOWN
in RIGGS Fight
Bank Officials Make Treasury
Admit that Perjury Charges
May Affect Rechartering.
SPEEDY TRIAL Is URGED
Comptroller lntimates He viii Deny
License if Officers Are Not Quick
y Exonerated.
SPEEDY TRIAL Is URGED
By JOSEPH P. AMIN.


Motions presented yesterday before the
District Supreme Court to compel an
early trial OF President Charles C.
Glover, Vice President William J. Flather
and former Cashier Henry H. Flather,
Of the Riggs National Bank, under in
dictments charging perjury, brought a
public showdown of the real struggle be-
tween the Treasury Department, repre-
sented by Secretary McAdoo and Comp
troller of the Currency John Shelton
Williams, and the officials Of the bank.
In effect, It brought to the public's at
tention the charge which financial cir
cles have made from the outset, namely,
that the perjury prosecution was con-
ceived to furnish an excuse for the
Treasury Department to refuse the Riggs
bank a recharter unless the officers OF
the bank. obnoxious to Mr.. williams and
his chief. should be removed.
wants UnbIemished Men.
The motions by counsel for the bank,
pleading for a trial prior to May 8 on
the perjury indictments, urge that in
the ordinary process of the courts, II
will be impossible to clear up the case
before the question Of q renewal OF char
ter comes up before the Treasury De-
partment. The charge has been freely
circulated in financial circles that the
plan OF the Treasury Department wai
to hold these indictments in pendency
until the question of the rechartering Of
the bank arose.
A statement issued yesterday by the
| Comptroller lends grave weight to this
| charge. He makes the re-chartering oi
the bank contingent. In addition to its
| solvency. which even the Comptroller has
never questioned, upon the proposing OF
officers and directors OF the bank who
should be men Of character, integrity
and unblemished reputation"
| 1t Is in violation of no confidence Ia
say, at this stage OF the proceeding, that
| officers of the bank have fully prepared
! themselves for this action on the part
Of the Comptroller. Whether they will
sue for writ Of mandamus to compel the
! Comptroller to issue the bank a renewal
Of its charter or not has not been de-
| cided.
But the possibility Of reorganizing as
a private banking institution, or taking
| out charter under the laws of Mary
land or Virginia, has been carefully con-
sidered, and In the event that the present
effort to compel an early trial of the per-
jury charges fails, either of the two
! courses above outlined may be pursued
without in any way retarding the progress
Of the institution or impairing the rights
Of shareholders or depositors.
OutRrowth of Suit.
The perjury indictments are the out
growth Of the suit brought by the bank
for protection against the alleged effort
on the part Of the Treasury Department
to wreck the institution. Samuel Unter-
meyer representing the Secretary of the
Treasury in that suit, brought charges
Of speculation against the bank. This
charge was denied by the bank officials
in an AFFIDAVIT submitted to the court.
Untermeyer replied to this denial with
a record Of accounts from the Office of
| the now defunct Lewis Johnson Com
pany, stock brokers, showing large ac-
counts in the name of the Riggs bank.
| The bank replied that this showing rep
| resented merely a system of bookkeep-
ing in the brokerage firm, by which all
accounts turned over to the firm by the
bank by way OF accommodation to its
customers were carried as Riggs bank
accounts, when the bank had assumed
and could be held in no way responsible
for either profit or loss as the result OF
these accounts.