The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-10-10

ISOLATION, caught violating the bank
ing laws of the state and exposing
the funds of %depositors or of the pub
lie to loss, should accuse the state Of
ficials of hostility to the St. Paul
association. o
Banking laws are made for a pur-
pose, part Of which, it may be said,
is to protect the savings of depos-
itors from the personal speculations
of men put in charge of large amounts
of the public's cash, and from t he
speculation of the friends or business
or political allies Of these men. The
acceptance Of what the North Dako-
ia state banking board terms made
quate collateral by the officials Of the
Observation-Disclosures bank of Far
go and the loaning of funds in ex-
cess of any collateral whatsoever was
in the nature of a speculation, and if
the executive officials Of the state had
not put a stop to this sort of thing
las Governor Frazier voted not to
put a stop toy they would have been
guilty Of betraying the interests of
the public, Of violating the trust Of
ficially placed in them, and should
have been elected from office.
1t may be we'll enough for a bust
ness mar or banker to take charge
of the personal funds of a friend I'M
officially and invest them for him.
His intentions may be honest, but he
may lose the money and the trustful
friend can have no complaint except
of his own misjudgment. But this
is not a banking relation and state
laws are not made to interfere with
it. They are made to limit and pre-
scribe the procedure of banking Off
Gals who accept deposits from the
public, and the enforcement of state
laws in the administration Of North
Dakota banks cannot, with any plaus-
Utility whatever, be charged to un-
official or Interior motives on the
part of the officers of the law.
1t is stated in the report Of the
North Dakota bank examiners regard
ing the Observation-Disclosures bank
of Fargo that loans We're made in
excess of the face value of collateral
and that the collateral itself was
"wholly inadequate" 1t is stated
that a loan consisting of six notes ag-
gregating $47,O88, due last April l.
was ordered out Of the assets of the
bank at that time, but has not as yet
been either so removed or collected
The report further states that notes
of a sisal trust which has not yet
passed the gauntlet of the blue sky
board were accepted as collateral fol
a loan of $4,000; that two Officers
of the bank are down as excess Dor.
rowers for more than $4,000 each:
that the unsecured personal notes Of
an employee of one of Townley's
publications are accepted for loans Of
$4,000 and $4,000, the latter of which
is now past due, and, to cap the eli
max, that an employee of the Non
partisan league had personal charge
of the collateral of that institution
and it's subsidiaries, consisting of per
sonal notes and post-dated checks
for which loans aggregating 1882,
500 were. issued.
1t may be political animosity whicl
actuates an official banking boar
that would break up this sort of thing
But who can say that such a boar
would have been true to it's officia
obligations had it not so acted? S
many people as may desire have
perfect right to turn their persona
resources over to Townley and hi
friends. But we imagine there are
great many North Dakotans VIII
would like to know whether they ar
depositing money in a bank under tn
protection of laws OF whether the
are entrusting it to unauthorized spec
ulation.-Dispatch.
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