The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-10-15

That the state examiner, a hired Off.
cial appointed by the governor, who is
member Of the state banking boarC,
is merely a servant Of the state bank
ing board, and that the North Dakota
legislature has not and never intended
to delegate to the state examiner pow
ers greater than those conferred upon
the state banking board, and that the
power to close hanks and to appoint
temporary receivers rests with the
state banking board and not with the
state examiner was the contention Of
Assistant Attorney General Albert E
Sheets in supreme court this afternoon
in arguing that the temporary injunc-
tion granted by the supreme court
restraining the banking board from
further probing the affairs Of the
Scandinavian-Americ bank at Far
90 should not be made permanent.
Sheets goes back to the chapter
laws Of 1905 to sustain his contention
that legislature has imposed in the
state banking board and not in one
Of its hired servants power to close
banks. This mandatory duty as re-
posed in the state banking board by
the session Of 1911 is strengthened and
made more positive by the chapter laws
Of 1911 and again in 1913.
''The state examiner" declared
Sheets, "is subordinae Of the state
banking board. He Is the serv\lt of
that board, and with the exception III
one particular alone-that Of the direc-
tion of the accounting and clerical as
sistance Of the oftice-the state. board
is. superior. and he is accountable 20
them for his acts. sr,.,s
"Yet this subordinate Office, merely
because the legislature, in chapter 5::'
laws of 1915, confers upon him author
ity to take charge AFTER HE HAS
RECEIVED THE APPROVAL OF
THE STATE BANKING BOARD, Of
insolvent banks and appoint receivers
therefor assumes, for the purpose; of
this proceeding, that all powers
hitherto granted to the state banking
board alone to declare banks insolvent
and to appoint receivers therefor is
now vested wholly in the state exam-
iner."
CAN'T DECLARE INSOLVENCY !.
1T should be noted" urged the as
sistant attorney general, "that in chap
ter So, laws Of 1915, the legislature
does not even give to the state exam
iner complete control or authority to
declare bank insolvent. He is not
authorized to do this even under the
most liberal construction Of his au-
thority, WITHOUT THE APPROVAL.
OF THE STATE BANKING BOARD =
1T is now contended, however, by
the relator;" said Sheets, "that by
reason Of the passage Of chapter 81,
laws Of 1915, that power has been
taken from the state banking board
and placed in Its subordinate, the
state examiner. THIS MUST OF A
NECESSITY BE THE POSITION
TAKEN BY THE RELATORS HERE
in, OTHERWISE o. e. LOFTHUS,
THE STATE EXAMINER, HAS NO
CONTROVERSY FOR LITIGATION
IN THIS COURT. No other position
than this is open to him, but this posi-
ton will be seen upon consideration to
be absolutely unfounded and possible
of substantiation only by the widest
use and Interpretation Of language
THE BANK MATTER
1T is the position taken by the
respondents in this proceeding that the
Scandinavfan-Americ bank and ITS
rights is subject wholly extraneous to
matter upon which this court would
pass, and it is upon this theory that
the respondents brief is writtea."
Sheets insisted that the question of
the solvency or insolvency of the bank
was not before the court. Upon the
subject of the temporary receivership
Sheets called the courts attention to
the fact that the day P. E. Halldorsen,
deputy bank examiner, acting for the
banking board, took charge Of the bank.
he gave a 100000 surety bond. "The
day O. p. Lofthus, who complained
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