Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-02-19

~ A. j klOW oOAAS HTI[[1 y
20 q. You are an accountant OF .etsh.
teen years. experience!
A. Yes: r
q. And with any accountant. the
thing they labor for Is absolute &c
curacy?
O. otherwise, their report is Of no
value to anyone?
A. Yes, sir. 81
@. And do you make it q habit and
custom to give testimony OF the nature
YOU gave before that. committee II
other day, knowing as you did a
vo,r figures were false and inaccur-
ate? +.
"A. 1 didn't SO consider them: !
O.. Well what are they good Tor! 9st
A. make this statement that that z
reserve is subject, certainly, to tne
notification of every banks reserve
that goes to make up these re-depos-
O., And you never verified any Of
them? s tt )
A, I think possibly
Not Verified. \.
O.. 1 mean at the time you made
your computation? : 80 q
A. Absolutely not. 1t would taxi
O. And you were willing to &C NJ
A. Based on the figures In the
Bishop Brissman report.
@. Did you check those igures7
A. No, but those are the figures I
took, I included them IN my report.
@. You have done that fifty times
this morning. What I am trying to get
at is you ought not to have done thatJ
A. Basing it on that report
O. You don't come within a mile
of INV duestion-you ought not to
have given the testimony you did the
other day? ~
| ment on that report. M vs.
G. We know that. and we will adj
| NIT and concede you are not responsi~
BILE for anything in the Bishop Briss.
man report?
A.. We'll, that nswer is subject ia I
O.. You were asked to give it On
the law, too, weren't you?
A. Based on this report, certainly
taking the law and Interpreting tha
! report.
Hits the Report. A.
Q. If 1 take that report away from
| you do you uppose o could answei
the questions a little better and you
wouldn't have to hit it 80 often. II
may be that that report has hypnotized
you. We know it was based on that res
port, and it was also based on the
1915 law?
A.. Yes. Mr.. Murphy, may I MAXI
this one request of you? Mr.. Murphy
| Certainly. What is it?
Not His Judgment.
A. This was the basis of Civ
ing hat testimony. 1t was based
ON these figures and that law,
! but that doesn't represent at all
hny Judgment as to what the re-
serve was.
Q. You very carefully cpn- ,
ceaied your Judgment and led the
committee and the pubaic-be-
III you know this was going
out in the press to the people,
that the Bank of North Dakota
literally had a reserve Of over
seven million dollars?
A. Yes, SIR.
@. And you knew that every
ordinary man, including the plain
farmers OF this state who are
more interested than anybody
else, reading that statement q
yours as an expert accountant Of
eighteen years experience would
believe that the Bank Of North
Dakota actually had and literally
had a reserve Of over seven mil
lion dollars?
A. I don't want them to think
that the Bank of North Dakota
had an actual reserve available
of seven million.
@. You knew they woald believe 10
after o stated under oath It was
true? so H.
Is IA. Based on those hgurees'
q. Well, it had to be based on some
figures?
A. All right, but If you want. il
based on observations, I will give you
them.
@. Why don't you answer my quesl
ton? You knew, Mr.. Thatcher. that
1.-THE plain people of this state. reading
your statement based not only on
those figures but based on your eigh-
teen years experience as an expert
accountant would believe that the
Bank of North Dakota literally had a
reserve of w Eve million dollars
as Of December 3, 1920?
L.. A. I don't think when they read
the rest Of my testimony and find out
that 1 testified. as I recalled. the cash
reserve "a short some two million
dollars at some time, they will believe
that.
@. That is in the other banka
around the state?
A. That Is what the Bank of North
Dakota is made up of.