The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-01-07

| far gone to be able to recover and
were therefore constrained to close
their doors since, of which amount
81, 4O6,99S.S6 is in the form of Re-
ceivers proofs of claim.
During the recall campaign and
again in the campaigns of 1929, we
promised the people that we would
not permit any more tax moneys to
| become frozen in the banks;> that
our policy would be to keep these
! funds where they would at all times
be readily available for the purposes
| intended; to wit, to keep the depart
! ments Of state and state institutions
open and serving the people, and al
so as revolving fund for the mill
and elevator at Grand Forks, and
| for the making of farm loans. then
so badly needed This promise we
have kept faithfully, and restrained
all selfish endeavors that sought to
defect US from this obviously wise,
sound and honorable course"
Farm Loan Business
With regard to the farm loan bus
! mess, he said that the present ad-
| ministration had made loans without
showing political favor, charging
that such favor was shown by the
| preceding administration.
On December 5, he said, there still
was $25S,402 of delinquent interest
outstanding on old loans. Foreclos-
ure sales have been had on 191 of
| these and sheriff's deed secured in
Ga cases aggregating 22,180 acres,
and sheriff's certificate in 1877 add-
tional cases aggreEating $500 acres.
! The principal sum involved in the
foreclosures is $S67,700
He added that although 5,274 loans
were made by the present admins
! tration, as compared to 1855 by the
Frazier administration, only $1S9,225
| is now outstanding in interest and
foreclosure proceedings have been
started on only seven loans.
Closed Banks
In telling the history of the ad-
ministration of closed banks, Cover
nor Nestos said:
The administration Of closed banks
| is always difficult, and seldom sat-
isfactory. The only thing any ad-
| ministration can do is to exercise
good business judgment in the hand
| ling of the affairs; curtail expenses,
| conserve assets, make settlements
and collections, and wind up the af-
fairs as efficiently, economically
and speedily as possible. When I
took office, those banks were handl-
ed by individual receivers, receiving
ten dollars day each. OF the fifty
nine banks closed, nine had reopen
ed. Thirty-seven receivers and nine
| special deputies were in charge Of
the fifty banks. l found that dur
ing 1921 the cost of doing business
] had been greater than the receipts
and that the former method was so
inefficient and so expensive that it
resulted in gross waste of the assets
OF the closed banks. l sought coun-
sci Immediately to ascertain wheth-
er it was possible to bring the re-
ownership of all the banks which
were closed under one head, or at
least under two or three, but dis
covered that under the law then ex-
listing this was not possible. The
best that could be done was to group
the banks. We therefore planned a
fairly satisfactory grouping system,
making nine groups with from four
to seven banks in each. BY this
method we saved about $1,000 an
nually in expenses and greatly in
creased the efficiency Of the receiv-
ership system. Nevertheless, it was
not all that I had hoped to accom-
plish and so in 1923 we enacted law
which permitted the grouping Of all
the banks under one receiver with
the result that expenses have been
greatly reduced and efficiency in
creased. The expenses, for instance,
OF the 129 banks that first closed,
during period Of fourteen months
under the old system, were $42,l75.-
66 per month, while during similar
period under single receivership
these expenses have been cut to SIS,
824.95 per month and the force en-
ployed reduced from ITS to SO. The
total expenses for legal aid in man.
aging the affairs Of all the closed
banks of the state during the single
receivership system has been less
than the cost during a similar per-
iod under the Frazier administration
for just three Of the small banks in
the Slope country. Total collections
reported to the Receiver by the close
of the year is $1,375, 1852.
| After lengthy negotiations the re-
ceiver and banking board were al
so able to arrange with the holders
of the collateral Of these closed
banks, where there had been fore
closure of such collateral I'd return
the balance after paying the amount
due them and the expenses, to the
receiver. 1t was very important to
secure such an arrangement in anti
cipation Of the greatly increased col
lections of this fall and winter. The
| arrangement is fair to the banks
j holding the collateral and at the
same time very advantageous to
j Those intereated SIN the assets of +hn