Askov American., 1926-11-11
SOAP SUDs

At the last political meeting be-
fore the election, VIM. H. Lamson.
secretary of the State Board of In
present state administration as we'll
as of the former Preus administration,
was one of the speakers. Among
other subjects, Mr.. Lamson dwelt
upon state bank guarantee law, be-
ing opposed to same as represent
ative of the state administration. In
t6s beginning of his talk on the bank
guarantee law, he sympathized so
much with the smaller banks, stating
that it would be an awful burden to
them if they would have to help pay
for losses incurred through the fail
uTe of other banks; the assessment
would be too great for them to carry.
He went on stating that it is the
rich men who have money deposited
in>the banks and they can better af-
ford losses. BY the way, we might
ask how many rich men suffered los
ses by having money deposited in
such defunct Pine county banks as
the two at Hinckley. the Willow
River bank, Rock Greek bank, and
others? Well guarantee that most
of the money lost through the failure
of those banks was lost by the COM
mon everyday citizens of Pine county,
and chances are that the same con-
dition prevailed over the state. There
are also number of cases of widows
losing their savings; tax money had
to be paid twice, and the like of that.
Such pussyfooting and smoothening
over is sickening to listen to! To-
ward the close of his talk about the
bank guarantee law, which he op-
poses, together with the state ad-
ministration, Mr.. Lamson stated that
what he favored was fewer small
banks and stricter supervision. Yes,
that sounds just like the old guard,
to come around and talk so nice after
the damage has been done.
The editor of this paper made the
announcement in his candidacy be-
fore election, going on record as ia
voring more safety for money depos
tied in banks, and we shall continue
to favor the enactment of such legis-
1ation. We are not for anything red
radical to turn the world upside down
or anything of the like. We have re-
spect for property rights and that is
just one reason why we are for more
safety of bank deposits.
One way that a stricter supervision
of banks (Which the hireling of the
administration favors) would come
about in the quickest and most ag-
gressive manner, would be a little
taxation of all banks for the failure
of the few. One sure thing is that
if all the good bankers had to pay
at least something toward the failure
of the poor banks, the good bankers
would put such pressure to bear on
the state banking department that
the examinations of all banks would
be so rigid and thorough that the
results would soon be noticeable. The
bank failures would diminish as the
years passed on. If bank failures
continued to some little extent and
the burden was too great for the good
bankers to pay, naturally the cost of
paying depositors 100 cents on the
dollar in defunct banks would be
shifted to the public in general. In
stead of paying 40 on time deposits,
the banks would likely be paying
3h&o or 3A9o, but that would surely
be more acceptable to the great, big
majority of Minnesota's people than
taking chances of losing deposits.
1t would make for more security and
confidence, so very vital and neces-
sary in the life of any nation.