Evening star., 1933-03-12
R|TCH|E Attacks
BANKING PROGRAM
Declares Emergency Meas
ure ImperiIs State Banks
of Nation.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BALTIMORE, Md, March 11.-Gov.
Ritchie tonight attacked the Presidents
emergency bank act as imperiling the
savings and resources of millions of de-
positors in the 1000 State banks in
the United States.
In 500-word statement, issued
shortly before midnight, and person.
ally dispatched by him to metropolitan
newspapers throughout the country, he
asserted that the s2,0oo, ,0o0. 100 In new
Federal currency provided by the Fed
eral law Is "solely for the benefit of the
national banks and the Federal Reserve
member banks"
Pointing out that there e., .carly
200 State banks in Maryland, he ssld:
TO their hundreds Of thousands Of
city and county depositors ! owe the
duty Of speaking plsinly in what I be-
heVe Is critica! emergency for them"
Withheld Criticism.
The Governor, who had made a per-
sonal call on President Roosevelt before
passage Of the Federal emergency bank
act to ask that 1t place State banks on
equal footing with National and Fed
erl Reserve member banks, appealed
yesterday to members Of the State Leg
lslature to bring pressure to bear at
Washington for a change in the act.
He himself, however, refrained from
pointed criticism of the bill until after
Roosevelts proclamation for the re-
opening Of banks, beginning Monday,
had been read to him tonight.
Under that proclamation no bank in
Maryland may open Monday, but Bal
tmore banks may reopen Tuesday and
county banks Wednesday. The re-
openings on a 100 per cent basis in
all cases are subject either to the con-
sent OF the Treasury, in the case Of
national and Federal Reserve member
banks, or to the consent on the State
bank commissioner in the case Of
State banks and trust companies. Fur
thermore, in all cases banks asking per-
mission to reopen in full must satisfy
the Federal or State authorities Of
their ability to do so.
Gov. Ritchie's criticism Of the Presi-
dents emergency bank act included
statement that:
It excludes State banks from get
ting use of the new emergency cur.
rency except on 90-day loans from Fed
eral Reserve Banks, secured by Govern.
ment bonds. With that exception, their
only chance Of access to the relief af-
forded by the new currency Is member
ship in the Federal Reserve system,
and that, he said, would take time.
running into months"
Other Delays Feared.
The alternative form Of relief offered
StafA hankS-tho ca1a pf y,rafarvnA ~<enbr
to the Reconstruction Finance Corpora.
tion-also would take time, and In any
event would not help many Of the town
or rural banks of the country.
Under those circumstances 1t will be
"dtmcult" for the State banks that are
not members Of the Federal Reserve Sys-
tenn to survive in the face of the
great Federal aid allotted among their
competitors" the Governor asserted,
He added that he was In hearty &C.
cord" with President Roosevelt's efforts
to relieve the banking crisis and that
he was not opposing aid to the national
and the Federal Reserve member banks.
He said he could not believe, however,
That IAN administration whose brains
and heart have conceived this relief for
the depositors IN our national and Re-
serve member banks will not extend 1t
TO the depositors OF the State banks.
too.'
Earlier In the evening the Governor
had been informed that representatives
of q Maryland State bank had asked
officials at the Federal Reserve Bank Of
Richmond for permission to join the
Federal Reserve System and had been
told that they would have to wait their
turn, that all Reserve examiners would
be occupied for some time to come with
the affairs OF the systems longtime
members.