Evening star., 1933-11-17
i. s. SAVINGS BANK
CASE TO Be ARGUED
MONDAY MORNING
Cooper Several Days Com
pleting Evidence Against
Treasury.
DECLARES HE ALLOWED
$1,000 DEPOSIT TO STAY
Suit Before Justice Bailey Attack.
ing Stand Against ReOpening
Records Many Witnesses.

NSANo NAuAy " "AtnSeoCSs
With testimony closed in the court
battle of Col. Wade H. Cooper. presi-
dent of the United States Savings Bank,
against the Treasury Department, the
case before Justice Jennings Bailey in
District Supreme Court today was con-
tlnueo until next Monday morning.
when counsel will present their argu-
ments
Col. Cooper and his counsel over a
period OF several days before the court
nave attempted to show that the con-
troller OF the currency in rejecting a
plan oy Col. Cooper for re-opening the
oank has used his administrative dis
cretion in an arbitrary manner. They
are asking the court to force the Treas
ury to allow the bank to be reopened
on the Cooper plan.
Treasury Stand Given.
The Treasury Department, several of
whose officials have testified, including
Controller of the Currency j. F. r.
OConnor, has maintained it acted en-
tlrely within its rights under the law,
that Col. Cooper's bank was insolvent
ana That the Cooper plan was an in
justice to depositors.
Arguments will be presented Monday
by w, Bissell Thomas of counsel for
Col. Cooper and by George p. Barse,
counsel for the Treasury Department.
Own Fund Of $500 Left In.
Col. Cooper testified he had an OPP
portunity to take out about 81 800 of
his own money from this bank by off,
set, but had declined to do this and
left the money in the bank
This took place, Col. Cooper said,
when he paid off a note late in August,
and had been offered an Offset by VIII
bur H. Zepp, conservator Of the bank.
OF equal interest today was the testi-
mony Of William R. De Lashmutt, vice
president of the bank, that according to
his calculations the bank was solvent by
crediting additional value to the bank
building and by adding certain bond
depreciation.
Prime sAssets Sales Plan.
Mr.. zepp on the stand told of pre-
| vious negotiations when it was pro-
posed to sell the prime assets OF the
United States Savings Bank 10 the
| Hamilton National Bank. He explained
| that the directors of the bank, exclu-
| sive of Col. Cooper, had voted on May
% to place the bank In the Hamilton
merger. Under questioning by w. Bis
! sell Thomas, counsel for COL Cooper,
| Zepp denied that a former Treasury
official, W. Irving Shuman, had offered
! him a managership in the Hamilton
/ National Bank, but admitted that
something had been said by Shuman
! about being vice president of the
/ Hamilton Bank. The decision to sell
| the prime assets of the savings bank
to the Hamilton, Zepp testified. was
made at a meeting in Maj. Shumans
Office.
The note Of Col Cooper's, which he
paid of in August, was not disclosed in
detail today, but Controller O'Connor
yesterday had testified that this note
was somewhere between $4,000 and
SIS 900. Zepp and Col. Cooper both ad-
mitted that Col Cooper had been given
the opportunity of using all of his re-
naming deposit of $1,000 as an offset
in paying his debt to the bank.
Deposit Allowed to Stay.
"zepp suggested" Col. Cooper said,
Il ought to take the Offset, but I said
I'd pa ythe note in full. Let deposit
stay there
Cooper also testified that the acting
controller of the currency, F. G. Await,
had told him the Government had q
right to force the United States Saw
ings into a new bank.
Await was nice enough about II"
said Col. Cooper. but said that they
had done ii in Detroit. He did not say
they would do it to my bank. but he
said they could"
De Lashmutt took for the basis OF his
calculations that the bank was solvent
a report by National Bank Examiner
Bishop, which previously had been in
troduced IN evidence.
New Evidence Offered
The Cooper attack on the Treasury
took a new turn late yesterday when
three new pieces Of evidence were intro
duced
John w Staggers of Cooper's counsel
presented a copy of the stockholders
agreement, which he said had been
signed by shareholders of more than 30
per cent of the stock, and a large pile OF
agreements, representing about l 1926 de-
positors having a total Of $765 900 in
the bank. Additional depositors' agree
ments were coming in, according to Mr..
De Lashmutt
The stockholders in their agreement
had turned over dividends from the
stock to a trust fund for benefit OF de-
positors. and guaranteed that If at the
end of five years the depositors had not
been reimbursed 100 cents on the dollar,
stockholders would pay 500 per share
into the trust fund
Depositors agreed TO waive 35 per cent
of their deposits, in order to receive,
when the bank reopened, 65 pr cent.
The 35 per cent was to be represented
by participating certificates secured by
a trust fund to be created by placing in
the hands Of two trustees the loans and
investments not included in the assets
N a 06 N,.v,-
would be added all dividends declared
by the bank for five years.
Two Attorneys Heard.
Witnesses late yesterday included two
attorneys who had represented Col. Coo
per in earlier efforts to reopen his bank.
Norman A. Fisher said that during
one Of these conferences with Treasury
officials, Warren r. Forster Of the Re
construction Finance Corporation said
the R. F. c. could loan a certain amount
of cash on assets of the United States
Savings Bank, but this would be $780,
coo less than the amount needed to pay
of the 65 per cent which Col Cooper
planned to pay depositors.
Edward Stafford, one Of Col Coopers
former attorneys, told of a discussion
in which Coopers representative had
strongly objected 10 the Treasury posi-
ton that bank to reopen must be in
a much more liquid and a stronger
position than a bank already open.
Treasury officials were insisting that the
bank be able TO pay 100 cents on the
dollar, he said. but Col Cooper had
charged that under such a scheme no
bank in the United States could open.
l. l. Chorpening. chief national bank
examiner OF the fifth Federal Reserve
district, testified he had told Mr. Zepp