Evening star., 1933-02-26
MARYLAND RUSHES
EMERGENCY ACTION
Legislature Expected to Pass
New Bank Laws T0mor.
row Night.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
BALTIMORE, February 25.-State
ofhcials today rushed preparation Of
legislation to protect dep6sitors of
Maryland banks, closed by q holiday
proclamation Of Gov. Albert c. Richie
Attorney General William p. Lane
this afternoon completed the first draft
Of the emergency plan and presented
it at conference attended by the
Governor and bank of1cials. Just what
the draft contained was not made
public.
The final measure or measures are to
be given to the State Legislature when
1t reconvenes Monday night and quick
passage was promised by House and
Senate leaders under suspension Of the
rules. The present plan Of the Gov
ernor is to end the holiday Wednesday.
Western Banks Open.
Despite the Governors proclamation.
which came last night after a confer
ence OF bankers here In which recent
unprecedented Withdrawals In Balti-
more banks were discussed, banks in
the western tip Of the State decided to
remain open.
At Cumberland. largest city in the
State with the exception Of Baltimore,
five Aba mixing institutions remained open,
but they decided tonight to close Mon
DAY and Tuesday. At Oakland, still
further West, three banks declined TO
close.
The crisis was precipitated yesterday
by Withdrawals in Baltimore banks,
which. bankers said. totaled $4,000, 900
yesterday and $l3,000,000 during the
week. The Withdrawals were general
and were not confined to q single bank,
they said.
Legislative leaders today expressed .
willingness to take immediate action
Walter J. Mitchell, president Of the
Senate, offered to call the Senate In
session tonight, but Gov. Ritchie de-
cided Monday would give sufflcient
time.
Prompt Action Promised.
T. Barton Harrington, speaker Of the
House, said the measure could be
passed within few hours after the
Legislature convenes Monday. He gave
it as his opinion that there would be
no difficulty in securing passage.
The need for small change was met
in Salisbury by the Evening Times.
local newspaper which set up q pool
for exchange of bills for silver. The
banks supplied the newspaper with sill
yer and the newspaper acted as an
agent in the transaction.
In Baltimore arrangements were
made to open the banks Monday and
permit customers to obtain change for
their bills. Business houses found dur
ing the day they were hampered some
what in transaction Of business.
Reviewing the banking situation In
Maryland during the day and the reason
for his declaration of a bank holiday.
| Gov. Ritchie in an address tonight
asked cooperation Of the people to
effect a normalcy in the financial prob
lem of the State.
We must understand that In the
! future he said. we cannot all with
draw our deposits all at once That
will force any bank to go into receiver
ship and a receivership always means
that the depositors lose
We must give the banks q reason
able opportunity to pay their depositors
in cash. II the depositors realize this
they will be much more secure"
Hard Lesson to Learn. 800.
| The thing pointed out by the Cover
! nor to bear in mind lis that it is much
Deller 10 lace the SITUATION as II Is
than to ignore 1t. 1t is much better
to balance your books on the basis
Of today's values than continue to pre-
tend that the values OF 1929 are still
valid
Unless we can keep this fact before
us, We shall not get very far, no matter
how many laws are passed That is the
hardest lesson We all have to learn.
but unless We do learn 1t, 1t will plague
| us to the end
Going back over the events leading
up to today's holiday proclamation.
Gov. Ritchie said the situation may
have resulted from one of several things
or may have been all of them.
Certainly the Louisiana moratorium
and then the Michigan moratorium
| didn't help us any" he added
He pointed out the functions Of the
bank in investing the money Of the de-
pOsitors and the effect on business Of
the sudden demand Of depositors for
their money
But having weighed all these things
I had to think also Of the disastrous
results which would follow If the with
drawals from the banks were allowed
to continue unchecked" the Governor
continued. THE thing needed was time
for quiet and mature Judgment as to
the future and finally I decided that
when all was said and done, the holi-
day was the only way out"
MONTGOMERY AWAITS ACTION.