Evening star., 1933-08-24

worthless stock and continued to pay
dividends to stockholders.
The priest charged the bankers Co.
often showed surplus in bank stocks
and the stock of brick companies which
today are worth nothing" He declared
they included as an asset the First
National Bank building which. he said
wasn't an asset but q liability"
They lied when they said they owned
the building as 1 will prove" he said.
1T was owned by the Northwestern
Life Insurance Company from which
they borrowed money"
O'Brien critically examined several
photostatic copies of bank reports
handed him by Father Coughlin.
Il can understand why the Attorney
General cannot readily comprehend, )"
said Coughlin. 1T is almost impossible
to believe that such deception could be
practiced"
Disagrees With Receiver.
The priest further declared that the
report Of the Bankers Co. was exam
ined by a capable lawyer, lone of the
best in Michigan"
Il am going to prove this man q
scoundreli" he shouted
Then he turned to the 1892 report
OF the holding company. declaring he
approached 1t with fear and trepida-
ton"
After introducing copies Of the re-
port. he declared the bank closed. per
haps never to reopen, SO days after this
report was directed and mailed"
make this statement" he cried
despite the testimony of Judge Con-
molly (Wllliam F. Connolly, receiver for
the company who said here that the
First National Bank should be opened
up, that eventually the depositors should
receive the full amount of their deposits
and that opening the bank would be a
profitable venture for the Government -
Calls Officials "Looters"
Detroit Bankers Col" he shouted.
Better call it the Detroit Looters Co -
He insisted the holding company had
known that its subsidiaries were being
wrecked" and would ultimately COL
lapse, but continued their practice.
He read q list Of II blocks Of bank
stock which the holding company had
listed as assets. After each one, he
shouted:
Less than worthless!" or value: Just
zero minus!"'or less than zero because
they carry q double liability"
Taking up the affairs of the Detroit
Trust Co.. q subsidiary of the Bankers
Co., he commended bitterly on list of
stocks which, he said, the Bankers Co.
had turned over to the trust company
for a 1910, 900 loan. He came to one
item. which read: "16,S90 selected Sc
curities"
Selected from the dog pound" he
said.
They robbed the widows and orphans
whose money was in the Detroit Trust
Co." he cried because 1t was State
institution. They were afraid to monkey
with q nationa. bank"
The priest III his second day on the
witness stand also endeavored to show
the statements Sf the condition of the
Detroit Bankers Co. for 1881 and 1882,
as mailed to stockholders. were false.
He said that Stair signed the reports.
Charges Bank Deceit.
Introducing a report of the condition
of the company for 1881, he declared
that no balance sheet Of the company
or its subsidiaries was included
1T Is another hideout." he shouted.
THE cover might have read Holy
Bible and opening 1t you would be
liable to find Don Quixote.' Look
through this report and you won't find
an operating statement of the Detroit
Bankers Co. or any Of its subsidiaries.
They don't want to show liabilities II
that's not deceit, going out in the high
ways and byways and enticing innocent
to buy their stock that often was almost
valueless, than I don't know what the
blue sky laws were written for"
Father Coughlin's testimony yester-
dSy included criticism Of the economic
philosophy of former President Herbert
Hoover and an assertion that Detroit
bankers had been brought up in the
philosophy that money in the hands
of the masses was q menace"