[Volume XXV
THE CHICAGO BANKER
18
J. T. McCarthy, cashier of the Merchants, responded to the sentiment “Galveston,” but said he was glad now to be a resident of Houston.
Judge E. B. Parker made a hit with stories of the old maid, and of the discouraged wood-kitty, and told how the directors of the Commercial Bank appreciated Mr. Eldridge and how they regretted that new business connections would cause him to leave that institution.
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Looted Waynesburg Bank
Washington, November 2.—Indications now point strongly to the belief that the Waynesburg Bank situation will so■ develop as to let slip most of the “big men” who were concerned in the looting of the institution just as seems to have been originally planned by those who have been manipulating the situation. Bank Examiner Starek, who has been in this city for a day or two, now asserts that it will probably be a matter of extreme difficulty to get the evidence on which to indict the men who are believed to have been instrumental in the looting of the bank, owing to the fact that most of the irregular transactions were not put through the books of the bank, but were recorded in small private books which were kept by the officer who was responsible for most of these transactions and who finally destroyed or made away with these books.
The chief method of looting the bank was the employment of rediscounts, the proceeds of such rediscounts apparently being appropriated to private use. The Comptroller’s office did not for a long time know that the rediscounting was going forward, and only got on the track of the practice at last by picking up evidence of the situation from the books of other banks which reported the paper they had rediscounted for the Farmers & Drovers’ of Waynesburg. Finally it insisted upon a change of officers of the bank, but the old ones were surreptitiously retained by the directors without the knowledge of the Comptroller’s office.
President Roosevelt is determined not only to bring to justice if possible the officials who were the ultimate cause or beneficiaries of the failure, but also to apply appropriate measures to discipline those officials, if any, who failed to correct the evils or who have been instrumental in postponing appropriate action by the courts.
Bonds for $50,000,000
It is stated that an issue of $50,000,000 Panama Canal 2 per cent bonds will be put on the market shortly to put the Treasury in a more satisfactory condition. More money is needed for the payment of the ordinary expenses of the government than is being taken in.
“Reimbursement of the Treasury for expenditures on account of the Panama Canal” will be the form of the announcement when Secretary Cortelyou advertises that subscriptions for the issue will be received at the Treasury Department. The assertion will be made that the proceeds will be converted into the Treasury to replace the money taken therefrom to pay canal construction bills.
The working balance in the Treasury Mondav stood at $29,729,110. That is $21,000,000 less than the sum considered desirable.
The disparity between income and outcome during October amounted to $10,670,275. The total for the fiscal year which began on July 1st is $44,032,812. October, therefore, so far as the total of its disparity is concerned, is a little below rather than above the average for the four months.
The gap between income and outgo for the last sixteen months now amounts to $103,000,000, and there is no indication of a let up.
T>׳»
Joseph J. Oldsfield h ״s been appointed assistant treasurer of the American Trust Com-pan3r of Boston.
H. R. Eldridge
A most elaborate banquet was tendered to Herbert R. Eldridge at the Rice Hotel on Saturday night by the bankers of Houston. Mr. Eldridge goes this week to accept a position with the El Paso National of Colorado Springs, Colo.
The dinner booklet was a beautifully engraved affair of six pages. On the cover appeared the inscription:
“Dinner tendered by the officers and directors of the associated banks of the city of Houston, Saturday evening, October 31, 1908, 9:30 o’clock, Rice Hotel, complimentary to Herbert R. Eldridge, upon his departure to Colorado.”
A picture of Mr. Eldridge graced the front page of the booklet, after which the entrees appeared.
Arrangement committee : B. D. Harris, chairman; John T. Scott, J. T. McCarthy, F. W. V aughan.
Reception committee: John T. Scott, chairman; W. B. Chew׳, W. E. Richards, J. M. Rockwell, J. E. McAshan, Guy M. Bryan, Jesse IT. Jones, H. S. Fox, Jr., T. C. Dunn, P. B. Timpson, F. E. Pye.
Judge PI. M. Garwood presided as toastmaster with his accustomed grace and said that Mr. Eldridge from his new home might draw unlimited drafts on the esteem and friendship of his fellow citizens.
All toasts were impromptu and each speaker acquitted himself creditably.
J. T. Scott, of the First National, was the first speaker called upon and made a splendid talk, telling what the bankers of Houston thought of Mr. Eldridge and how they regretted his departure.
J. E. McAshan, of the South Texas, made a witty response when called upon as the poet-laureate of the Houston bankers.
Nelson Munger spoke briefly but fittingly on the subject, “If Time was Money I Would be a Millionaire,” but refused to express his thoughts in song.
Jonathan Lane spoke for the bar of Houston and discussed how a lawyer felt among bankers.
H. N. Tinker, of the Union, called upon to toast the fair sex, responded with a beautiful sentiment in both prose and poetry.
F. W. Vaughan, of the American National, claimed to be suffering־ with lockjaw, but several good things were uttered by him nevertheless.
B. D. Harris, of the South Texas, expressed several pretty thoughts in honor of the guest of the evening.
A laugh of pleased apprehension went round the table when, as Guy M. Bryan rose to speak, the orchestra struck up the first notes of Mendelssohn’s wedding march.
Mr. Dorrance toasted “King Nottoc.”
E. Raphael spoke to the toast of “The Clearing House.”
Hon. Thacl Holt spoke feelingly of the testimony of the evening that Mr. Eldridge had made a name and a character for himself and that the gathering was a testimonial to the character he took away with him. Thornwell Fay responded to the toast of “The Railways.”
M. E. Foster, called on as the representative of the best products of Texas journalism, told several happy stories.
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and from other cities. The next meeting of the organization will be held this week.
Richmond Chapter Meeting
The Richmond, Va., Chapter had a large and profitable meeting last week when their new rooms over the City Bank were used for the first time.
Much time and labor had been spent toward furnishing the new home of the Richmond Chapter in the effort to supply a valuable aid to the purpose of the organization, and its convenient location to the banks will undoubtedly make it a popular place for the clerks to congregate in the afternoons.
At the meeting one feature of the evening was a debate on the question of the guaranty of deposits, and the prominence given this subject in the present campaign drew an interested audience. The contestants were as follows: For the affirmative, G. H. Bates, A. L. Archer and R. A. Hicks, Jr.; for the negative, John S. Haw, W. B. Ouinn and Julian T. Winfree.
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Iowa Bank 21 Years Old
The First National of Guthrie Center, Iowa, has been celebrating its twenty-first anniversary. The Guthrie State Bank was organized in October, 1887; in 1900 it was changed to its present title, the First National of Guthrie Center. There has been but little change in the management since its organization. With the exception of periods of temporary depression it has made a steady growth from the start; has paid reasonable and regular dividends ; has never so far met with any considerable loss, its losses by reason of poor loans being but a trifle over $50 per year for the twenty-one years; its loans aggregating in that time over $12,000,000 and over 45,000 different loans. The policy of the bank has been a liberal one in respect to building up and developing the business of the town and country around it. When deposits were light and not much idle money in the community it brought in a large amount of outside money for the improvements of farms, the increase of the live stock business, and in loans for longer time and at lower rates than banks could then afford.
It now is in a splendid new bank building of its own, from which it has issued an illustrated booklet, containing a dozen pages of ruled paper for the correct keeping of an itemized farming cost account. The bank’s officers are: E. C. Lane, president; F. M. Hopkins, vice-president; Carl IT. Lane, cashier; Katie B. O’Dair, assistant cashier; Will A. Lane, assistant cashier. The bank directors are: John B. Elwood, Waterloo, Iowa; Chas. E. Pickett, Waterloo, Iowa; W. F. Parrott, Waterloo, Iowa; H. W. Grout, Waterloo, Iowa; FI. J. Hess, Guthrie Center, Iowa: F. M. Hopkins, Guthrie Center; E. C. Lane, Guthrie Center.
The Citizens State Bank
The Citizens State Bank is the first of the San Francisco banks that went into liquidation to pay a dividend to its depositors and creditors. A 10 per cent dividend was declared this ׳week, and checks were mailed to ever}^ holder of an approved claim against the bank. The total amount to be paid is $9,000. The condition of the books of the bank has made it exceedingly difficult for the receiver to collect many of the loans, as the}־ were made without
Will Pay Bank’s Debts
That the Consolidated Bank of Los Angeles, v. hich closed its doors during the financial troubles of its owner, W. IT. Carlson, will pay its depositors dollar for dollar is the statement of E. Smith, who is standing guard at the bank, in the Chamber of Commerce Building, while Promoter Carlson is out attending to the financial end of the deal.