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THE CHICAGO BANKER
November 20, !pop]
In extending a cordial invitation to banks and bankers to open either active or inactive accounts with this institution, we also place at their disposal the facilities of our Bond Department for the selection of high-grade securities. 3% on dormant deposits.
OFFICERS
LUCIUS TETER, President	JOHN A. McCORMICK, Vice-President	WILUAM M. RICHARDS, Asst. Cashier
EDWARD P. BAILEY, Vice-Pres.	HOUSTON JONES. Cashier	LEVERETT THOMPSON, Secretary
H. T. SIBLEY, Manager Investment Department

New Ruling on Bank Assets
Washington.—Comptroller of the Currency Lawrence O. Murray took important action in sending out letters to the national bank examiners in which he prescribed a new method of verifying securities for the banks which have them deposited with banks at a distance. Mr. Murray advised the examiners that the certification of such assets out of collateral securities belonging to a national bank and held on deposit elsewhere must be made by correspondence.
Hitherto the local bank examiner in each case has been asked to verify the bonds or securities deposited with a bank in his district, and has been allowed a fee for so doing. This fee has amounted usually to $5. The system was not of much importance some years ago because comparatively few banks had securities which were held for them at a distance in this way. Conditions changed materially when it became more customary for banks to invest their spare funds in stocks and bonds, leaving these securities with the banks in the city where the purchase was made until such time as it might be desirable to sell them.
The practice of personal verification has been troublesome to the banks and has been the source of very numerous complaints to the comptroller’s office at Washington. This led Comptroller Murray to look up the history of the system and it has appeared that the same system which prevails now was in existence prior to the term of office of Comptroller Dawes some years ago and was abolished by him because of its troublesome character. Then the system was restored under Comptroller Ridgely and is now abolished once more.
A precedent or basis for the action now taken is found in the practice which prevails with respect to the verification of bank balances. These are now allowed to be verified by correspondence, the totals being ascertained from the different institutions and presented on a verification sheet from which the comparisons are then made. Inasmuch as the bank balances are of far greater annual amount and cover a far larger interest than do the assets which are held by banks for other banks the comptroller has felt that there was no good reason for the discrimination between the two items, and that the banks might well be relieved of the present inconvenience by applying to the assets held elsewhere the same rules that apply to the balances. This will, therefore, be the practice in the future.
Fourth National
The Fourth National, of New York, has voted to increase capital stock from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000. New shares will go at 200 and thus the capital and surplus of the Fourth will be $10,000,000.	^
A new bank building is to be erected by the Sag Harbor (N. Y.) Savings Bank.
E. L. Meyer on a National Clearing House Bank
(Continued from page 9) currency equal to the notes of the Bank of England, which are par and receivable in every part of the earth when our present American currency is not good away from its own shores. In my judgment, to make a bill of the United States current everywhere in the commerce of the world, will be one of the first things insisted on by a monetary commission.
It is folly to attack the central bank and propose no feasible, practicable plan to provide currency, check speculation and prevent panic. The government and the banks must unite their powers to do this work. Under our present system, except for the temporary arrangement, there is no governor to the greatest machine in the nation. Who would try to run a machine without a governor? The opposition, apparently political, to putting on the governor which we know is capable and efficient, and which proposes to keep on running wild, is to me a most ridiculous proposition and as injurious to those who make it as to the country.
Citizens Trust and Savings Bank
The new Citizens Trust & Savings Bank, Columbus, Ohio, reports capital of $700,000 and surplus $200,000. George W. Bright, chairman of board; John L. Vance, Jr., president; O. A. Miller, Carl J. Hosier, J. F. Stone and F. R. Shinn, vice-presidents; Walter English, cashier, and H. B. Halliday, assistant cashier.
V*
The Citizens State Bank of Loyal, Wis., with a capital of $20,000, has been incorporated by O. C. Linderman, F. D. Connor, Robert Connor, and C. H. Brown.
A new bank building is to be erected by the Merchants National, at Worcester, Mass.
Passing the Conventional
and reaching out for the rare, the unusual and the individual thing in gem-set platinum and gold jewelry, you are at liberty to enjoy the pleasure of an hour or two examining the beautiful pieces
—	many of them hand-sculptured
—	which are being shown at prices which are so modest as to surprise well-informed buyers
RUSSELL FREEMAN
Jewel Rooms
820 THE FINE ARTS BUILDING
The Union Literary Society Hall was a prison for Southern sympathizers. Guerrilla warfare was waged all around Columbia.
On the day of the massacre at Centralia in Boone county, the most terrible conflict of the war, while a blockhouse was being constructed on Broadway fronting the bank, and when safety for business transactions appeared impossible, the directors resolved to place the bank in liquidation. They instructed the cashier to proceed to Washington City with $50,000 of circulation then on hand and deposit it with the secretary of the treasury, with $40,000 in greenbacks, to redeem the remaining outstanding circulation.
The cashier complied with these instructions and withdrew the $100,000 government bonds, which had been deposited to secure this circulation. These bonds were sold in New York and the proceeds applied to the payment of stockholders. Of the $90,000 of circulation issued to the bank in 1863, all was redeemed but $125. Of this amount it is known that $75 was destroyed in a hotel fire in Glasgow, Mo., the day after it was put into circulation. The remaining $50 has never been accounted for and the government will profit thereby. Of the officers and directors of this bank only R. B. Price survives.
The Boone County Savings Association was then organized and began active business November 12, 1864, with David H. Hickman president and R. B. Price, cashier. The directors were David H. Hickman, Moss Prewitt, James S. Rollins, James L. Stephens, and James Harris. The amassing of any considerable amount of money in the bank was deemed extra hazardous. The bank gave notice that they would receive deposits only at the depositors’ desk. It was war time. Every gun from a pocket pistol to a double-barreled shotgun was taken by the federal authorities or by the guerrillas. People in the country were compelled to go unarmed. There was a fruitful field for marauding bands, hangers-on to both armies, threat and torture compelled farmers to divulge the hiding place of hidden treasures. A stream of deposits came to the bank in consequence and its vaults soon overflowed with coin, watches, jewelry, silverware, etc., despite the fact that it was only at the depositor’s risk that any deposits were received.
This bank continued in business until July 1, 1869. David H. Hickman, the president, died on June 25th of that year. The directors decided to reorganize under the name of the Boone County Savings Bank, with R. B. Price, president; I. O. Hockaday, cashier, and Maj. F. D. Evans, clerk. Columbia and the bank sustained a distinct loss in Mr. Hickman’s death. He was a financier of rare ability and would have made a good secretary of the treasury of the United
Henry C. Gant has resigned as president of the Bank of Plopkinsville, Ky. U. Gaither succeeds to the position.