Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1908 — A PROTECTION TO HONEST BANKERS. [ARTICLE]

A PROTECTION TO HONEST BANKERS.

The National Bank of Commerce of Kansas City was the largest bank in the Missouri Valley. It was so large and so prosperous that it excited the jealousy of all it« rivals. It had about $25,000,000 of deposits when the Republican “flurry” came in the,Mil of 1907. The Standard Oil company, jealous of its growth, started false reports, and caused depositors to withdraw their money. On the second of December, when the government report was called for, it was shown that these false reports had caused a reduction of $16,000,000 In deposits. The bank officials did not dare to reopen on the following Monday for fear of a run and the sacrifice of securities at half values. So they “liquidated " and the stockholders and officers lost largely. Had the bank been guaranteed, the tongue of slander would have been harmless. No withdrawals would have been caused by false reports. The premium of one 20th of one per cent for guaranty’ of deposits would have been cheap to the bank’s stockholders. After the presidential election, when all men can think without bias, 90 per cent of the honest bankers outside New York will demand the compulsory guaranty of bank deposits for the protection of both themselves and of their customers,