Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1909 — GUARANTY LAW STANDS TEST. [ARTICLE]

GUARANTY LAW STANDS TEST.

Big Concern In Oklahoma Is I’reimring to Resume Business. Oklahoma City, Okla., October 4 That the Oklahoma bank guaranty law has been severely tested and has proved Its worth, is the opinion expressed by many bankers to-day, following a statement that the directors of th» suspended Columbia Bank and Trust Company have submitted a proposition to the state banking board looking to a reopening of the concern. The private depositors who had funds in the bank have withdrawn them, and the only large deposits now held, according to a statement generally credited today, are reserve funds of smaller banks. The drain on the guaranty funds of the state banking board has beep heavy, but it is declared that there is a sufficient sum on hand to meet any demand if the smaller banks call for their reserve funds. Among national bankers throughout the state there has been considerable criticism of the law, and since the suspension of the Columbia there has been a revival of the prediction made when the guaranty law was suggested, that it would lead to loose banking methods. That this, is not true in the case of the Columbia, the officials of that institution stoutly maintain. They say there has been no overdraw by the officers. State bankers, In spite of a possible emergency assessment, are taking a more optomistic view. They say that the test given the new law has been the severest that could be imagined. The bank involved Is one of the biggest In the state and one whose failure would mean the crash of other banks. They hold that the fact that ali the other banks have been able to weather the storm with so little trouble is proof that the law Is effective. Had the trouble, they say, come a little later, or alter the fund had had a chance to grow from regular assessments,

there would have been no strain on the banks at all. The state bankers point also to the fact that the one thing which bankers fear most <n case of such troubles, a “run,” has practically been absent.