Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1893 — THE BUSTED BANKS. [ARTICLE]

THE BUSTED BANKS.

The newspapers far and wide, continue to roast Zimri Dwiggins and his financial methods, on the text of the recent suspension of the Columbia Bank and the reported failure of the whole string of Syndicate banks which, as some of these papers express it, tumbled over like a string of bricks set on end; when the first one tumbled, the whole row had to follow suit Now these virtuous newspaper critics, ought, while they are “giving Dwiggins the D—l” to also remember the proverb, and give Dwjggins as well as the Devil, his uue.

The fact of the matter is, most of this unfriendly criticism, while no doubt, honest and well intended, is based upon erronious informatieft. It is based upon the belief tW the first wild reports of Syndicate Lanka faiitu es .were all true, whereas a large portion 9f those that were reported as having failed or suspended,- never closed their doors at all, while of those that did close, a portion re-opened again within a few days. The Citizens State Bank at Rens-

selaer, the first and original Dwiggins bank, was one of those reported .as broken. It never closed its doors. The same statement also applies to the Dwiggins bank at Knox, also at Attica, Morocco, Boswell, Otterbein, Ambia, West Lebanon, and we know not how many other more remote placesThe Syndicate bank at Oxford has its affairs in a complicated shape and will go into liquidation and

be re-organized; but we have good authority for saying that the depositors will not lose a dollar. The bank at Monroeville, C. P. Mitchel], cashier, closed only for a few days, and is now running as usual; also the bank at Churubusco, Milton Campbell, cashier. So also the bank at Dunkirk. In fact, of the D wiggins Syndicate, proper, the Brookston bank seems to be about the only one in this section of the state, that has failed completely, and even of that the depositors expect to realize dollar for dollar. As for the Columbia, itself, it is only fair to give the officers and directors the little time they ask for, before condemning its management, utterly. They promise to resume shortly, and that depositors shall be paid, in full. The banka at Hebron and Lowell, although they we®e carried down by a run, precipitated by the Columbia’s suspension, were never a part of the Dwiggins Syndicate, being organized: an di owned by 11. S’. Dwiggins <fc Sons. The bank at Russiaville is reported as a complete wreck, and a* writer in the Chicago .Record- attributes to Mr. Dwiggins its ruia» But whether justly or not, we are not able to say. That bank was at one time in the Dwiggins Syndicate, but has since been under the control of Paris & Nave. In making the above observations we are not actuated by any desire to defend Mr. Dwiggins’ finanancial methods, if they have been crooked or unsafe, but merely to present a few facta which seem to show that much that is being said against him is based upon erronious statements, and that a fair and reasonable time should be given for Mr. Dwiggins and his friends to explain and adjust matters, before he is condemned.

It is proper to add that, since the was put in type, a receiver has been appointed to wind up the affairs of the Columbia bank. Also that a special dispatch from Washington, published in the daily papers of Tuesday, says that the preliminary report of the examiner in charge of the bank shows that it is hopelessly insolvent, and that a re-or-ganization is impossible. Also that the Chicago Times, of Tuesday, had an article from Oxford stating that the bank there was in a very bad shape, indeed. Bat the responsibility for it was mainly attributed to the president of the bank, Mr. McConnell.