Show ECKELS AND THE CHESTNUT STREET BANK There is no man in all the country who has prated more of honest money and honest banking than has Mr James H Eckels He has talked them by day and dreamed them by night on the mountains tops and in the valleys depths he has talked them traveling by rail or traveling by steamer er he has talked them to talk them became a part of hip very being an essential to his existence they and his name became synonyms and to mention the one was to conjure up the image of the other In truth Mr Eck els made the fatal mistake of protesting protest-ing too much and at last he has made a confession or admission that proves all his protestations were but hollow pretenses Speaking of the failure of the Chestnut Street National bank Mr Eckels says I have known of the condition of the Chestnut Street National bank for two years At that time its affairs were in bad shape and were brought to my attention One year ago I could have closed the bank but it would not have done It was in election time This bank was unsound so unsound that it had to close its doors it had been in this condition for a couple of years and the comptroller of the currency cur-rency knew it all the time He says he could have closed the bank a year ago but it would not have done And why would it not have done Because it was in election time That is to say Mr Eckels deliberately refused to do his sworn duty for political reasons rea-sons Why would it not have done to close the bank in election time Because Be-cause it was a sound money bank and its president was running a sound money paper and showing up the inherent in-herent weakness and dishonesty of the free silver propaganda as he claimed it to be and it would never have done in the world to let the people know that a sound money newspaper proprietors pro-prietors sound money bank was unsound un-sound to the very core Tb have told the truth would have hurt the cause of honest money and of the honest men who were advocating it me I cause was so honest that the comptroller comp-troller of the treasury was perfectly willing to Resort to dishonesty to bolster bol-ster it up He simply prostituted his I i office to further the political cause he had espoused that is all Does any one In all the wide land believe lieve for an instant that if the Chestnut Chest-nut Street National banks president had been the editor and proprietor of a great silver paper instead of a great gold paper Comptroller Eckels would have forborne for more than a year to do his sworn duty and close its doors because it was in election time Not a p non believes he would On the contrary he would have been over zealous zeal-ous to seize the opportunity to crush the bank and so silence a silver paper And after lie had done this does any I one suppose that he would have let the bank go into liquidation Instead of into a receivers hands No no one supposes sup-poses he would ExComptroller Eckels admission it garding the Chestnut Street bank shows him to be a despicable person a trickster a politician of the lowest type a creature to be spurned and spit upon 1 |