OCR Text |
Show BANK OFFICIALS 10 II LOSSES G000 Hint of More Serious Charges Than Unprofitable Unprofit-able Underwriting. By International News Service. WASHINGTON, Feb. 7. It was learned today that charges more serious than entering into unprofitable underwriting under-writing transactions, as first indicated, arc under investigation by the treasury department in connection with certain New York and Chicago banks. Six banks in New York and three in : Chicago are affected. The transactions to which attention is being paid by the treasury department followed the pauic of 1907. Among tbe New York banks involved, the National Bank of Commerce, Com-merce, the Chuse National bank and the First National bank of New Y'ork are : said to be included. j It is understood that the First National Na-tional bank, of which J. B. Foran is presidont, and the Continental aud Conr mercial National bank, of which George M. Reynolds is president, arc two of the three Chicago institutions involved. The name of tho third haa not been learned. The first intimation that the treas-, ury department was investigating something some-thing unusual in connection with some of the country's biggest institutions became known when it developed that John Skelton Williams, comptroller of the currency, had made a demand on tbe New Y'ork banks to make good a loss of approximately $2,500,000 to the ( stockholders. Mr. Williams, however, declined to comment on the matter. According to information obtained today, this was because he did not want to engago in a controversy which might compel him to discloso the names of his informants. The latter are said to be former of fi-, cials of the banks affected, who have indulged in the activity known in other circles as ' 'squealing." The general nature of some of the complaints made against these banks is known. The treasury department has been looking into charges that in some Chicago and New York banks there have existed cliques of hich officials who participated in transactions of personal per-sonal profits closely approximating speculation. Further, it is alleered that in some of these institutions, which were depositories for county and city funds, it was the practice of these officials to take the funds into Wall street and make call loans at, high rates of interest, in-terest, pocketing the profit, if any, and charging up againsr the stockholders anv Tosses that might occur. It was impossible today to ascertain the amounts of money involved in the several cascs the extent of the practices prac-tices concerning which complaint- had been made or the progress of the treas-urv treas-urv department's investigation. As in all other cases of bank investigations, the t rcasury department officials have cloaked themselves in mystery. |