Show bryan talks to Tope kans on the guaranty of bank deposits 4 To Reka kan aug 27 defore an audI audience eLc 0 which tilled filled the Auditorium to overflowing william J bryan democratic candidate for president tonight spoke on the subject of guaranty of bank deposits previously lie he had bad delivered three addresses two from the veranda of the hotel and the third at garfield park where he attended a picnic by the knights ot of pythias his latter themo being fraternity tern ity the democratic candidate and his party arrived here at I 1 ocl ocic and wore were at once taken in hand by a reception committee composed ot of leading democrats of the city and state and cn conducted inducted ducted to the hotel in automobiles A great crowd greeted him at tho the station and at the hotel As announced by him before his hia departure from kansas city A mr ir bryan in view of the action of the kansas republican state convention which endorsed the guaranty ot of deposits proposition oatt ion lon made some remarks supplementary to his hig prepared s speech pooch on that subject he took up the advantages of the guaranty system and then answered the objections made to it ty by mr taft and others ile he began by asking why the depositor should bo be left unsecured when the national government demanded security of any ally bank with which it deposited money he pointed out that the choice was between the postal savings bank and the guaranty bank and accused mr air tatt taft of favoring an unnecessary extension of the sphere of government in advocating the postal savings bank iri stead of the guaranty bank mr bryan declared that he preferred the guaranty bank proposition which would allow the banks to attend to the hanking banking business and yet compel then them to give their depositors necessary security upon the conclusion ol 01 of the prepared speech mr bryan said 1 I asked aaker mr friedenthal Brieden thal a banker of kansas kanas caty to make inquiry among the bankers of kansas and ascertain what proportion of them favored the guaranty law I 1 learned that of the bankers that had expressed them belve elve on this subject about three fourths of them favored a guaranty law and one fourth opposed it this Is IF an excellent showing among the depositors there Is no opposition at all and it Is evident that tho the kansas bankers recognize first that something must be done and second that the guaranteed bank is iq better than tho the postal savings bank I 1 also inquired of governor haskell hack ell in regard to tho the number of national banks which have surrendered their charters and became state banks irk in order to have the benefits of the guaranty system I 1 have a telegram from him saying that four national banks have already mado made the change and are operating under the state bank laws and that sixteen other national banks have ap lied hod tor for state charters this is conclusive proof that the oklahoma law Is ie a success A national charter is supposed to have some advantages over a state th charter arter and tho the benefits ot of the guaranty law must be admitted when twenty national banks will in a short time change from tho the national system to the state system in order to give their depositors the advantages furnished by the guaranty system since the preparation of my speech on this subject the republicans of kansas have held a convention and adopted a state platform the plank on the guaranty of banks Is a recognition of the necessity for security but the plank is so BO worded as to be practically useless so far as aa the protection of the people is concerned tho republicans propose to enable the state banks to mutually and voluntarily guarantee deposits but that is not enough supposing that the banks mutually agree not to do it must tho the depositors be left unsecured the kansas republican platform also requests tg the republican candidates for congress and the united states senate to favor a law in aiding a national bank to participate in the mutual and voluntary system but what chance is there of securing such a law when the republican national convention refuses to pay any attention to the subject and when the he republican candidate opposes the whole principle of the guaranty mr tafts denunciation of the guaranty system is so BO swooping sweeping that no disinterested person can for a moment believe will either cither encourage or permit a law enabling national banks to participate in state systems what the people need i is a system whereby both state and national banks will be compelled to guarantee depositors and only a democratic victory atory can secure this reform with a democratic president and a democratic congress it will bo be easy to secure the adoption of a system which will make both state and national banks secure and speaking of platforms I 1 am glad to call attention to the fact that the republican platform adopted in kansas endorses the democratic national platform on two important questions first it favors the election of senators b by y direct vote of the people a reform which the republican national convention rejected by a vote of seven to one and which mr air tatt taft has never advocated but once and that only in a halfhearted half hearted way in ills notification speech he said that personally he was inclined to favor guch a law but it requires more than a more mere inclination toward the law to secure such a reform another plank endorsing the democratic platform is to be found in the condemnation of the present rules of the house and in the demand for a modification of the rules this Is the position taken by the democratic national convention and it is gratifying to know that the republicans of kansas have supported us rs in the position taken but what shall we say of the condemnation of the vice presidential candidate Sherman 7 while mr shermans Sher mans name Is not mentioned ho is so prominently connected with taj present rules of the house that the republican platform on this subject cannot be constructed otherwise than as a denunciation ot of him hero here we have the republican Republic and of kansas kansada heartily endorsing the nomination of tatt taft and sherman even commending the speech of acceptance of mr taft while the convention proceeds ceede to condemn mr tafts position on the guaranty of banks and mr shermans Sher mans position on the subject of rules there Is no doubt that there Is a strong reform sentiment among the republicans of kansas and the bent way that they can give expression ot of it is to vote for the democratic electors and thus secure a national administration in harmony with their reform ideas and then elect a democratic state ticket which stands for reform democratic legislature which will not only stand tor for the guaranty law but elect mr farrell to vote for re reform form in the united states senate and then the republicans of kansas ought to complete their work by electing democratic members of congress to help reform the rules of tho the house and to carry out the reform pledges in the democratic platform mr bryan brjan intended leaving for lincoln at midnight but at the last moment changed his plans and will start in the morning instead arriving home at 5 in the afternoon guaranteed banks mr chairman ladles ladies and gentlemen why not make the depositor secure the united states government requires the deposit ot of specific security when it entrusts money to a national bank although it can examine the bank at any time the state requires security when it deposits money in a bank the county requires security ind and the city requires security even the banks require security from the officials who handle money why should tho the depositor be left to take his chances not only is the depositor without protection but the security giver to nation state county and city lessens his security they aro are preferred creditors they have a mortgage on the gilt edged asset aset and the depositor must get along as best he can with what remains wiry why are the interests of depositors thus neglected A bank asks deposits on tho the theory that the depositor is sure of the return of Ms money and the la laws ws ought to make the facts conform to the theory the depositor the community and the banker himself will be bene benc fated by legislation which will give to every depositor the assurance that that which Is committed to the keeping of the bank will be available to meet his needs at any time such is not the case today for while all banks are reasonably secure they are not absolutely so this statement can be verified in several ways first the president has advocated a postal saving bank and his postmaster general in presenting an argument ent in its favor pointed out that millions are sent to european savings banks every year by Anle americans ricans of foreign birth who prefer to trust the state institutions of the nations beyond the BOO bea rather than the private banking institutions here second it is known that a considerable amount of money is in hiding the amount increasing with the approach of a panic or business depression this money Is not only withdrawn from active use but is likely to be withdrawn just at the time when money Is most needed and when the withdrawal will increase the financial d disturbance it Is impossible to reason with fear it Is futile to tell men that they will probably got their money the moment the depositors suspect a bank they hasten to destroy its solvency distrust and distrust alone can an explain the hiding biding of money third the increase in the issue of money orders payable to the order of the purchaser is another evidence that people are seeking greater security for their money the banks will pay an interest upon deposits and yet those chose who buy money orders prefer to lose the interest and in addition to that pay the price of the money order in order to secure tho governments guaranty fourth national banks confess confers that their banks are not secure when they oppose the guaranty of state banks on the grounds that it would lessen the deposits in national banks and state bankers confess that their banks are not secure when they oppose a national guaranty system on the ground that it will draw deposits away from state banks isyou it you want to find whether banks ard absolutely secure ask the directors to give you their personal note to secure your deposit and you will learn that they will not bear the risk which they ask you to bear fifth the experience of oklahoma furnishes conclusive proof that depositors po do not fee fe el 1 l that their money is safe in unsecured banks bankd on the of december 19 1907 the oklahoma legislature enacted all a depositors po guaranty law which became operative february ath 1908 by the provisions of this law all state banks and as many national danks banks as desire to avail themselves of the law are taxed one per cent of their deposits and the money thus collected is put into a guaranty fund the banking board is author iced to made additional assessments from time to aimoto keep the fund up to this amount and Is directed to take possession of any insolvent bank pay the depositors in full and reimburse burAe the fund by collecting the assets of the failed faded bank five hundred and fifty five banks including fifty four national banks had come under the provisions of this law on the of last may blay leaving but unsecured banks all national in the state statements are made by the banks in december and may between these periods the secured banks gained in deposits 4 while the unsecured banks all national showed a decrease in deposits of A large part of this increase represented money moncy brought from hiding or from without the state but the decrease in the unsecured banks can only be explained in one wa way y A A large ff number limber of depositors withdrew their money from the unsecured banks and deposited it in the secured banks and this too in spite of the fact that in order to prevent withdrawals the unsecured banks in some gome instances offered a higher rate of interest than the so ee cured banks were permitted to pay and it must be ro remembered also that the banks which suffered a loss of deposits were all national banks and to make it certain that the difference was caused by the guaranty law thee the secured national banks gained while the unsecured banks lost while the deposits were increasing in the guaranteed banks of oklahoma they were falling failing in the state banks and trust companies of kansas the decrease being between march and june no amount of criticism of the timid depositor can change the facts the people who deposit money want more security than the laws at present give them they will change banks to got get more security and it if necessary they will send their money to another state for many years efforts have been made in congress and in the various states to secure a law guaranteeing deposits but the influence of the great banking institutions has been sufficient to prevent action last tall fall however e when hen the banks bank by a concerted action suspended payments on checks the depositors were everywhere brought to a realization of the fact that their deposits are in fact loans payable on demand under ordinary circumstances but payable at tho the will of the bank in emergencies the depositors suffered a considerable loss during the suspension of payments and the they have not forgotten the lesson which they bey then learned the democratic party being more free than the republican party to respond to the needs of the masses of the people inserted the following plank in its national platform we pledge ourselves to legislation by which the national banks shall bo be required to establish a guaranty fund for the prompt payment of the depos kiors of any insolvent national bank under an equitable system which shall be available to all state banking institutions wishing to use it 1 this principle has been applied in oklahoma and the results have been very satisfactory the average animal loss to depositors in national banks during the last forty years has been less than one tenth of one per cent of the deposits and the loss to the fund 1 in oklahoma under better rr rc and restrictions has been absolutely nothing during the six months in which the law b has as been in operation the republican platform Is silent on the be subject and the republican candidate not only does not advocate a compulsory system but specifically ana emphatically opposes it he says the democratic Democrat Iq platform recommends a tax upon aati national onal banks and upon such state banks as may come in in the nature of enforced insurance to raise a guaranty fund to phy the depositors of any bank which lails alls f 11 aal then he questions the right of the government to enact sucha such a law saying paying 11 illow how state banks banh scan can be included in such a scheme under the constitution is left in the twilight zone of state rights jand federalism so frequently the meaning and purpose of ibe promise of the platform it they como come in under such a system they must necessarily be brought within tho closest national control and so they must really cease to bo be state banks and become national banks ills his solicitude for the state bank belil hardly impress the country for he Is quite indifferent to states state S and their reserved rights when he deals with other subjects when congress Is in the control of those who want to to legislate for the whole people rather than for the few it will not b be e difficult to frame a law under which state banks can avail themselves es of ta gift advantages of a federal law guaranteeing an the deposits of national banks just as it was easy in okla ioma I oma to frame a law lav which permitted national banks to take advantage of theu the state tate guaranty system irwill it will also be easy to enact a federal law |