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WHO GOT THE MONEY? Tonopah, Nev., Dec. 20, 1909. Editor Tonopah Bonanza, Tonopah, Nev. Dear Sir:-I have been reading with much interest your many articles in reference to the failure of the Nye and Ormsby County bank. I appreciate and commend the good work you are doing, but there is one point not clear to me that perhaps you may be able to explain-Who got the money the bank now owes to its depositors and stockholders? As I understand the situation the Nye and Ormsby County bank was capitalized for $500,000, of which about $400,000 was paid in real money. I think one of your articles stated that the bank owed its depositors and other creditors about $600,000. It would appear. therefore, that about $1,000,000 in real money has been paid into that bank. If this $1,000,000 is not now on hand, evidently it has been paid out. Who got it? I submit, in all fairness, that the people of Nye county, and all depositors, are entitled to information on this point. Can it be possible that such an immense sum of money was lost in the conduct of legitimate and honest banking? If it was lost in the regular course of honest banking it is indeed a sad commentary of the business ability of those to whom the funds of others were intrusted. If it was so lost would not the general public have some knowledge of the details of the loss? Would not men of clean and honest purpose be only too pleased to have afforded them the opportunity of vindication? To the uninitiated. for almost one year this bank muddle has been a most mysterious affair. There have been promises galore, but no results. Are not the citizens and taxpayers of Nye county entitled to light? Again I ask you, Mr. Editor, Who got the money? Yours truly, A SUBSCRIBER. Most benighted of subscribers, we fear that your jest is rather ill-timed. Or if you are serious, we beg that we be excused from answering the question, "Who got the money." Do you not realize that besides the $1,000,000 purporting to be missing, that the entire personal fortune of President Frank Golden (according to his statement) has also been expended in the interest of the bank? This deed of self-sacrifice is indeed meritorious and it has been strongly rumored that application has been made to the proper authorities that a Carnegie medal be awarded Golden. You may not know it. but there are very few bank presidents in the United States who would labor incessantly for the benefit of the depositors and stockholders as has Frank Golden. Of course you could not expect the bank to make public its private affairs. Matters relating to notes given by Golden for huge sums are not for public knowledge. Even a depositor. whose money was loaned without security, would shrink from asking such a question. The poor deluded depositor has been assured that one personal and private fortune would be sacrificed for their interests, and it will only be a mater of time, a few days, probably, or months. possibly years, out not more than a century, before the dollar for dollar is returned. This statement is made with counting future lawsuits of the receivers, and should any accrue, the final payment will be indefinitely postponed for it is of common knowledge that attorneys' fees come high. Your surmise that such a sum of money could be lost in the conduct of legitimate banking, to our knowledge is only a guess. In other states smalle sums have been used personally by bankers, which resulted in the bankers retiring within the four walls of some state institution for an indefinite period, as the guest of the commonwealth. Nevada is more up-to-date in its method of treating bank looters. The people who come under this class They are placed on a pillar where homage is tendered by the rabble. are classed as born financiers and should be reckoned as future captains of industry. They command and their henchmen obey. of By mere wave of the hand a close friend is given the right securing a an overdraft which runs up into the thousands, while in direct opposition, a business man with ample security is denied the privilege of borrowing $5. Mr. Subscriber, you ask if the tax payers of Nye county are entitled to light. From the report of the late lamented grand jury, we believe not. That august body, after spending about the ten months looking over the affairs of the defunct bank, said that is matter would be looked into by the next grand jury. And, it possible, that the next body, when it has been drawn and after sufficient time has elapsed, will refer the matter to their successors. and so on down the line: The light, sought by the taxpaywill be furnished some day and instead of the two candleers, illumination which is now shedding its rays over the defunct power institution, the glare will be of a brightness, comparable to that of a cruiser's searchlight, which will penetrate the innermost recesses of the Nye and Ormsby, and reveal transactions whereby the funds of the depositors were used for personal gains.
