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Important Announcements From the R. and Federal Reserve on Merrill Trust Co. Two important announcements were received by The Merrill Trust Co. last night, one from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and the other from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The messages follow: Boston, Mass., November 9, 1933. Sherman N. Shumway, President, Merrill Trust Company, Bangor, Maine. The plan which the officers and directors of the Merrill Trust Company submitted to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and to which the Reconstruction Finance Corporation gave its unstinted support, will be to the full advantage of the depositors and present preferred stockholders, and if adopted should result in your bank being one of the strong banks in the First Federal Reserve District. S. N. Shumway, Merrill Trust Company, Bangor, Maine. (Signed) Edward H. Osgood, Manager, Boston Loan Agency, Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Boston, Mass., November 9, 1933. We have been informed that some of the stockholders and customers of your Trust Company are not satisfied with your program and plan for the Merrill Trust Company, and that their actions in making unusual withdrawals are such that the whole program may have to be abandoned. We feel that there must be a misunderstanding on the part of such people, and that they are not apparently considering all the facts. This is not the time to discuss water that has already gone over the dam, and the facts should be faced as they exist at the moment. You have all worked very hard and have had to overcome many obstacles and, in our opinion, it would be a great mistake to have this program fall down when it is so near completion. If there is some way that you can get word to the people, we ask that they give serious consideration to the following important facts: The Merrill Trust Company has been examined by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation will invest two million in Preferred Stock of the Merrill Trust Company when the plan is carried out, in addition to lending over three millions to the new Merrill Mortgage Company. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation certainly has no desire to invest in the stock of an institution that, in their opinion, will be unsound. The Federal Reserve System has no desire to accept new members that are not in sound condition. The Trust Company has made application for membership in the Federal Reserve System in anticipation of the plan being carried out, and the Federal Reserve Board has given approval to such application when certain conditions are met which you are confident can be complied with legally and otherwise if the plan is carried out. It seems to us that the people of your community should consider these facts very carefully before they fail to cooperate and thereby may force the Merrill Trust Company to close with ensuing long distress to depositors. (Signed) FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF BOSTON, Frederic H. Curtiss, Chairman, Roy A. Young, Governor.
