ho will look out
for the interests of all.

The sworn reports made to the Comptroller of the Currency are published
in the newspapers where the banks are located, and a copy sent to that
officer that he may know that the law in this respect has been complied
with. The stockholders can inspect them at any time as they appear, and
can note any changes which occur in them from time to time. The
stockholders are also at perfect liberty to make any inquiries that they
may deem fit, in any direction which their intelligence may suggest to
them.

In addition to the protection which the law gives to the stockholders,
and also to the depositors, by requiring the publication of reports of
the condition of the national banks, Bank Examiners are provided in the
law; these Bank Examiners are appointed by the Comptroller of the
Currency, and make their examinations at any time that he may deem fit.

A Bank Examiner to afford perfect security for the real merit of his
examination, has a disagreeable duty to perform. He enters a bank, which
by all the world is supposed to be well conducted and solvent, and to be
managed by honorable men, respected and looked up to by the whole
community. His position, however, is that of a Censor, and it does not
permit him to assume what the world supposes. On the contrary, to make a
good examination, he must take nothing for granted, and quietly act on
the ground that something is wrong. "Suspicions are the sinews of the
mind" in this case, and an examiner without them cannot expect to detect
mismanagement or defalcation. The position requires tact as well as
technical skill--tact not to offend unnecessarily or disturb friendly
relations, and skill to bring to light all that should be
discovered--and undoubtedly requires a high class of mind in the one
that fills it _well_. Bank examinations are not the only security
provided in the law, and it is ridiculous to assert that the Directors,
stockholders and depositors should throw aside or neglect to use all the
other means which the law provides to enable them to protect themselves,
and rely entirely upon the Government examinations, which in the nature
of things must depend for success on the sagacity of one individual.

The framers of the National Bank Act, while they did all that they could
to protect the depositors and stockholders of national banks, as has
been seen, were still not perfectly sure but that failures might
sometimes occur. This f