Passing to the pledgee, whenever he is registered as owner of the
stock on the company's books, its officers will not look behind these
to ascertain whether he is the real owner or not when he is voting his
stock. A court of equity though may do this, and enjoin a pledgee from
voting the stock whenever the pledgor's rights would be affected.
Should the pledgor acquiesce for years in the control of the stock by
the pledgee, who is the record owner, and not inform the company of
his ownership until the holding of a contested election, he would be
too late to claim the right to vote. Finally when a certificate of
stock has been assigned in blank as collateral security, which is
often done, and never transferred to the pledgee on the books of the
corporation, a memorandum only having been made on the stub of the
certificate in the stock book, the pledgee is not a stockholder and
cannot vote the stock. It may be added that notices of meetings should
be sent to whoever has the right to vote the stock, to the pledgor if
the stock still stands in his name, to the pledgee if the stock has
been transferred to him and stands in his name.

DIRECTORS.

Shareholders manage their corporations through directors or trustees
elected for that purpose. The business of some corporations is managed
by trustees who are named in the charter and who fill vacancies in
their number by electing others themselves, a self-perpetuating body.
Many savings banks especially are thus organized and continued. From
their number they usually select a smaller number to manage or direct
its affairs.

The directors are always shareholders, unless the charter of a
corporation permits the election of outsiders, a thing that rarely
happens. The national banking act requires that every director shall
own at least ten shares of stock, and many other corporations have
similar requirements. The charter or statutes prescribe at least the
minimum number that must be elected, but the maximum number is left to
the stockholders themselves. A national bank must have five directors,
not infrequently the board is composed of ten, fifteen, or even more.
A director is chosen for some real service that he is likely or
willing to perform. An individual may be chosen a bank director who
may not be able to do much in directing the affairs of the bank, yet
by reason of his wealth or business relations he may be able to
attract business to the bank and thus greatly promote it