By James H. Eckels

Former Comptroller of the Currency and President of the Commercial National Bank of Chicago.

The office of the Comptroller of the Currency was created by an act of Congress passed in 1863. The duties defined by the statute were that he should have the supervision of banks to be organized throughout the country, known as "national banks." These banks were compelled to deposit with the Treasury Department United States bonds to be held as security for their circulating notes, thus providing a sound bank currency and at the same time creating a market for bonds.

It was the intention of those who created the act that the office should be kept out of politics. It was created for a distinct business purpose, having a close relation to the commercial and financial interests of the country, and the situation required that the Comptroller should be free from all political bias, and that the office should remain outside the realm of politics. So far as the Comptrollers of the Currency have been concerned, they have, as best they could within their power, kept the office out of politics and made it distinctly a business office.

In accordance with this idea, the incumbent of the office was to be appointed by the President of the United States upon the suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury, and to hold the office for a period of five years, thus extending it beyond the incumbency of the presidential office. The Comptroller could not be removed from office except on charges filed by the President, and action taken thereon in the form of impeachment - the only office, with possibly the exception of the Director of the Mint, where removal cannot be had on charges filed with the Senate.