If the bank impairs its capital, the Comptroller of the Currency notifies the directors and calls upon them to make good the deficit. In case they fail to do so, the Comptroller declares the bank insolvent and places it in the hands of a receiver. In this the Comptroller is fortified by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. His judgment must control. When he declares that a bank is insolvent, there is no power in the courts of the United States to gainsay that, and he is clothed with the right to appoint a receiver to take charge of the assets.

I remember an instance, when I was Comptroller, of a bank in Tacoma which my examiner reported to me as having a reserve of only 6 per cent whereas the requirement was 15 per cent, as it is in all but five or six large cities, known as reserve cities, where 25 per cent is required. I ordered the examiner to declare the bank insolvent. The directors got out an injunction, but the judge declared that, while he thought it was all wrong for the Comptroller of the Currency to have more power than the President and Congress, he could not do anything but let him take charge of the bank if he so desired. This power vested in the Comptroller requires impartial action over all banks that come under his control.