The office differs from any other in Washington because there is absolutely no routine. Every case is an individual case, and the Comptroller must exercise individual judgment in every instance. The great responsibility that attaches to the office is due to the fact that the bank is the one necessity in every community that affects every business enterprise. The failure of the bank takes out of the business channels of the community more or less of the funds, and curtails the credit of the community.

That was particularly so during the panic of 1898. During the thirty years of the existence of the office prior to my incumbency there had been 182 failures of national banks. During the first two weeks I was in office there were 165 failures. The result of the failure of so many banks was seriously to embarrass many communities, and the effect was very far-reaching. I continued to give a bank opportunity to do business if I found its management sound and honest. It would be assumed that a bank having failed once, and having suspicion attached to it, could never succeed in obtaining the confidence of the public. I tried the experiment, laying down certain conditions which were to be complied with on the part of the directors of the bank. Of the 165, I thus opened 115, and 100 of these proved to be very successful institutions.

But there were many banks that did not fail, but were close to the point, and the question with the Comptroller was whether to close them at once or run the risk of their failure with ensuing disaster to the community. I remember one instance where I considered for a long time the advisability of closing a prominent bank in the Northwest. The institution had enjoyed high credit, but, because of investing in notes based on land booms in the neighborhood, the credit was seriously impaired. The examiner insisted that the bank should be closed, but I felt that I should take the risk. However, I put on it an assessment of considerable size. Many of the stockholders came to see me, and they finally concluded to pay the assessment, and that bank is now the largest in its state.