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Editorial
August 6, 1819
Richmond Enquirer
Richmond, Richmond County, Virginia
What is this article about?
An open letter from the Democratic Press to Langdon Cheves, president of the Bank of the United States, demands transparency about 'The Book,' a document revealing extraordinary transactions and potential frauds at the Baltimore branch bank, which influenced the decision to withhold dividends from stockholders.
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[From the Democratic Press.]
TO LANGDON CHEVES, ESQ.
President of the Bank of the United States.
SIR—Sometime ago, a manuscript account of some transactions, of a very extraordinary nature, which took place at the Branch Bank at Baltimore, was discovered, and has been repeatedly alluded to under the name of THE BOOK.
About 10 or 12 days preceding that meeting of the Directors of the United States Bank in this city, where it was resolved that no dividend should be made on bank shares for the past half year, The Book, as it was called, came into your possession, as is said, for I know not the fact from personal knowledge.
It is also said, that a dividend was negatived at that meeting, in consequence of the alarming information contained in that BOOK.
I beg permission to ask :
1st.—Ought not the stockholders to be made acquainted with the real state of their concerns, and the frauds committed on them?
2ndly—Does not a concealment of the delinquents elsewhere by you and the directors here, tend to screen the criminals from justice, and implicate you and the Board, to a certain degree, in the faults of others?
I do not mean that you or any director here, is in the slightest degree concerned in the delinquencies, of Baltimore; but why are those delinquencies, if they exist, to be concealed?
The Stockholders conceive themselves interested in knowing more than they now do, of the contents of THE BOOK.
TO LANGDON CHEVES, ESQ.
President of the Bank of the United States.
SIR—Sometime ago, a manuscript account of some transactions, of a very extraordinary nature, which took place at the Branch Bank at Baltimore, was discovered, and has been repeatedly alluded to under the name of THE BOOK.
About 10 or 12 days preceding that meeting of the Directors of the United States Bank in this city, where it was resolved that no dividend should be made on bank shares for the past half year, The Book, as it was called, came into your possession, as is said, for I know not the fact from personal knowledge.
It is also said, that a dividend was negatived at that meeting, in consequence of the alarming information contained in that BOOK.
I beg permission to ask :
1st.—Ought not the stockholders to be made acquainted with the real state of their concerns, and the frauds committed on them?
2ndly—Does not a concealment of the delinquents elsewhere by you and the directors here, tend to screen the criminals from justice, and implicate you and the Board, to a certain degree, in the faults of others?
I do not mean that you or any director here, is in the slightest degree concerned in the delinquencies, of Baltimore; but why are those delinquencies, if they exist, to be concealed?
The Stockholders conceive themselves interested in knowing more than they now do, of the contents of THE BOOK.
What sub-type of article is it?
Economic Policy
Crime Or Punishment
What keywords are associated?
Bank Fraud
Baltimore Branch
Stockholder Transparency
Langdon Cheves
Dividend Withholding
What entities or persons were involved?
Langdon Cheves
Bank Of The United States
Baltimore Branch Bank
Stockholders
Editorial Details
Primary Topic
Demand For Transparency On Baltimore Bank Frauds
Stance / Tone
Critical Demand For Accountability And Disclosure
Key Figures
Langdon Cheves
Bank Of The United States
Baltimore Branch Bank
Stockholders
Key Arguments
Stockholders Deserve Knowledge Of Frauds And Real State Of Concerns
Concealment Of Delinquents Screens Criminals From Justice
Directors' Secrecy Implicates Them In Others' Faults
Delinquencies At Baltimore Should Not Be Hidden