Page:A History of Banking in the United States.djvu/462

 to constitute the board of Bank Commissioners. Each company is to file a certificate with a statement of its name, capital, etc., and whether it proposes to be independent or a branch of the State Bank. The capital of the independent banks is to range between $50,000 and $500,000, and of branches between $100,000 and $500,000. The certificates of the funded debt of the United States or of Ohio are not to be counted in the capital, which must be paid up in specie, all the details of organization and payment of the capital being inspected by the Commissioners. When seven companies shall have proposed to become branches of the Bank of the State they shall each elect a member of the Board of Control of said bank. That Board shall elect the president. The seat of the Board of Control is to be at Columbus. They are to decide on the amount of circulation of each branch; to procure and furnish it; and to establish rules for settling the balances between the branches. They have visitorial power and their salaries and expenses are to be paid by the branches in the ratio of their capital, as also the expenses of preparing the notes. The Board of Control is made a body corporate until 1866. Each member of that Board is to have one vote, and one more for every $50,000 in circulation which his branch has. The notes issued by any branch must be paid by it in specie. Those branches which have not over $100,000 capital are not to issue in excess of twice the capital, and larger banks a smaller proportion. The Board of Control is to replace worn and defaced notes. Each branch is to give to the Board of Control, as a safety fund, ten per cent. of its circulation in money, or stocks of Ohio, or of the United States. This fund is to be invested in mortgages, and the interest on it is to go to the depositing branches. All the stockholders in any branch are to owe to it, in the aggregate, not more than one-third of its capital. Any branch which does not redeem its notes is to be considered insolvent, and the Board of Control shall, upon examination, appoint a receiver and put the money in some solvent branch, with which to pay the notes, all the solvent branches contributing to this expense. Any noteholder may, through the courts, compel the Board of Control to take this action against a delinquent branch. Each independent bank is to deposit with the State Treasurer bonds of the State, or of the United States, to the amount of its capital, and he is to give to it its circulating notes to an amount not exceeding the value of the bonds, nor three times the paid-up capital. He is to have the custody of the plates and paper, and to replace worn out notes, the cost being assessed on the banks, and each bank is to have the interest on its bonds as long as it pays specie; but if, in New York for four weeks, the bonds fall below the value at which they were deposited, the interest is to be retained to make good the deficiency. Any insolvent bank is to be wound up by a receiver and the securities sold to pay the notes. All the stockholders of a bank may not be liable to it, in the aggregate, for more than three-fifths of its capital. The Bank Commissioners are to appoint an agent annually to examine the banks. No bank may lend on its own stock. The independent banks are to last until 1866. They are