"My firm will also furnish subscription blanks to those who, through lack of time or otherwise, cannot secure them elsewhere."
I think I have made clear so far the conditions under which these vital statements were put forward and have lodged the legal responsibility for them where it belongs. The National City Bank is plainly liable for violation of the published stipulations under which subscriptions were allotted, and it is common knowledge that the stock was allotted one share in five subscribed for, while the original list of subscriptions shows that the total allotment was less than twenty-seven millions and the full subscription less than double the amount to be allotted.
It is common knowledge that the dividends were cut to two per cent., and are at the present time, the best ever known in the copper business, only four per cent., and that they have been cut under eight per cent., so they either could not have been twelve to sixteen per cent. at the time it was stated they were, or there has been great fraud committed since. As we are dealing with the greatest national bank in the country, it will be simple for the Government and banking officials at Washington instantly to disprove my statements if they are false; otherwise they must take action, civil and criminal, against the National City Bank.