Such measures as are within
the power of the Executive have been taken to ascertain the value of
the stock and procure the payment as early as possible.
The conduct and present condition of that bank and the great amount
of capital vested in it by the United States require your careful
attention. Its charter expired on the 3d day of March last, and it has
now no power but that given in the twenty-first section, "to use the
corporate name, style, and capacity for the purpose of suits for the
final settlement and liquidation of the affairs and accounts of the
corporation, and for the sale and disposition of their estate--real,
personal, and mixed--but not for any other purpose or in any other
manner whatsoever, nor for a period exceeding two years after the
expiration of the said term of incorporation." Before the expiration
of the charter the stockholders of the bank obtained an act of
incorporation from the legislature of Pennsylvania, excluding only the
United States. Instead of proceeding to wind up their concerns and pay
over to the United States the amount due on account of the stock held
by them, the president and directors of the old bank appear to have
transferred the books, papers, notes, obligations, and most or all of
its property to this new corporation, which entered upon business as
a continuation of the old concern.
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