Abstract

The National City Fiasco

One of the most interesting consequences of the recent collapse in the stock market was the last-moment failure of the National City Bank and the Corn Exchange Bank Trust Company to achieve the merger to which the whole financial world had been looking forward for several inflated weeks. The incident itself was dramatic. It involved the failure of the shareholders of the National City to ratify the action of their officials and directors, the willingness of the officials and directors to have their action left unratified, the chagrin of the Corn Exchange shareholders at the loss of a chance to sell their property for about $100,000,000 more than it was worth in the market, and the devastation of the prestige of Charles E. Mitchell, who was separated by but one step from making his financial organization the most powerful in the world as it was already the most aggressive.