Back to the Indians

When Banker John Milton Nichols gets mad he stays mad (TIME, Oct. 19, 1936). He has been mad at the Administration since 1933, and last week he was still in there, seething.

As president of Chicago's First National Bank of Englewood, he won a nickname (100% Nichols) by keeping his bank 100% liquid during the depression.

To show his distrust of the New Deal, Banker Nichols refused to make loans. He advised depositors to "bury your money in a tomato can." He fought the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bitterly. He switched the bulk of the bank's assets to the most liquid thing he could think of-- $100,000 bank notes, which he tucked into two safety deposit boxes.

In 1941, when the banking business was going well, 100% Nichols decided to retire (what with That Man in the White House and all). He paid off depositors and closed his bank. For two years, ex-Banker Nichols brooded while his bank stood empty. No one but bookies and nightclub operators offered to rent it.

Last week, by Nichols' order, wreckers were tearing down the building. Cost: $4,500. When the last brick is carted away, he will have black dirt spread over the site, and grass sown. Said he, glum for the nonce: "The lot will be just sitting there to give back to the Indians."

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