By Hecht?

The unwritten law of succession in the American Bankers Association is that at each annual election the second vice president shall accede to the first vice presidency and the first vice president shall accede to the presidency. U. S. Banking thus picks its official spokesman two years in advance. Many things have happened in the last two years--particularly to Rudolf S. Hecht, chairman of New Orleans' Hibernia National Bank, who was elected second vice president of the ABA in the dark autumn of 1932.

Banker Hecht's troubles began when he was chairman of the New Orleans RFC advisory committee which loaned $4,000,000 to the Union Indemnity group of insurance companies not long before they crashed early in 1933. That stirred New York's hulking Congressman Hamilton Fish Jr. to one of his typically brash outbursts, this time on Banker Hecht and a "rotten mess." Suspicious of any & all banks at the time, depositors outside New Orleans began to withdraw deposits. Banker Hecht soon had a first-class run on his hands, which was not stopped until he called in Huey Pierce Long.

The Kingfish hastily concocted a Louisiana holiday celebrating the 16th anniversary of the day after the day President Wilson gave German Ambassador Count von Bernstorff his walking papers. From this fantastic episode Banker Hecht got considerable but not wholly dignified publicity.

After the national banking moratorium which soon followed. Banker Hecht's old Hibernia Bank & Trust was not allowed to open wide. Curiously enough, that was about the best thing that ever happened to Mr. Hecht and his big bank. Reorganized with some fresh capital, the bank took out a national charter. Thus com pletely free of the State banking department, which was never averse to twisting the screws on Senator Long's order, Hibernia National has grown and prospered. And Banker Hecht has not even seen Huey Long for months.

Nevertheless, a number of ABA members feel that Banker Hecht has yet to live down his hectic years--at least in the public's eye. Last year a move was made to block his accession to the first vice presidency. New York members in session last June passed a pointed resolution calling on the ABA to nominate for high executive positions men "able to command the confidence not only of bankers but of the public at large." Last week with the annual ABA convention but a month away, the Hecht opposition again broke into the open. Manhattan bankers, who are supposed to be opposition leaders, politely pooh-poohed such talk, but Banker Hecht felt obliged to state: "I will accede to the presidency. ... I have no intention of withdrawing."

Bankers big & little know perfectly well that their titular leader at this time should be above reproach, unjustified though the reproach may be. But many feel Banker Hecht's long devotion to ABA affairs should be duly rewarded. No one denies that the swart little Bavarian from Ansbach with the slick black hair and the cropped mustache is a banker born. After a short training in Chicago he went to New Orleans, was a bank president at 33. But whether the ABA will break tradition to pass by Mr. Hecht at 49 is likely to be a hot question when U. S. Banking next assembles.

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