William Strong

“ Indeed, until recently, the primary idea of a savings bank has been, that it is an institution in the hands of disinterested persons, the profits of which, after deducting the necessary expenses of conducting the business, inure wholly to the benefit of the depositors, in dividends, or in a reserved surplus for their greater security. ”

“ It is, like many other savings institutions incorporated in England and in this country during the last sixty years, intended only for provident investment, in which the management and supervision are entirely out of the hands of the parties whose money is at stake, and which are quasi benevolent and most useful, because they hold out no encouragement to speculative dealing or commercial trading. ”

“ Certainly, no express authority is given to make dividends to the corporators; and we discover nothing from which such authority can be inferred. The dividends of which a return is required by the eighth section to be made to Congress are evidently those spoken of in the fourth, as made to the depositors. The rules to be applied to the construction of corporate grants are well known. A corporation created by statute can exercise no powers and has no rights except such as are expressly given or necessarily implied. ”