Talk:Real Estate Bank of Arkansas/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: DanCherek (talk · contribs) 15:36, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Hi Hog Farm, I will review this article. Comments to come. DanCherek (talk) 15:36, 14 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks! It's been about 3 months since this was nominated, so I'll probably need to refresh myself on some of the sources. Hog Farm Talk 15:43, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Lead

 * Infobox number of locations: see my comment about a potential branch in Van Buren below
 * Added

Establishment

 * "Most lived along" – suggest clarifying that "most" refers to stock subscribers, not the board of directors
 * Done
 * "including those of the author of the bank's charter" – the preceding paragraph and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas indicate that the charter was written by Davies and Ringgold, while Worley only calls out Davies for this part, so I suggest revising to "one of the authors", "an author", or something similar
 * Went with "an author"
 * Capitalization is a little inconsistent in this paragraph between "United States senator" and "United States Senator", unless I'm mistaken (I'm not very good at that part of the MOS)
 * Not sure what the MOS says, but I'm going with the lowercase
 * There are a few financial terms that I wasn't super familiar with, so wikilinking may be helpful (just suggestions, you can decide if they're actually useful): Maturity (finance) and Surety
 * I've linked those two and will keep an eye out for others. I'm an auditor, so I'm more familiar with a lot of these terms than most

Operation and suspension of specie payment

 * Footnote 10: Gitelman 1996, pp. 321–322 appears to be a typo, should be pp. 361–362
 * Oops, fixed
 * "but were still unable" – "were" should be "was" if the subject is "the state"
 * Corrected
 * "in a duel on the floor of the legislature" – was it a duel? It sounds like Wilson just walked up to the guy and knifed him... (later comment from me: I see that the entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas labels it as a "duel", so it is also fine as is)
 * I've had this same question, as well. A number of sources call this a duel, although I don't think it would meet a strict definition of one
 * Anthony H. Davies is mentioned for the first time here. It's worth noting that he (co-)wrote the bank's charter
 * I've addressed this by naming Davies and Ringgold outright when mentioning the charter writing
 * Suggest modifying "Senator Ambrose H. Sevier" to "U.S. Senator Ambrose H. Sevier"
 * Done
 * A little bit of context for the name "T. T. Williamson" would be nice. Worley p. 111 says he was president of the Washington branch
 * Added
 * "Paper money" was already wikilinked in the previous section, I don't think it's important enough to have to link again
 * Unlinked
 * "but only in denominations in excess of $5.00" makes it sound like they weren't allowed to issue $5.00, but the source says that they were authorized to issue "denominations of not less than $5.00", which sounds like $5.00 was okay
 * Agree, amended to "$5.00 or greater"
 * Worley p. 404 says that there was another branch of the bank in Van Buren, and Worley p. 414 suggests it also opened in early 1839 ("During the spring of 1839 the four branches also got under way. All the five banks suspended..."). Gitelman p. 361 also suggests there were 4 branches in addition to the Little Rock headquarters
 * Added; that's what I get for not reading Worley's footnotes
 * It's interesting that the suspension of species payments was "in violation of the bank's charter" (Gitelman p. 362) – maybe worth a quick note in this paragraph (maybe after the Stebbins quote)?
 * Added
 * "The disputed transfer to the New York bank itself was illegal" – suggest modifying to "The disputed transfer to the New York bank was itself illegal" for clarity
 * Done
 * "they were paid at two- or three-to-one.[17]" – as this footnote should support the two previous sentences, the page number should be changed from "364" to "363–364"
 * Done
 * Worley p. 415 – "At the May meeting, 1841, the central board ordered that all notes on hand and all that might be taken in after that date be destroyed." Is this significant enough to mention?
 * Added

Trusteeship

 * Arkansas Supreme Court was already wikilinked in the previous section
 * Link removed
 * "As both leaders of the Democrats and Whigs were involved" – to avoid making it sound like you're talking about two specific people, maybe change it to "As leaders of both the Democrats and Whigs were involved"?
 * Done
 * "The 1843 election authorizing the trusteeship" – should that be "The 1843 law"?
 * Yes, fixed
 * Gitelman p. 376 "during the trusteeship period from 1842 until 1855, the bank's assets were consistently dissipated [...] The bank was in worse shape at the end of the trusteeship than at the beginning" – this is interesting and might be worth mentioning in this section
 * Added

State receivership

 * "no acts concerning the bank until 1853,[31]" – I think this should cite Worley p. 424
 * Yes, fixed
 * "1846 amendment" → "1846 constitutional amendment" for clarity?
 * Added
 * This first sentence is a little convoluted overall so I was a bit confused when I first read it. The middle phrase about the committees and the amendment creates a lot of separation between "1853" and "when one was enacted". How about restructuring to "Although committees were formed annually and an 1846 amendment forbade the state from chartering additional banks,[32] the Arkansas legislature passed no acts concerning the bank until 1853, when one was enacted ordering the Arkansas Attorney General to file in chancery court against the trustees.[31]"
 * Done
 * "when one was enacted ordering the Arkansas Attorney General to file in chancery court against the trustees" – it would be helpful to clarify here what they wanted to sue for (i.e., "to divest the trustees of the assets of the bank", Worley p. 425 / Gitelman p. 370)
 * Added
 * "the 1884 repudiation was accomplished via an 1884 congressional amendment" – does the year need to be stated twice in this sentence?
 * Done

Other GA criteria

 * References are presented in accordance with style guidelines
 * No issues with sourcing reliability or original research
 * Passes my checks for copyright policy compliance
 * No unnecessary detail, no POV issues, and stable
 * Illustrated with relevant, public domain images

Great job! I enjoyed reading through this article and learning about this particular part of Arkansas's history. A few suggestions above for improvement; nothing too important, and let me know if you disagree with any of them or have any questions. DanCherek (talk) 16:05, 15 July 2022 (UTC)


 * I saw that you mentioned an upcoming exam on your talk page. Feel free to take as much time as you need here, and good luck with the exam! DanCherek (talk) 16:29, 15 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I'll try to get to this soon, but I'm quite busy at the moment. Hog Farm Talk 04:43, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Exam is done, will be able to pitch into this now. Hog Farm Talk 01:25, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * - Thanks for your patience and a very thorough GA review! I think I've addressed everything above. Hog Farm Talk 17:16, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I'm happy with this. Passing this review now. Well done! DanCherek (talk) 17:33, 24 July 2022 (UTC)