Max H. Parkin discusses, and defends, the Kirtland Safety Society being capitalized at four million dollars at its inception.
Max H. Parkin, "The Nature and Cause of Internal and External Conflict of the Mormons in Ohio Between 1830 and 1838" (M.A. Thesis; Brigham Young University, May, 1966), 301
At the time of the bank's inception, it was capitalized at four million dollars. Critics have found fault with this enormous figure because the capitalization of all the banks in the state of Ohio at that time was only nine and one third million. Yet, if the capitalization of the bank at four million dollars is viewed with the concept that the Kirtland Safety Society was to be the parent of a national, and, perhaps, an international financial system, the high capitalization figure would seem realistic.