Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-05-30
UNDER LOCK AND KEY.
Safe Deposit Vaults and Those Who
Use Them-Ehe Safeguards They
Give.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
1.-THE first record of safe deposit in this
country" an officer of one of our large safe de-
post companies said, 'fs that OF liquor dealer
near the old Canal street market, who took
boxes of valuables belonging to his customers
and cared for them for small fee. Subsequently,
another liquor dealer in the neighborhood
started competition by doing the same service
for the sake of the liquor custom The same
spirit of competition has been shown In the
present system of safe deposit companies which
was started by Francis III. Jencks In 1885, The
business has Increased rapidly. so that there. are
now ten companies in New York alone, and other
cities have copied the idea extensively.
ut would naturally he supposed that the ma
1orlty OF those using the safe deposit would be
old persons; but such is not the fact It is q
common thing for young married couples to
hire compartments for their wedding presents
There are also many boys and young men living
In boardlng-houses who have no safe place to
keep their bank-boOks at home and they hire
compartments There has been visible de-
crease in the number OF lost bank-b books since
the establishment Of safe deposits. The bust
ness has not interfered with savings banks. be-
cause money is seldom kept i'm safe deposits.
bat chiefly bonds and valuable papers The
idea, in fact. had its origin In the necessity
for some safe place to keep United States
bonds. There are many foreign owners Of
bonds who keep their property on de-
tO"ie hStC anu iAsasc dScutS u cup CHelr
coupons for them. 1t occasionally happens
that compartment owners lose their KEYS.
Sometimes they lock up their duplicate KEYS
and then lose the other key. Insuch cases they
nave to pay for breaking open the safe. Thus
far the safe deposit companies have been yery
fortunate in escaping any great loss or defalca-
ton. The main cause of this Is that there would
be necessity for a considerable number of per-
sons to be implicated to make anything of the
kind successful. The idea that number of dis
reputable persons might combine to hire safes
and thus secure the right to be inside among
the vaults has been considered and even such
an apparently dangerous risk has been provided
for by the separate security of each compart-
ment, and by the difficulty Of getting out of the
safe rooms without proper Identification
The safe deposit system has proved boon
to married women, who have thus an opportu-
nifty OF keeping out of their husbands reach
any private papers that they may wish to pre-
serve. l could tell you of pathetic scenes that
we sometimes observe where depOsitOrs bring
ont old mementoes and keepsakes and view
them with emotion. OF such, however we get
only chance glimpse, as the rule is that only
tile-depositOr knows what Is in the boxes An
other popularity about safe deposits is that
they have been singuiarly free from litigation.
No case Of any magnitude has arisen from the
disputed ownership of a box or the loss Of its
contents. The rapid Increase OF companies and
the keen competition. rather. tends to decrease
the safeguards, but 1t Is evident that the safe
deposit system met a great public want 1t
may safely be said that the evidence of own
erShip of very large part Of the wealth Of the
countryis locked up in the boxes Of these ten
companies"