Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-01-28
RED TAPE IN BANKS.
An Emphatic Protest Against the
Identification Nuisance.
How Man May Have Millions in Bis
Pocket and BE Unable to Buy
Meal-DanISing Experiences i'm
Our Cities and Abroad.

A rich man compelled to pawn his watch
for square meal and nights lodging.
That, writes the New York correspondent
of the ST. Louis Globe Democrat, was the
strange situation in which u young English
man who had just landed in Now York
found himself the other day. lie had ar
rived from the West Indies, where he in
vested nearly all the money on his person in
q draft Tor 1890 on a New York bank.
Anxious to get train for st. Louis the
same day he hurried to the bank for his
money. The teller refused to pay the draft
until he was identified
And the young man was an absolute
stranger in New York;
''Your people in the West Indies took my
good money for that draft and want it
back again. Am 1 to infer that this is
bankrupt institution"
He got no satisfaction, lost his train and
had to pawn his watch for a meal and bed.
A follow-passengcr identified him the next
day was discussing this matter the other
day with very liberal American who has
had much banking and mercantile expert
cnce hcrc and abroad. Americans" said
he, "arc the worst bankers in the world
They don't know the first thing about bank
ing. Even to tho smallest details foreign
crs can give us points. The methods pur-
sued in the mere paying and receiving of
money in New York suggest the idea that
every man who enters bank is possible
thief. This,n he continued, Judging from
the numerous dcfalcatlons, might apply to
the officers of the bank, but it is most
unjust to the public. A person who goes
into store whore he is surrounded on all
sides by valuable goods is not supposed to
be there for purposes of robbery-and why
should 1t be different IN bank! Indeed,
New York in this respect never seems to
have gotten bcyondits village days. Nothing
looks more ridiculous to London mcrcan-
tile man than to sec q long string of persons
with books in their hands waiting to make
deposit through cubby hole with a soll-
tary receiving teller-and it is the same with
the payment of money. A bank with
large business ought to have half dozen
receiving and as many paying tellerS
at large, wide, open counters. Why all
these cages and ratings and bars and peep
holes through which you arc occasionally
permitted to catch glimpse of the tellcr's
nose who suddenly and unwillingly hands
you your money! They don't have these
things in England, and robberies in banks
there are rare. Here, despite all these pre-
cautions, they are frequent, and IL large pro
portion arc committed by those inside of
the railing and not outside of it,
Il don't like to be looked upon when l en-
ter New York bank a stranger as if /
had q natural prediction for perjury and
forgery, for the tellcr is not satisfied if you
tell him your right name and oven sign 1t
you must be identified. In England checks
are usually made payable to bearer. Shall
l cross it,? asks the drawer, which means
that by drawing two lines across the check
and inserting the words Bank and Co
between the lines the money can only be
collected through a bank or banking firm.
Otherwise any bearer can get tho cash at
the bank without any questions being asked
except, How will you havO it?' may send
any body with my cheek payaDe - bearer
for $1,000 to q bank and he will get tho
money without any trouble. In New York
bank such an amount would create the ut
most CONSERVATION. All the detectives in
New York would be Immediately rung up
to aid the officers of the bank, from presi-
dent down to janitor, in watching the rash
intruder. Hero a check Of draft is usually
made payable to order, but stranger may
indorsc it in the presence of the teller and
he'll never get the money without identiil-
cation, no matter what ordinary proof in
the way of letters or cards the hold
or of the check may have about
his person. or course if q paying
teller has good reason to think that
check or draft has been stolen or
found he would be justified in refusing pay
ment and holding the party who presented
it; but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
there are no grounds for suspicion. For
cigners are always grumbling at our stupid
rules, and if it were once known abroad
that there was banking house in New
York that would pay drafts TO people with
out Identification such Il concern would soon
have the cream of the Travellers draft
business" "
This attack on the system pursued here,
which is certainly unworthy of great me-
tropols, recalls an experience of my own.
A friend of mine some years ago gave me
check for 200, payable to me or bearer, on
the Sixth National Bank of New York. l
presented it, Don't know you" said the
teller "Ncither have l the pleasure of
your acquaintance" was the answer, "but
my name is on the chocli and | am also the
bcarcr." Cant help it; it's too large an
amount to give to stranger, and you must
be identified" "My friends are out of
town." said |, and President Arthur is in
Washington. | can't very well send for
him." "Wcll, l won't give you the money"
"Then write your reasons on the check"
"No, won't do that" "Then." sald /, ~
am a newspaper man. 1 shall protest this
check and proclaim in Wall street this after
noon that the Sixth National Bank refuses
to honor the checks drawn on it," / got the
money.
Heat in the Constock Mines.
"The Comstock mine in Nevada is
wonderful works. said Mr. Cecil Morgan,
of Aspen. alt is $500 feet in vegti-
cal line to the bottom of the shaft, and
L. L r.n