Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-06-08
1nmrnaI aud Gumrfer,
The Oldest Daily Paper Pub
lished in Connecticut.
&C DRPOSIT.s,

1
The study of words is very interesting.
Many words have much in them. 1t is q
good time to consider the word Deposit. ~
This word has good old Roman ancestry
and has blood relatives in several tongues.
Its chief meaning is to lay down. to place,
to put, and 1t may be remarked that 1t
contains no hint of taking up after laying
down. As dictionaries are fond of saying,
crocodile deposits her eggs in the sand. P"
If all goes well the eggs turn into other
crocodilss after having been deposited.
The dictionaries do not say that the oroco-
die deposits" her eggs in a sand bank,
but simply In the sand. Men "deposit"
money. They do not put It in the sand
as crocodiles do their eggs. They are not
as wise as crocodiles. They put it in
banks founded on sand and run by what
Is known az "sand" or "nerve." When
they thus "deposit" they have in mind q
very comforting and optimistic meaning
of-the word. They cay to themselves that
deposit" means ''to place for care or Gus
tody," "to lodge in trust;" 'to lay in
place for preservation or safe-keeping;"
and they expect to be able to find their
money in the place where they deposit 1t,
with interest duly added, even as the croc-
odile expects to find her eggs where
she deposits them, and by patient
waiting to collect interest In the
shape of young crooodiles. But those who
confine themselves closely to this pleasant
meaning of the word deposit" are per-
haps as orthodox In their philology as the
General Assembly of Northern Pres
byterians is in Its religion. But they are
also as narrow. There Is another meaning
to the word. and 1t may be painful one.
It is "to lay or set aside;" "to get rid Of"
No cheerful and hopeful depositor in a
bank deposits his money therein with the
Intention of getting rid of It, He does in
tend to rid himself of the trouble of safely
keeping his money but he doesn't intend
to get rid of the money.
1t is evident nowadays that there Is not
that agreement concerning the meaning of
the word "deposit" which there should be.
A good many banks look at the dictionary
and see 'get rid of under deposit" and
they do not notify the depositors who have
In mind the definition "lay in place for
preservation or safe-keeping." Therefore
when the depositors come around for their
money they find that there are at least
two meanings to the word "deposit," and
that they have somehow chosen the wrong
one. The discrepancy should receive more
than it does. For instance. there
might be law passed requiring banks to
adopt the definition of deposit" under
which they intend to do business and
hang it where the public can see it. Then
a man who wants to lay his money away
for safe keeping can tell what to do, and
If he wants to get rid of 1t he can know
where he can be accommodated.
There is still another definition of "de-
posit," given by the Supreme court of
Connecticut and not yet to be found in
the dictionaries. A careful study of 1t will
well repay those interested in words. 1t
appears that this learned legal and philo
logical tribunal thinks that "to deposit"
has An even wider meaning than any above
noticed. 1t is "to put money in bank to
be used by the bankers for the purchase
of bonds and stocks for others than the
depositors, and to finally get rid of the
money by contributing 1t to help out the
said purchasers when the bank 'busts.'"
It will be noticed that the meaning "get
rid Off ia retained in the definition but
some interesting trimmings are added.