Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-09-12
They We're Afraid of Ranks.

keep money in large amounts about their homes or persons. It is not safe, they say-they might be robbed or even mur- dered. So they put it into the banks. In tight times, on the contrary, they decide in their powerful minds that it is not safe to keep money in the banks, but they must bring it home where they can have their eyes on it. Queer, people are.
 There's plenty of money, the econo- mists say, just as much as there ever was. Then where is it? you ask. You haven't it; the cat hasn't it. It is hoard ed away, say the economists, because the community has no faith in banks. The rich city man puts his cash into 8 safety deposit vault. The poor man and woman put theirs in an old stocking and hide it in a crack where the plaster ing is broken of, or maybe they dig a hole in the ground and bury it. In this time of scarcity, when hundreds of thou sands are unemployed, when the tempta- ton to robbery and violence is more than double what it is ordinarily-this is exactly the time chosen by many per sons to bring their money and jewels home, apparently to make the valuables convenient for robbers. It is because they have no faith in banks.
 The morning papers of few days ago, in different parts of the country, had some items showing what becomes of the money of those who are afraid of banks. Here is one of the little anec- dotes from a Philadelphia paper:
 The best haul made since the present cpl | demic of robbery broke out was at the house of Margaret Davis, sll South Second street. which was robbed of $l, ,+O0 during the absence of the | family. The place is but a stones throw from | the Second district police station, but the | thieves all along appear to have taken delight | in plying their trade where police men are sup posed to be thickest.
 | Mrs. Davis had no faith in banks. Accord | inEy just before her departure for the quiet | shades of Putnam Grove she drew all her money l out of the bank, and with the assistance of her | daughter dug deep hole in the cellar, in which | she deposited 1t. None others knew of the | buried treasure, she said.
 On Sunday the neiGhbors noticed a man I calmly walk up to the front door, unlock it | with a key and enter the house. When Mrs. | Davis returned later in the day, she was horri- | fled to find her money gone.
 | Following the little illustration about
 the Philadelphia woman who built | private safety deposit vault in her cellar
 because she had no faith in banks comes
 a bit of story of New York person
 who had no faith in banks. It is this:
 Some three months ago Jacob Livingston. | wealthy miser living in the northeAstern part | of the township of wolcott, was robbed of about g. 900 in gold and bills. Robbers entered l his house, where he lives alone in abject | squalor, and after drugginG or ehloroforming | him tore down two heavily barred doors and from closet on the second floor took an old l chest which for years had been the receptacle
 of his miserly gains and contained Se.oOo in Goldpieces and $500 in bills.
 Would it bore you too much just to
 read this short extract from the St. Paul Globe:
 The Minneapolis fire demonstrated the fool
 ishness of hoarding. One man lost $500, an- other Sl 400, and third Ss,oOo. Perhaps many
 others suffered greater or less loss which has | not been reported. These parties thought the
 banks were unsafe and then drew out their
 savings of years and concealed 1t in their resi-
 dences. As the result they are beGRAred. The
 foolish hoarding Is not only bringing direct
 loss, such as noted, but 1t is so crippling bust
 ness as to compel the reduction of wages and
 in many cases the discharge of employees. The
 hoarder is an enemy to himself and society. We offer no comment on these brief
 tales of woe. Like the state of Massa-
 chusetts. they need none. You can manu-
 facture the moral homemade for yourself.
 We will give one more anecdote. It is a very little one, but it is the best of all. It is such a dainty morsel, as it were,
 this tale of the greenbacks that the grass
 hoppers ate up, that we cannot refrain from printing it:
 Farmer Silas Bauer drew $eOO in paper money | out of the bank at Pittsburg. His wife sewed
 il in his coat. but grasshoppers bored 1t full of
 holes when he hung the garment on the fence
 in the field.