New-York tribune., 1901-03-10
LOSING PASHBOOKS.


WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CARELESS DEPosIToR.
Not even all OF the happy possessors of depos-
. its in savings banks are aware of the care
that hedges about a passbook: that knowledge
generally comes only to the smaller number
who. being depositors, lose their passb0oks and
generally underrate the gain OF their erience
because of the temporary trouble and inconveni-
ence When q man loses his passbook, if he is a
prudent man-which most depositors are-he i'm
mediately informs his bank of his loss He is
probably surprised TO find that the officials are
as fully prepared for this emergency as for their
daily dinners. He is not only requested ad-
vertise the loss. but. specifically TO advertise it
in a prescribed form, a printed blank being
handed 10 him to be filled in and given to the
newspapers for insertion. In this way a con-
stant reader OF the advertising columns may in
time learn by heart the respective forms used
by all the savings banks.
There is a for all this. a passbook," 4"
as a savings bank manager OF thirty years
experience pointed out to an inquirer, is q ne
g"tiable asset and can be used collateral Sc
curty for d loan. Loans are made on such Sc
curty 10y business banks, but in such a case the
bank making the loan viii notify the savings
bank a matter Of course But suppose the
depositor. who knows that if he draws $i00 say.
on December 20 he viii lose the interest on ii
for nearly six months, chooses TO go to a private
individual for tie loan Of that sum. and save
the interest. The private individual who lends
the money passbook is not al all likely to
take the precaution Of notifying US and that
leaves both him and open to fraud. For that
reason we never issue q new passbook to replace
id one supposed to be lost until are sure
that the loss has been duly advertised The in
terval allowed 10 elapse before it is considered
safe 10 issue book varies In this nsttu-
ton We have fixed time, but a certain
discretion in every case. After that require
affidavit from the depostor, and then
give him his new passbook.
No" the bank official continued. with
smile. lit very seldom happens that any inten-
tion TO defraud is discovered. What happens
in - per cent OF these cases is that the man
who has been positive of having lost his pass
book ends by coming in with g sheepinsh look
10 tell that the book all the time just
whore he put it. To be sure, If did not take
these precautions, il would be just possible for
man TO obtain new passbook false pre-
lenses and for his confederate to draw out the
whole OF his deposit in his name. because the
possession of John Smiths passb book is taken as
sufficient evidence that the possessor is John
Smith, and the depositOrs signature in
books might be referred TO by the teller
But that trick is not likely TO succeed. \ teller
learns to know every signature surely as
other know faces. without being able 20
describe the individual features. and there would
be pretty sure 10 be some ething unfamiliar in the
forged signature. Stil. according TO up-to-datc
methods OF banking ii is not enough TO be
pretty sure; possible chance Of fraud must
be left even to the most honest. An honest man
has very little opportunity to display his virtue
in these days"