Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-01-12
MANY LOST BANK BOOKS.
Thousands of Them Go Astray Dur
ing the Year in One Way
and Another.

That's the third woman n mas
been here to-day to notify us that she
has lost her bank book" said the re-
ceiving teller of a savings bank a few
days ago, says the New York Sun.
That's a bigger average than usual,
but nobody except a banker has any
idea how many pass books are report
ed lost in a year. l couldn't tell, my
self, but it is away up in the thous-
ands.
Most of them aren't really lost,
though, they're just m1slaid, In a few
days later the person who reported to
us that a book was gone returns sort
of shamefaced and says he's sorry to
have caused us all the trouble, but the
book was found back OF his desk.
"Ill bet that woman who just left
will be here within three days to tell
us something like that. Most OF 'em
do, and the women are the worst Of
tenders"
Of cours- a depositor is safe, even
though his bank book is found by a
dishonest person. The paying teller
woulun't pay out money unless the
ownership of the pass book was
proved; but a lot of unlucky deposit
tors are afraid of fraud, just the same.
Bankers know that most of the lost
books will Eeappear before long, so
they don't issue new ones for siA
months. They are allowed to make
that delay by law, and it saves them a
lot of trouble, for two pass books on
the same account are sure to give rise
to complication.
During the six months of waiting for
a lost book to reappear, the depositor
Is often put to some trouble. The ac-
count is supposed to be temporarily
suspended; but savings banks make it
a, general rule to see that their patrons
are not unduly disconnected, and
money may be withdrawn if the need
is known to be pressing.
ut sometimes happens, too," said
the paying teller, !"that a crafty wife
is responsible for a lost book. A ase
that happened a few days ago illus
trates this point.
"A husband had an account with us
and told his wife that he thought he'd
draw out his money and play stocks.
He told her that everything was boom
ing UP and it was a shame not to take
some of the streets money.
But his wife couldn't see it. The
husbands life insurance was due pref
ty soon, and she wasn't taking any
chances about losing that policy
through her husbands losses in stocks
making it impossible for him to pay
the premium.
well, when Mr.. Man looked in his
desk the next morning for his pass
book, intending to come down here
and draw out all his cash, the book
couldn't be found. Mr.. Man reported
to us that his book was lost. w were
sorry, but he didn't get his money out.
Then came the slump when copper
carried all the rest of the market down
and wiped out many a margin. Mr..
Man came around a day or so ago and
told me that his wife admitted to him
that she had hidden that bank book,
and, say, ne was the happiest man you
ever saw Said he was everlastingly
grateful to his wife, who had more
brains in her head in a minute than
he had in a week, for preventing him
from losing his bundle; and he told
me that our rules were the finest ever.
$50, you see-though we didn't
count on anything like that-there's
some good that comes from red tape
after ALL"