The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-11-23
EW YORK 5 FAKE BANKS
hese Short-Lived Concerns
Dupe Immigrants
,PRING UP EVERYWHERE

In the foreign quarters of New
ork's great East Side 1t Is no un-
ommon thing to see crowd OF ex-
ted men and women huddled in
ont of a building clamoring In a
lrgon OF harsh dialects for their
.oney, says the st. Louis Republic.
romen are wringing their hands,
,en, with distorted faces and hys-
,rical gesture, are pressing against
ie closed door and impotently shak-
tg their fists at the window, where a
gn in foreign language proclaims
he place to be bank.
One could scarcely call 1t run on
le bank, for bank and banker are
one. Considered as an affair OF
,odern banking business, 1t Is of no
1nsequence. Possibly not more
nan $4,000 is involved altogether,
nd It has no significance in the great
anne Of high finance. 1t is simply
ne of the petty crimes OF low f1n-
ice repeated frequently In every city
/, the United States, where there Is
large foreign population.
In New York city these petty
times Of finance have been going on
nd increasing steadily ever since the
reat steamship companies began to
md multitudes of Hungarians and
.alians at Ellis island. These crimes
,ncern only the simple immigrants
,ho have been duped and plundered
their own countrymen, and evil
ence necessary for conviction Is 30
tf1cult to obtain that investigation
sually goes no further than mere
scord of the fact on the police blot
n In the precinct where the crime
ecurs
Yet so persistently is the work of
and of conspirators carried on here
nat the immigrants of the East Side
re swindled out of more than ST.
10000 every year. There are, all
did, between 700 and 500 banking
laces in New York conducted in the
,reign language and patronized
,rgely by the immigrant class.
They spring up everywhere in the
salian and Hungarian quarters, and
rdinarlly are short lived. They are
und chiefly in saloons and grocery
torres, and not infrequently shrewd
ootblack opens a banking business
1 connection with his business Of
aiming shoes.
In a number of the Hungarian or
.alian newspapers published on the
,ast Side you will find from fifty to
90 advertisements of these so-called
anks. A recent issue of a Hungar-
IN paper printed in the Middle West
ontained glowing advertisements Of
ixty-seven banks for Hungarians in
leveland alone. In New York the
umber is proportionately larger.
'hese advertisements are the best
PURGE of revenue to the publisher,
nd each one tells in eloquent words
alculated to appeal to the simple
easant mind that this is the only
hungarian bank in America author
led to send your hard-earned dollars
nd cents to your kindred across the
cean."
The ward politician becomes use
IL when a conhding depositor learns
his dismay that his money, in
ond his reach. He begins to make
lquiries that are likely to lead to
isastrous disclosures, and imme-
iately he is visited by one of the
ountrymen who has become active
officially In the district and Is told
fnt, tg In, tn er
is lips closed. He Is told that it Is
crime in America either to hoard
loney or to send it to the old coun-
", and that If President Roosevelt
Captain" Jerome were to find
lat he had turned over money to a
o would be at once deported and
maybe hanged; therefore the only
hing for him in the circumstances is
say nothing. 1t may be difficult for
ne average American to appreciate
'ow such a condition of affairs can
ne degree of illiteracy and the child
Ike simplicity of the Hungarian and
Italian peasants who swarm on the
last Side 1t is quite easy to under
tand.
Less than year ago one of these
lankers and steamship agents closed
ris place in Avenue b, departing
nth about $4,000 belonging to poor
immigrants. Fortunately he was
iaught when about to leave the coun,
Try.
To the credit of the Italian gov,
,rnment it should be said that great
effort is being made for the protec
Ion Of its immigrants I'm New Yorl
against their dishonest countrymen
Fhe Italian Consul is doing all in hi
power to expose the fake banks t.
the emigrants and to encourage the
italian banks in the city which are
doing legitimate business.
Records show that since 1896 tn,
Italian banks of the city have han
died upward of 100000 anC
that a large part of this money ha
been sent back to Italy.