New-York tribune., 1907-05-13
AGGREGATE THEFTs ENORMOUS.

AGGREGATE IHEFTS ENORMOUS
While the sum taken Illegally from the He
brew immigrants from the SIavOnic countries
generally small in each individual case. the
aggregate is large. The failure of the private
banking house of MOrgiewsky, the lower
East Side. a couple of years ago. impoverished
hundreds of families. whose savings of years
were wiped out Hundreds of other houses. al
though smaller have failed" and neither bank
nor banker has been heard of again Up to the
present time there has been no legal check on
these private bankers. and any one could start
private bank if he could find persons 10 in
trust their savings to him
OF all the petty svudlers Of the poor. next
To the lottery agent the fake steamship ticket
agent has caused most actual suffering and
hardship. There are many honest men in this
business and while the size of the bond re-
ouired may work hardship in a few individuali
cases the resulting benefit 10 the foreign COM
munity in driving the fake agent out of busi-'
ness will tar outweigh il. The ticket agent gen.
eraIIv also is a banker and sometimes is
notary public real estate dealer, money
changer. an insurance agent or employing agent.
or is all of them Sorae of them run circulating
libraries too and generally have baggage trans
fer service OF the kind which charges an immi-
grant 81 or 81 To take trunk from the Bat
ferv To Grand street and ~ cents 10 take him
that far on the elevated road
Another source of income is collecting any
where from - TO $10 to set the friends of ihs
immigrants through Ellis Island. IT the friends
land they make good and the Sreenhorn' IS
satisfied. while if they are held up or deported
the government and i'll luck are blamed As the
..creenhorn'' is told how much danger he is IN
Nv attempting 10 violate the immigration
laws Of the country, he is afraid to make any
c,r,nIaint even if he realizes that he has beea
swindled.
BELIEVE AGENTS ARE OFFICIALS.
Acting in this way as the PoOh-Bah of two or
three solid blocks, the swindler knows intimately
the affairs of his clients, and so finds 1t an Easy
thing to induce them to trust him to an IN
credible extent in all their affairs As notary
nublic his influence is greatly enhanced, as
abroad that officer is a person OF conse-
ouence and they believe that the indorSeniene
and guarantee of the government goes Win tEe
title Believing him TO be a government oh-
cial the immigrant hastens 10 get caught in his
net.
II is from the swindles made possible by his
banking and ticket agency that this kind OF
cheat deDends for the greater part of his illicir
nrodts Within the last few months half
Dozen of these men have disappeared. taking
with them more than SS9o.OOO. representing IN
di,,dua1 losses of from 81 TO $500 deposited with
these bankers To be sent TO relatives abroad
Large as this sum is. when the small amount OF
individual deposits and the poverty OF the de-
Dositors' are considered II becomes Insignificant
beside the criminal profits in the selling OF 1aNs
! steamship tickets and the sending abroad OF
! bogus orders on steamship companies
| In the popular combination Of the two cali"
| inps the swindlers have waxed prosperous. IN
| complete immunity from the hand of the law IN
| most instances The present measure directed
| against these frauds is not the first aimed in
| that direction. So great was the evil seVerai
years ago. before it reached its present propor-
| tions that a provision was Incorporated In the
Penal Code prohibiting the sale of tickets by
other than authorized agents OF steamship lines
! This was declared unconstitutional in 1896 as
| limiting the business of brokerage and creating
a monopoly for the steamship companies Sincs
| that time the wicked have fourished without
| let or hindrance In this city alone there Az