The Washington herald., 1907-10-17
The Banks of America.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

these is the cannon-breech safe. It is
OF manganese, the hardest thing there
IS and resembles the breech Of a six
teen-inch gun. Another is a safe with
an outside door and an inner one the
former imperyious 10 the drill and the
latter to electricity. The third Is the
aTmor-plate vault, built like a battle
ship The makers stand ready 10 set
en- up TO the safe-breaker who can
get through this one
The largest vault in the world is Of the
latter construction, and has been recent
~ put into the First National Bank Of
Chicago. 1t is twenty-four feet long.
tWenty-four feet wide and nine feet
high. The Day and Night Bank Of
New York mas constructed an aruor-
plated automobile. with which 10 collect
the deposits Of its late patrons. The
collector goes out with the safe locked
lie has number Of steel boxes. which
ne delivers empty TO the customers. The
customer puts his money into the box
togethef with deposit slip. and il is
locked and deposited in the safe. When
All the collections are made. the auto
goes back To the bank, things are IN
locked, and the deposits checked up.
Forgeries and raised checks sometimes
catch the banks mapping. Some time ago
the Bath Electric Company gave a
check for 500. In writing the amount
III. space was left before the word
one, and in making the figures they
We're not written rs cI,., - = -,
lar mark as they should have been. A
eheck-raiser got hold Of the check. in
serted the word eighty before the
one, and the figure "S' between the
dOlIar mark and the other figures and
ne had a check for $500, on which he
got the money. In this case the bank
Iared better than they often do. the
courts holding that il was due IN the
sIoss careIessness Of the drawer of the
GnecA ,-t-t 'nat II could be raised, and the
drawer had to stand the loss.
The larger banks of the country nrao.
uee the most rigid economy. In fact -
some Of the ordinary citizens Of this town
were TO practice such economy they
would De called stingy and mean and
charged with counting the cost Of a most
age stamp, But that is just what many
a bank does. The First National Of Chi
eago. worth millions Of dollars never
mails its letters for the day until the
close Of business. Then it has them gone
over, and where there is more than one
communication TO one correspondent they
all go in the same envelope. A 2-cent
stamp is thus always made to do its fun
duty. This looks like a small economy.
but on a days business it foots lID from
so to $50 in that bank. But banks spend
money lavishly for homes. There is a
marked tendency 10 have Il paIatIal one
story building costing hundreds cf thou
sands Of dollars. The American Trust
Company Building in Washington. and
the KnickerbOcker Building, in New York.
are shining examples of this Iatter-day
architecture. The Bank of England Is
housed In a large one-story triangular
building, with not a window, but SKI
lights.
The dormant account is one OF the
interesting things in the banking bus,-
ness. 1t is estimated that there is more
than S,000,00O in such accounts in the
banks Of New York alone The accounts
are carried forward from year to year.
and where interest is paid this has to be |
compounded every year, though the de- |
posits may never be claimed. A sailor
puts into port and deposits his wages /
he goes out again and never returns. His
becomes a dormant account friend |
less miser dies and leaves no bank book
to show that he has money deposited /
His BECOMES a dormant account A wife /
puts aside a little of her spending money /
by self-denial, thinking some time to sur |
prise her husband. She dies and her pass
book is not found. She thus creates a /
dormant account. Akin to this is the fall /
ure to claim dividends. Dividends on a /
share Of stock in the Chemical National 1
Bank of New York. standing in the name /
Of a woman, have been unclaimed since 1
lS25, and 142 dividends await her. Prob