Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-08-20
PERILs OF THE PRIVATE HOARD
Iowa Homestead


Few incidents in the every day life
of the people are sadder than the
stories OF crime loss and tragedy which
follow the private boarding of money
by those who, in times of financial
disaster, withdraw their savings from
actual Use and hide them in places of
fancied security only to invite the
very misfortune they sought to escape.
The forms in which the story reap
pears are painfully familiar to news
paper readers, especially in the months
following financial crises like that Of
1907. The hard-earned accumulations
of years-perhaps of lifetime-are
withdrawn from the bank in fear and
trembling, deposited in an old stock
Ing Or in an unused stove, or buried
in the cellar, or orchard Or garden
All seems to go well for a while, and
the passage of time brings a ground
less sense Of safety Then, fire
lighted in the stove, or the visitation
of mice in the hiding place of the
stocking, or a breach of trust on
the part of the hired help, or mys-
FERROUS forgetfulness of the hoard leads
up to the pathetic finale of the money
gone forever. Fortunate are those
to whom the loss comes thus, rather
than at the muZZle of a robbers pis-
tol or after the application of the gag
or some form of torture Many a man
and woman who feared to entrust
their savings to the banker have sac
rificed both their money and their
lives in fruitless efforts to conceal it's
whereabouts from heartless thieves
and murderers.
There are no available statistics as
to the percentage of loss sustained by
the private hoarders Of money; for
many who suffer such misfortune
prefer to endure their losses in silence
rather than submit to the shame and
modification of publicity; but there
is no doubt that money deposited in
banks is many times safer than in any
depository available to the ordinary
citizen.
An instance Of the fate of the ordi-
nary private hoard is reported from
Norwoodville, Iowa. where Charles
Richards withdrew from the bank $3.50
In gold which he had saved to make a
payment on Missouri farm that he
had purchased. He deposited the pre-
cious yellow coins in a glass pitcher
and hid it in the closet When time
to make the payment arrived Mr. Rich
ards discovered to his sorrow that
windows have eyes and walls have
ears. His money had been stolen.
The banks of this country have just
passed through one of the severest or
deals in our financial history and have
come out with wonderful record as
safe repositories of the peoples money
Subject as they are to state or ma.
tional inspection or both, and conduct
ed as they are by men well known
in their communities for probity and
business ability, they nave every rea-
son for regarding their trust as q
sacred one; and the statistics of the
banking business prove that they re-
really do so. The losses by bank de-
positors are enthusiastically small when
considered in the average. They are
so low that there is every reason, in
the judgment of the Homestead, for
accepting the view that good bank.
managed by honest and conservative
men, is by all means the safest place
to keep any considerable amount of
money of which one may be posses
sor.