The San Francisco call., 1909-12-26
BIG INCOME, FROM
SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES
Individual Vault Returns Hand
some Profit to Bank Main-
tanning Such Treasures

Whenever a new bank building is
constructed in San Francisco the an
nouncement is conspicuously made that
safe deposit vaults will be provided of
| the most modern type. Architects in
their plans prepare for chilled steel
vaults, provided with huge bolts. time
locks and all the paraphernalia calcu-
lated to repel burglars and to insure
safety against any and all destructive
| agencies. Boards of bank directors and
bank presidents and cashiers look care
fully at the designs arranged for the
| safe deposit vaults. estimate the space
that they will contain and the number
| of receptacles which can be accommo-
| dated in a fixed number of cubic feet.
| There is no mystery about this, but
! it is of interest to note that the space
| devoted for safe deposit boxes is the
| most profitable of any building i'm
provements of modern type occupying
similar area in any city.
! Any hall or office, hotel or theater.
warehouse or other structure that could
| be made to bring an equal income per
| cubic foot would be considered a tri-
umph both of constructive and of finan-
| cial genius. All the modern banking
houses in San Francisco have large
! safe deposit vaults. The two bank
! structures about to be constructed In
Market street, namely, the Union trust
and the Savings and Loan So
ciety buildings, look for large income
| from the deposit vault earnings. There
/ are many persons who use safe deposit
| vaults in this city as savings banks.
| During the time of the financial Strln-
! gency in San Francisco there was such
a demand for safe deposit boxes, and
! such a withdrawal of savings, which,
/ it was ascertained, were placed in the
| deposit boxes, that much harm was pos
sib1e In that emergency 1t was re-
ported that the safe deposit vaults
homogeneous decliped to lease any
more boxes.
PROFITABLE BUSINESS
| Prices vary locally, of course. for
| similar accommodation. The vaults in
| central localities naturally being more
accessible than those farther removed
are in greater demand. Hence the man
agements can get better prices If they
! so desire When a metallic box con-
1 tanning not more than two cubic feet
| of space can be made to yield $40
/ wear gross income the reader can hg-
ure out what money there is in pro-
viding and renting such receptacles
! for coin, papers and jewels or other
| valuable articles.
| Naturally there is quite a large cur
/ rent expense chargeable to the main
! tenance of the safe deposit vault sys-
/ tenn. There is no vault that has not
| several stout and brave men who are
! competent to defend it against all in
/ truders during the hours when the
vault doors are OPEN Every vault IN
San Francisco has its book keeping
! system, it's system of identhcation, lts
/ own method of protection against I'M
position and its attendant within the
vaults. whose mission it is to see that
the patrons OF the institution are prop
/ erly served and that no others are adj
/ mitted This all costs money.
The construction of the vaults is also
very expensive. The chilled steel that
forms the shell, the complicated and
\ elaborate mechanical appliances that
! are used and the ground space occupied
( are ali considerations of some moment.
/ But once constructed and fitted up the
vaults are the most permanent form
| of lucrative building improvements
/ known to investors Of capital in this
/ city.
USED BY ALL CLASSES
To make the city vaults attractive
/ they are provided with waiting rooms,
/ with committee rooms, with writing
rooms. with individual rooms. to which
!
] his safe deposit boxes as he WILL IL
I is q mistake TO suppose that the COM
mereiaI men in San Francisco monopo-
! lie the use of these vaults. Many fam
| lilies of wealth keep their family plate.
heirlooms and jewelry in the vaults
when they are out of the city, and
there are others who have their valu-
ables of this sort deposited when they
are in the city and Withdraw them Tor
use only on stated or unusual occa-
| SionS.
With the permanency of the vaults
naturally goes their safety. NO CITY
was ever more severely tried than San
Francisco has been, but at the end or
| the great confla grafton in 1906 the con-
tents of the safe deposit vault boxes
were entirely uninjured When Mar
ket street was practically destroyed by
intense heat that Clipped off the fronts
! of stone buildings and fused many sub
stances into nondescript masses, WITH
| in the securely closed and locked
vaults sheets of blotting paper lay on
| tables entirely unscorched and not
| damaged a whit. The contents or the
| boxes were found in perfect condition
| in the score of local safe deposit
| vaults
! How large a percentage of the run
i ming expenses of the bank are paid Tor
from the incomes from the vaults, the
( bankers. naturally, do not make public,
but that they cover very large share
of this cost there is no doubt At
! night the vaults are closed. or the
greater part of them. They are sup
posed to be burglar proof and fire
proof. When they are opened by day
the difficulties in the way of gaining
access unlawfully to any of the boxes
are well nigh insurmountable.
| An Austrian journal tells of a plant
| called Parkid biglobosa. recently dis
/ :. f.io. r,rnd,,no- :,