The Lambertville record., 1910-10-21

&Gantinaea sram s. BaRe
sub5ec7 to The banking laws II shs
aggregate these concerns annually
handled hundreds Of thousands of aei-
lars and everv new and 5beh he poor
investors were vletiriaea, 4h matv
cases robbed # all their savings There
were .ayvs upan the statute hooks. hut
they had proved Insufficient.
When Vivian NJ. Lewis became
state banking and insurance commits
sioner one Of the first steps ne took
was n devise means % safeguard The
savings Of these poar investors better
than was provided for Ia the existing
statutes. He soon became conre-Szut
with the operations Of the SO called
bankers and knew precisely how the
dishonest among them could play upon
the confidence Of their unsophisticafe9
countrymen. With his usual viSor
Commissioner Lewis set 70 work He
drew up regulations which would PIE
vent a continuance Of the evil. while
not interfering with The transaction of
legitimate business. II the c1annfsh
immigrant preferred 70 trust his
countryman Mr.. Lewis was willing
that he should do 50. but the agent
should be subjected 10 such scrutiny
and be compelled % furnish such Sc
eurity that the danger of loss 70 the
investor and remitter would be MIMI
mized. If not entirely prevented.
By the passage Of chapter 216. laws
of 1910. the recurrence Of defalcations
IS made virtually impossible. This law
does not merely place restrictions
about the private banking and remit
tance business: Il provides for constant
supervision Of It's operation and pre-
scrfbes a guarantee Of good faith The
poor workman and werkwoman in
New Jersey may now intrust his or
her cents and dollars 20 any authorized
agent or banker in the state with the
assurance of full protection against
loss
Every private banker and remitting
agent must now give a bond in the
sum of 500. 600 to insure the faithful
performance of their contract with de-
positors Not only that, but when
money is deposited for remittance
abroad the agent must show that it is
sent within five days. Heretofore the
agent kept the money as long as he
chose and used it as he pleased and
neither the depositors nor the state
had any means of knowing what be-
came of this money.
And the best feature of the new law
is that it is strictly enforced. Conn
missioner Lewis selected the hest in
spectors he could find, men who knew
their business and knew the character
of the people with whom they would
have TO deal How efficient this staff
of inspectors has been. is evidenced by
recent results.
Passaic and Paterson have furnished
several instances of the salutary work
ing of the law. Not long ago. one of
Commissioner Lewis inspectors in ex-
amining the books Of O. La Cagnina, a
private banker in Passaie, discovered
that the banker could show no receipt
for 81 800 intrusted TO him for remit
tance to Italy. Neither could he show
any trace Of $500 placed with him
on deposit. La Cagnina was promptly
arrested, but his relatives came to the
rescue and made up the $1,000 due to
the people he had despoiled.
Since the law has been in operation
there have been other cases in differ
ent parts of the state where the bond
ing companies have been compelled to
make good deficiencies in the accounts
of these bankers and agents for whom
they went security.
The results not only reflect great
credit upon Mr.. Lewis, but show the
necessity Of having practical man in
charge Of the states affairs.