The evening world., 1921-01-05
F'Money Sending Bankers"
1 Leave Little to Their Ig-
norant Victims.
BARE-FACED ROBBERY.
People for Whose Relief
Money Was "Sent" Left
to Starve to Death.
By Martin Green.


hnd brokers, OF overcharges in ex.
change. The evidence in each case
has been checked up. The rate OF ex-
change on the date the dollars were
paid to the money forwarder" has /
been looked up and verified. In every |
ease 1t has been found that the money |
Eorwarder has applied to his own pur-
poses from 20 to 80 per cent. Of the !
dollars entrusted to him for transmits |
sion abroad.
I Under the law the persons so vic |
kimized have no remedy, except by |
civil action. The selling OF foreign !
Exchange is a matter Of barter and |
trade. The rate of exchange is fixed !
haily by competitive bidding or offer
bng but few Of the foreign-language !
speaking persons who send money to
Central Europe know this. They take
the word of the banker or broker or
agent as to what they should get for
Gheir money.
One of the cases in which 30 per
cent. of a transmitter's money was
absorbed in transaction involving
the transmission Of foreign exchange
has some unusual features. It is the
case of i. T. Keleman. a crippled
lROumanian fur worker, living at No.
AlJ East 18th Street.
on April ., 1920, Keleman sent
,1lladen widovitch, an English speak
Ting Roumanian to the Slavonic Immi-
igrant Bank at Tenth Avenue and
West 2Sd Street, with $26, to be sen.
ho the fur workers mother in BE-
lgrade. Widovitch, who is an interpS
ker and letter writer for people ofnis
fblood, is considered a fairly wiseAt-
zen by his own people.
He entrusted the $26 to thebank
with instructions to send it tckele-
mans mother. He says theoanker
told him the money could notoe sent
An dollars; it would be bette to send
81 in Roumanian lei. "An B'ht'' said
Ieleman. How many Rohanlan lei
'can I send to Keleman'sactherT
The agent or employeet the bank
who conducted the negAations said
s26 would buy 2ss Rournian lei He
gave Widovitch a reApt IN kele-
mans name for S26hnd wrote in
pencil at the bottom he letters "29S"
the number of leAnVoived in the
deal.
MOTHER HAD DIED; REMIT
TANcE vS SHORT.
Under date ofday 6, 1920, Kele-
mans brother Fo'e MN from Bel
Grade that on he preceding day a
Rolcrade banlhad paid him 293 lei.
IloIe,,an,s mAer, the brother wrote,
.bod died a W days before. Being
convinced ttt she was dead the bank
Ipaid him T. money
KaIemorhad not written to his
Ihro,bo, forming him Of the for
I,,.ardinr the money. Keleman can
Dot u,rs-nor can he read. But
no cau, Widovitch to read the let
,or frI Belgrade when it reached
bore yne time in June.
The was more in the letter than
.,r,,y acknowledgment of the re-
oai, Of 293 lei. There was complaint
A. Keleman had sent his mother
n a small amount of money. Kele-
IN, the brother said, should have
cen able to send more than few
american dollars represented by 293
Ell.
This set Widovtch to thinking and
Investigating. He went to an Ameri-
ian friend who looked up the files
" the Wall Street Journal and found
hat on April 2, 1920, Roumanlan lei
Fere selling in this city at the rate
VI 100 fer $1.75.
I A little calculation showed that at
he rate of 100 Roumanian' lei for
BIS the banker might have transmit
led TO Keleman's brother-or mother
m Belgrade ,4SO lei. The difference be-
tween 1880 lei which the banker
hight have sent and 293 lei, which
Eeleman's brother, without having
heard from Keleman, said he re-
gcived, is 1,lS7 lei,
And the American money value OF
1857 lei at the rate of 100 Rouman-
ian lei for $l.75 is approximately
S2O.75. So, somewhere between the
Bank and the home of Keleman's
brother in Belgrade there disap-
peared $2O75 OF Keleman's $26--the
percentage Of the amount that disap-
peared being 80.
Widovitch sat down and wrote an
hnpassioned letter to the office of
the state superintendent OF Banks
In due course of time he received a
reply which showed that the State
Banking Department had made an
Investigation,
The report TO the state Banking
Department of the Slavonic limit
grant Bank stated that the money
was transmitted in dollars-nde in lei.
This in the face of the pencil lndorse-
ment 1898" on the face OF the receipt
and the acknowledgment OF Kele-
mans brother that the Belgrade
bank had paid him 293 lei. Further
nsOre the slAvOnis Immigrant Bank
-