108 the immigration problem
countrymen’s funds. The responsibilities imposed
upon those who act as bankers for the immigrants are
so light as to make the assumption of that important
office dependent upon no other qualification than the
would-be banker’s ability to inspire the confidence of
his compatriot, a matter which racial ties render com
paratively easy. There are numerous instances where
strangers have gone into communities and established
themselves as steamship agents and foreign-exchange
dealers. Their only qualification was that they were
Italians among Italians, or Magyars among Magyars.
The ease with which unscrupulous and dishonest
individuals secure the savings of immigrants, often
times the savings of a lifetime, has been recently
shown in the case of Ponzi, of Boston, whose schemes
for making millions in foreign exchange were ad
vertised to thousands of Italians, as well as others.
For a short time he was looked upon as an Italian
hero, but when his record was discovered he was
shown to be a crooked manipulator of high finance.
Millions of dollars of immigrant savings were lost
as a: result of his and others’ schemes. The present
situation in foreign exchange gives opportunity for
a great deal of fraudulent practise, which should
come under the strict supervision of banking com
missions in all States having a large foreign popu
lation. In Massachusetts the enforcement of laws
designed to regulate this kind of banking has been
one series of legal battles to determine the status of
each individual concern.
The causes for the failure of the immigrant laborer
to turn to the regular American institutions to satisfy
his banking needs are threefold: (i) The ignorance
and suspicion of the immigrant; (2) the fact that