IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS
III
subject to check, and there is, therefore, seldom need
of clearing arrangements. Many so-called bankers do
not openly solicit deposits and do not make a practise
of receiving them, while others actively seek deposits
as an important part of their business. But whatever
the capacity in which the banker receives money, it
is essentially a personal one in which he disposes of
it. Beyond an understanding that deposits are sub
ject to demand at any time, there is no consideration
given nor limitation implied as to their use. So far
as his depositors are concerned, the immigrant banker
is at liberty to use their funds to suit himself.
The most objectionable use to which deposits are
usually put is that of direct investment in the proprie
tor’s own business. Grocers and saloon-keepers have
admitted that deposits are used freely, to meet current
bills, or are invested outright in their concerns.
Many immigrant bankers, especially in the smaller
towns where the principal profits arise from the sale
°f steamship tickets, redeposit the funds intrusted to
them in national or State banks. Many bankers thus
derive from 2 to 4 per cent, interest on thousands of
dollars which have been deposited with them, but
upon which they are making no returns. If deposits
are subject to such an active demand as to prevent
their redeposit as a savings account, they are often
deposited as part of the immigrant banker’s checking
account and thus made to yield a low rate of interest.
As a rule the immigrant bankers are not satisfied
'with the small profit secured by redepositing funds
placed in their care. They seek opportunities yield
ing a larger return and in this way deposits come to
be used for loans or investments. The larger and
best class of immigrant banks make loans, just as the