no 
THE IMMIGRATION PROBLEM 
incorporated. They are, as a rule, privately and in 
dividually owned. In every center of alien popula 
tion there is a very sharp competition among banks 
conducted by men of the different immigrant races. 
Altho the connection with New York City in one way 
is very intimate, there is no close alliance through 
ownership. It is believed that not more than a dozen 
of the immigrant banks of New York City have 
branches in the interior. 
With some notable exceptions, branch banks are 
not maintained. Mismanagement and dishonesty on 
the part of those placed in charge appear to have 
been the leading cause of failures in the attempts to 
establish branch banks. The business is essentially a 
local development. Of the no establishments from 
which specific information was secured during the re 
cent investigation by the national government, 97 re 
ported that branches were not maintained. 
Banking Functions—Deposits 
These immigrant institutions have only four distinct 
banking functions—deposits, loans, money exchange, 
and foreign exchange. Collections, domestic exchange, 
insurance, and rentals are carried on by a considerable 
number of banks, but the first four mentioned are the 
distinctive banking functions. 
The receipt of deposits is as a rule merely inci 
dental to the main functions of an immigrant bank 
and directly contributory to the personal interests of 
the proprietors. Immigrant banks are rarely com 
mercial or savings institutions. Deposits are usually 
left for temporary safe-keeping rather than as inter 
est-bearing savings accounts. Such deposits are not