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