THE MODERN TRUST COMPANY 435 



selves or left them free of cost in care of a bank. There were 

 more than one objection to this — first, the right of a national 

 bank to take such a deposit was considered doubtful, as 

 appears from a notice issued by the comptroller of the curren- 

 cy ; and secondly, the liability of a bailee without compensation 

 is not the same as that of an insurer, and one or two cases arose 

 where such depositors brought suits against national banks, the 

 outcome of which was very unsatisfactory. 



It so happened, also, that after the war there were a great 

 many burglaries and bank robberies. It was, indeed, much 

 more frequent then than now to read in the papers of banks be- 

 ing entered. I am disposed to attribute this, at least in part, 

 to the wave of disorder which always tends to follow the dis- 

 persal of a great army, when many men, grown accustomed 

 to the law of force, are scattered without resources through the 

 community. Any reader of the papers of that time will find 

 many advertisements for stolen and lost United States bonds. 

 It is true, also, that banks were then not so well protected 

 against burglaries as they are at present, at least in the east. 



The charters of the new companies which were started at 

 that time joined with the right of receiving such deposits the 

 right to receive on deposit property of every kind, as well as 

 to execute trusts, frequently following in this respect the 

 rights which had been specially conferred on the earlier com- 

 panies. The mo^ey deposit department of trust companies, 

 which is usually the most profitable, was fostered by the allow- 

 ance of interest, generally at two per cent, upon funds subject 

 to check. This was a new departure. In the older days none 

 of the banks allowed interest on money payable at sight, and 

 therefore the money deposits of the trust companies quickly 

 increased. This has been somewhat changed now, owing to 

 the fact that many national banks allow interest (generally on 

 large accounts), and the competition between banks for de- 

 posits has become extremely keen. 



The next step in the enlargement of trust companies was 

 the introduction of the real estate title insurance business. 

 Prior to the introduction of this branch real estate titles had 

 been passed by counsel upon the production by a conveyancer 



