BANKS AND BANKING 576 



(4) If he makes a general assignment of his 

 property for the benefit of his creditors; or if 

 he Is already insolvent when a receiver, is 

 appointed for his property. 



(5) If he admits in writing that he is unable 

 to pay his debts and Is willing to be legally 

 bankrupt. 



The Settlement. The court or the referee 

 usually fixes a date for a hearing of the peti- 

 tion. At this hearing the creditors may present 

 their claims, and either the creditors or the 

 debtor may show cause for not decreeing bank- 

 ruptcy. If the debtor is declared bankrupt 

 his property by order of the court is placed 

 in the possession of a trustee. If the bankrupt 

 owns a business, the trustee usually continues 

 it, at least for a time, in order to preserve as 

 far as possible the good will and other assets 

 of the firm. Eventually the property will be 



BANKS AND BANKING 



sold, and the proceeds divided among the cred- 

 itors. After this has been done the debtor is 

 discharged from bankruptcy. Any debts un- 

 paid are cancelled by this discharge, unless 

 they are based on fraud. A bankrupt, more- 

 over, may be criminally liable for violation of 

 certain clauses of the law, and a discharge may 

 be refused if he has been bankrupt within six 

 years previous to the petition. 



Political Disqualification. In the United 

 States a bankrupt is not disqualified from 

 voting or holding public office. Under the 

 English law, however, a bankrupt is not al- 

 lowed to sit in either House of Parliament, nor 

 may he vote for members of Parliament. There 

 are a number of other specified offices from 

 which he is disqualified. As soon as he is 

 discharged this disqualification ends. W.F.Z. 



HE STORY OF BANKING [ 



ANKS AND BANKING. Banks are 

 considered by the great majority of people 

 principally as safe places in which to keep such 

 money as they do not need for immediate uses. 

 The worker in a factory possibly does not 

 understand that the bank in his community 

 may be a very important factor in promoting 

 the business of his employer; his interest in it 

 centers in the gradually accumulating deposit 

 which he is laying up for himself and family. 

 Even if banks had no other function more 

 important than this, there would be the very 

 best of reasons for their existence; yet they 

 could not exist unless they were permitted to 

 be lenders as well as custodians of the funds 

 of others. 



The integrity of a good bank and the value 

 of its services to depositors is well illustrated, 

 though possibly by a somewhat extreme case, 

 in the following incident. 



In the year 1860, Joseph Robbins, age thirty, 

 first mate of a sailing vessel, carried to a bank 

 in New York City $1,000, to be held for him 

 for safekeeping. He was given a pass book 

 showing this deposit, and next morning started 

 on a long voyage around Cape Horn into the 

 Pacific Ocean. After rounding the Horn the 



vessel was wrecked, and four men, including 

 Robbins, eventually reached an uninviting 

 island shore, where they were forced to live a 

 number of years, during which time two died. 

 In the course of time they were rescued by a 

 vessel which had been blown many miles off 

 its course, and in few weeks they landed in 

 Australia. It answers our purpose only to 

 know that thirty years after Robbins had set 

 sail from New York, he was again in that city. 

 He remembered his deposit, but had no evi- 

 dence to prove its existence, for his pass-book 

 had been lost. 



"I want to see the president of this bank," 

 said an old man of sixty years, "upon an 

 important personal matter." He finally was 

 introduced to one of the vice-presidents. 



"Have you a sum of money on deposit to 

 the credit of Joseph Robbins?" he asked. 



Investigation proved that such was the case, 

 but why should this weather-beaten stranger 

 be offered this information? 



"I am Joseph Robbins, and I deposited with 

 you $1,000 the day before my last sailing from 

 this port thirty years ago. This is my first 

 return visit. My pass-book was lost when my 

 boat went down, and I know no man in the 



