Bankers at Work

U. S. bankers have lately received a printed form from Herbert Schulze Press of Leipzig. Germany, requesting information for a banking directory. Neatly typed in the blanks was a description of each bank's facilities and a full list of its officers and directors, presumably copied from a reputable U. S. directory. All that was needed was an authenticating signature. The form and an accompanying letter requesting the signature were in German. On the assumption that it was a routine directory listing, many a banker hastily signed without troubling to translate. Not until he began to receive dunning letters in plain English did the banker realize that he had signed a contract for as much as $500 of advertising in an obscure German directory. The contract called for only a one-line listing free.

Last week the American Banker discovered that so many bankers had fallen for this old racket that it published a warning editorial of nearly three columns. For U. S. bankers big & little its homely advice was: "Do not sign any blank unless you understand thoroughly every word on it."

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