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New Deal Saves Depositors Thru Bank Insurance Panics Which Threatened Hoover Regime Being Stopped Before They Start Publicity Bureau, Democratic National Committee The friendly hand of Uncle Sam was stretched out last week to rescue thousands of bank depositors from the effects of two bank failures in eastern States. Had it not been for the protection afforded by the Roosevelt Administration, through passage of the bill providing insurance for bank deposits up to 5,000, every one of these depositors would have watched his life savings disappear when the banks went to the wall. Instead, they were paid off at the rate of 100 cents on the dollar within two weeks after the banks closed their doors. The first failure was in the little town of East Hampton, in Connecticut. The local bank and trust company, with several thousand poor depositors, was the victim of dishonest officials and was obliged to close. It was one of the few bank failures in America since President Roosevelt took office. The little community was panic-stricken at the disaster, but calmed down when agents of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation appeared and took charge of the bank's tangled affairs. The other bank collapse was in Newark, N. J. There the D'Auria Bank and Trust Company, in a crowded Italian neighborhood, crashed a few weeks ago. As in the Connecticut failure, most of the depositors were poor working people, who had placed all their meagre savings with the institution. After the bank was closed officers were arrested, charged with making false statements to the banking authorities. The wildest excitement prevailed in the Italian quarter of Newark. But the soothing influence of Uncle Sam was soon felt. Agents arrived and took charge. Last Thursday FDIC checks were ready and hundreds called to receive påyments due them. Watching them, as they stood in line, was Simon Kesselman, formerly general secretary of the United Depositors' Committee of the Bank of United States, which went to the wall. in Manhattan several years ago with staggering losses to more than 400,000 depositors. "If we only had had that Federal insurance of deposits when the Bank of the United States closed up!" he wailed. Most of the depositors of the Newark bank probably had no clearer conception of the operation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation than their fellow sufferers in Connecticut. They did not seem to' know where the money to pay them was coming from. In fact, they did not appear to care They only knew that they were getting every cent that was due them. With that they were content. Actually, however, the money paid out will not be a dead loss to Uncle Sam. As the law operates, the Government takes an assignment of depositors' claims and collects as much as possible from the bank's assets to reimburse the Federal Treasury. In the meantime distress of depositors is relieved and confidence in other banks maintained. Thus, bank panics, which frightened the whole country during the Hoover regime, are stopped before they start. If this were the only accomplishment of the Roosevelt Administration, it would be sufficient to constitute a valid claim upon the nation's gratitude.