Judge, 1931-05-02 · page 9 of 36
Judge — May 2, 1931 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Why Bank Clerks Work in Cages" — Judge Magazine Satire This humorous article by Chesney Williams explains the origin of bank clerk cages through a fictional tall tale. The satire mocks banking practices and incompetence. The story claims a man named "Frank National" founded the first bank after finding a lost quarter, eventually moving to a proper building. He hired "Jim Federal" to handle money—a man so quiet he became known as the "pain teller" for delivering bad news about overdrafts. The satire's point: bank clerks need protective cages because the organization is chaotic and unreliable. The story illustrates this through two disasters—clerks losing track of pennies (causing massive deposit losses) and an expressman accidentally removing the entire safe. The cartoons reinforce the joke: one shows clerks confined in a cage labeled "play chetis"; another depicts a customer requesting a "Capone outfit" (likely referencing 1920s gangster Al Capone), suggesting banks are as lawless as organized crime. The satire suggests American banking is fundamentally ridiculous and poorly managed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
By Geasey I | Aven’? you often wondered, when you walked into your bank to fill | your fountain pen or get a free cal endar, why all the clerks were work- } ing in cag Well, I have too, so |) sesterday I burrowed around amongst |} my notes and finally managed to bur- row a hundred dollars to pay off one j of them, so lend me some interest and } when T get the story in shape I'll teller even if it’s overdrawn. It all started many years ago when 1 party of explorers was crossing the Mis One of the men, a Frank National, dropped a quarter in’ the mud of one of the banks and the whole party immediately stopped exploring and joined in the search for the miss- ing coin. National himself found the money but he was so impressed with interest. with which the men helped him that he said to himself, “Why | not found a convenient bank and let } people draw out their money with in- j ssippi. teres! The idea so pleased him that he rushed back to New York and leased a mud bank on the Hudson—the first of the great chain of ‘National banks” with which the country is r nfested. His first: customers, ever, kept getting pneumonia and bad colds from wallowing around in the Ww how- Te tach St ee Peale ete Tiowr-Wine Antist—That’s a fine place to leave a banana skin! WHY BANK CLERKS WORK IN CAGES JUDGE Wittiams mud, so National decided to check (the first check) these illnesses and made a statement (the first’ state- ment) that he was moving to a small room on 48th street. H r hired—along with several clerks a man by the name of Jim al to handie the money. Fed- rral was a quiet, dignified man 1 customers were quick to notice they termed “the Federal re- "which today is a familiar term in banking circles, which I am in- sulting your intelligence by telling you. It was Federal’s duty to tell peo- ple when theiraccounts were overdrawn and he a soon became known, " other things, as the “pain teller. Take care of the pennies,” Na- tional told his clerks, “and the dol- lars will take of themselves.” the clerks watched the pennies careful- ly and left the dol- care So “T know they closed him up but he’s opened another hole lower down.” “My little boy wants to see a Capone outfit!” Jars lying around pretty soon they began to disapp In two weeks the bank suffered complete financial reverses—the deposits dropping from $10,000,000.00 to $00,000,000.01— and National looked about for a means of stopping the terrible loss. B": before he found a solution to the problem another calamity be- fell the struggling bank and almost ruined it once and for all. One day 7 an expressman delivered a large iron safe to the bank and at the end of the day the clerks locked up all the money in the safe. That night the expressman returned, apologized pro- fusely to the night watchman, ex- plained that he had made a mistake, and removed the safe. In the morn- ing an angry mob of customers awaited N ppearance at the bank. ks,” they shouted, (Continued on page 5) comicbooks.com