Note 204 — Chapter XXII · CURRENCY, BANKING, AND CREDIT

Trust companies were established to act as trustees or guardians of funds belonging to widows, orphans, and others who could not look out for their own investments. Then they began the practice of accepting deposits from others and paying interest on these deposits, whereas national banks and most of the regular state banks usually paid no interest to their depositors. Gradually the trust companies became banks in every sense of the term, and they have gradually increased in number during recent years. As a rule they can do a wider range of business than is permitted to national or state banks.