The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1857-03-18
The Daily Banking Business Of PhiIa-
detphIa.

People have but very imperfect idea of
the extent of the business carried on in
Philadelphia and especially Of ihe financial
business They are accustomed to think of
New York as the one great money centre,
and to treat Philadelphia transactions as
scarcely worthy of consideration. We have
so few banks and the amount of their capi-
tai is so small as compared with those OF
New York, that it is not regarded as at all
important or Interesting that the extent Of
our financial operations should be inquired
into- 1t is very well, they say, that the bus.
ness OF New York Clearing House shall be
reported, but it is Of very little consequence
thai there should be any similar establish.
ment here. 1t will be news to nearly every
one, not actually engaged in the Banks, that
there Is and has been for some time in daily
operation, an arrangement corresponding in
some measure to the New York Clearing
House II is not established by law but
the Banks have made the arrangement fJr
their own convenience and to enable them
better to servs the interests of the public.
Every morning, a: about haIt-past eight
O'Clock, deputation of clerks from each of
the seventeen banks in the city arrives at the
Grsard Bank. They repair to large room
IN the upper story, where there is long Ia
Bile, on which all have their particular posi-
trons assigned them. Here they unpack Ger.
tain carpet bags, vslises and wallets, and in
httls while the table is covered with pack
ages OF bank notes, checks, and other repre>
sentatIves of the circulating medium. These
are all the receipts Of each bank on the pre-
vious day, including notes of The various city
banks, checks on other banks, with bill on
the back stating the aggregate amount re-
ceived by it. These packsges are inierchan-
ged, the money rec ounted and the balance
is struck. The sum received sy each bank,
in notes and checks of every other bank, is
thus accurately ascertained. This compre-
heuds an immense amount of work, but as it
Is in sktllful and experienced hands and is
conducted in systematic manner, it goes
on very rapidly, and rarely occupies more
tb1h util du uSulJ tho otNeIdl VtpulatIuHs
OF the Banks then dispensing 10 their own
proper institutions. At half past eleven
o'GIocl1, on each day clerk from each bank
arrives at the Girard Bank, to adjust the bal
ances, ascertaiued in the morning with spe-
eve checks. 1t thus aseer,ained which are
creditor banks, and checks are given and re-
..siya.l asenEd,nqlr
During the halt hour or more in the morn.
ing, while the clerks of all the banks are
busy at their work, the scene presented is n
most animated one. Some forty or fifty
gentlemen are overhauing great bulky pack
ages OF notes and checks counting them Of
with the rapldity that is only TO be acquired
by long practice, calling out TO one another
the sums of their countIngs and calculations,
and passing to one another bundles of notes,
amounting sometimes to hundreds of thou
sands OF dollars. 1t is safe 10 say that the
amount of money passed in this way ranges,
in the course Of a week, from forty to fifty
millions of dollars. This, we apprehend, is
quite beyond the concePlishs of most Of our
readers. The system adopted for getting
though with so much work in so short a
time is an admirable one. 1t is in view of
it. moreover, that the recent change in the
hour of opening from 9 10 10 O'Clock, has
been adopted .-Phild. Bulletin.