Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-12-31


mo doubt, sir, and assure Won that "a
have every disposition to treat you liberalIv
IL Is very unpleasant duty to reject sucb
claims rs yours, but tell you again. and
want you to believe me, that we have no altar
natiye. We cannst move IN inch.'
but, sir, you must move an inch Do Won
pretend to tell me that you will enjoy the use
" my balance OF three or four thousand dol.
itrs, lending 1t out to other people, and then
when l want to get little loan myself. Won
VIII turn round and say you can't, and Won
nave no discretion and no power? What do I
care u you are short at the Clearing House .
Does that pay my notes? Now, sir, I will tell
you and your Board Of Directors that am NOT
man TO submit to such treatment"
Mr. A, II you are reasonable man.
-, Ii am reasonable man. am a reason
able man, sir, and that's just the whole case.
because L am 80, want my paper discounted
IL Is my right, sir, and 1 don't mean to give it
up"
Well, sir, it is your right, and don't want
you 10 give It up. But you must listen to me-
"nhe put the matter to your own judgment"
nave settled 1t in my Judgment already.
don't want to hear this stuff about the Clear.
ing House The Clearing House is nothing to
judgment, SIR
DO you think, Mr.. A., that am made OF
gold, or that can turn back the tides of the
- know very we'll that you cannot chance
the market, but you can discount this naner,
my dear sir, L cannot do ii without endan-
gerlng more and larger interests than yours
ouT stockholders and creditors generally have
Ilgnts as well as you. A failure to paw our
balances at the Clearing House would be a IA.
o al oio" 10 our credit-equivalent to a protest.
Our deposits would be Withdrawn, and we couId
no longer keep your present discount line
"nere it Is, which we hope TO do by a course of
mutual indulgence with our dealers There is
no possible remedy for this state of things but
10 walt Tor the gradual maturity of our bills
discounted: 1t you will briRg me your paper
some, some days hence, you will probably find us in
Mr.. A. yields in moment of cooler ;udo.
ment II the Cashier, however, had treated
MIN with sul!en refusal, making no explains
ton, be would have gone away in a fit of anger
and his friendly relations with the bank might
cease.
his may be called the science of contact
In tight market, bank officers are every
hour brought into collision with the most i'm
posing interests of commerce in the hands of
men unaccustomed to denial, whom il is yery
desirable to coDciliate, and very easy at such
times to offend
kIrISG, OR RAISING THE WIND
AT the moment when the Cashier is again
ready to resume his correspondence, a man en-
ters the bank with a hurried step, and mani
testify in violent passion:
'Mr. Cashier, what kind Of tellers do YOU
keep in your bank? ?''
we mean that they shall be Gentlemen, sir" :"
Mr.. Right finds it very difficult to control
himself He thrusts his bank book before the
Cashier, and points with trembling hand to an
entry which shows that he had that morning
made deposit Of fifteen hundred dollars.
do yOu see that, sir 2''
The Cashier sees it,.
well, sir, your teller has refused 10 pay nv
check tor that amount, notwithstanding the
money is to my credit. He has sent it back to
another bank, and my name is dishonored, sir!
Isn't this pretty tale, that n mans credit is
I 10 De ruined by miserable teller doesn t know
his duty"
IL think he knows his duty Mr.. Kight. You
have probably made mistake yourself"
Ihe cool manner Of the Cashier does not
sOothe his excited customer. He denies angrily
that he has made any mistake, and attracts the
notice of all the clerks by the violence of his
iaoguage and his defiant air, as the two pass to
the desk Of the book keeper to examine his &c
count. The ledger shows that his balance was
less than nifty dollars on tho day before when
ne drew his cheek for fifteen hundred and il i.
apparent that be had obtained the use Of that
much money one day in advance of his deposit.
The process is well known to bank officers and
clerks under the name of Exiting. Itis often'
by parties who know better. Two parties who
keep accounts in different banks may change
checks, and each deposit that Of the other, If
their certifcatiOn is not required; and then
each may draw out the money. Mr.. Kight may
have supposed that his deposit of the follow
ing morning would be admitted to pay his
check but the Cashier explains to him that the
exchange for the Clearing house is made up
and despatched before ten o'clock SO that
funds coming in after that hour are not neces-
sarily unavailable until the next day. He
might even 60 so far as TO show him the very
bills that he had deposited still unused in the
drawer Of the receiving teller; but Mr.. Kight
understands it. He now expresses his opinion
THAT it is rather a small business for bank
with capital Of three millions of dollars to
return a dealers check for fifteen hundred dol
lars when the money is actually in the bank,
even if it can't be used for single day"
There is but one way for US to transact
business, Mr.. Kight, and that is, to pay
checks when we have the deposit to pay with,
and to refuse them when we have not"
he adds: " 1t is true sir, that your check
for fifteen hundred dollars would make no sem
sIble difference in our general balance, but
every overdraft goes into one sum Ia the Clear
ing House exchange, and the aggregate Of over
drafts In this way has sometimes reached forty
or fifty thousand dollars"
Mr.. Rights deposit is now available to him,
since the teller has received payment for the
dishonored check from the bank to which he
returned it. He requests that it may be GER
titled, with the intent to redeposit it in the
same channel as before, and 50 rub out the dis
credit which his good name has suffered In that
quarter.
But at this moment messenger from another
bank presents q check drawn by Mr.. Wing,
which Mr.. K;ght had deposited the day be-
fore. 1t is returned not good" and Mr..
kight must pay it. This absorbs his deposit,
and leaves him with his own dishonored check
in hand. The whole transaction is now fully
exposed. Mr.. Kight and Mr.. Wing had ex-
changed checks, each trusting to make his ac-
count good by an early deposit on the following
morning; but their plan was thwarted in both
banks by the vigilance of the Paying Teller.
1t the Teller, instead Of returning Mr..
Rights check, had charged st against the
morning deposit, he would now have Mr..
Wings dishOnored check on his hands, with
out any means Of securing its payment; and it
might be total loss to the bank
The quarter Of an hour given to this tedious
exDIanstion is not entirely thrown away, since