The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1879-12-04
IN A PARIS BANK.
What the French Have to do TO Get a
Check Cashed.
From the Paris American Register.

To one accustomed to our quick bust
ness movements in New York, and the
especial rapidity with which banking
operations are performed. it is quite
ludicrous to enter Paris bank and
watch the performances there. If yo,
present a check for payment, instead
of handing it directly to the teller and
getting your money instantly, or in two
or three moments at the least las in a
New York bank), you walk up to an Of
fetal in uniform, OF whom there are
dozen walking about the counting
room, in large banks like the credit
Lyonna:s, outside the space reserved
for the clerks. He conducts you to one
of the ,,laces constructed like cells, in
which the book-keepers are serving out
q sents nee of solitary confinement.
You hand your check to the prisoners
assistant, who hands it to his boss"
The latter consults q big ledger. If
there is sufficient "spondulix to the
credit OF the drawer, and the signature
has all its is crossed, and it's is dotted,
he returns it to the boy, who in turn
hands 1t back with the request that you
pay two sous for a revenue stamp.
This being gummed on the bank, the
deputy prisoner asks your address,
then endorses it on the back of the
draft, and you write your name across
the revenue stamp, with date, ETC., and
then a second time underneath your
address. This done, you are presented
with bronze medal the size of a saucer,
with numeral upon it. You accept it
modest]y believing it to be sort of
Legion d'Honneur arrangement, or re-.
ward of merit. You then are request
ed to seat your:elf on one of the nu-
merous long settees ranged around the
room, which you do, and wait prayer
fully until your turn arrives.
After meditating in this position for
halfhour on the transitory nature of
life, the slowness of French bank Off
cials and kindred topics, after reading
all the morning papers through twice,
including the advertiser ents, you begin
counting the panes of glass in the roof,
or study the cOuntenances of your
neighbors, all patient creatures like
yourself, who have become quite re-
signed to this mode of transacting bust
ness, and would be alarmed if they
should enter an American bark and
draw their money in five minutes in
stead of half an hour. They would
think there was something the matter
with the coin-bogus, perhaps, or some
thing of that sort. After exhausting
all their patience and the window
panes and floor tiles likewise, an Off
cial in another lutte den, dressed in a
uniform composed chiefly of brass but
tons, and 8 big "plaque," the size of
dinner plate, on his left breast, said
official yells out: "Quatre cent quarter
vingt-treize!" Of course you don't know
what he means, and sit stupidity Won
dering, but on repetition of that cry
you consult your brass door-plate and
find you hold mo. 4a3.'" So up you
march to- the crier and present your
medal, and in return ne hands you out
a little bowl which contains your lucre.
I timed the operation. There were
just five persons ahead of me when I
entered, and it took twenty-five and
renewal ofstrikes, if wages are not in
creased in proportion to the increase
in the cost of 1iving-Neav York CORE.
spondence Hartford Times