The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-10-13
A STORY OF A PIECE OF PAPER.

The banker in these days Says an exchange,
does not sit in his easy chair and wait for
either depOsitOrs or borrowers. BE sits
around to find customers, and offers induce
ments to secure deposits. One advantage
offered to country banks by some metropoli-
tar bankers seeking their deposits Is to col
leet all sorts Of checks for them. AS result
Of this custom these banks often receive
checks and drafts on places where they have
no correspondent Now If they should send
the paper on for payment they would be
charged for collection, a dead loss to them.
They, therefore, try, when possible. to shove
it on some correspondent bank Of theirs
nearer the point to be reached, in hopes that
they can collect il free, and save what In
most cases is not more than q quarter OF q
dollar. This would seem like rather small
business and the journey that little check
for S25 has made during the last nine days
before reaching its destination is only an ex-
aggerated example of the folly OF this course.
Liberty, in London, and North Lewisburg
in Champaign, are two towns about twenty
miles apart Last week a check was depOs-
tied in the bank at the former place. drawn
on the latter. The bank wanted 10 save
twenty-fi cents, and so that check went
down to Cincinnati bank $50 miles; from
Cincinnati, at a venture il was shipped 70
Columbus the Columbus man didn't see
why he should pay q collection fee, so he
wrote a letter and sent that check to Marys-
vile, near but on the other side OF Lewis
burg from Marysville that check went 70
Springfield, thence to Urbans, and from
Urbana to Cincinnati again, this time 10 .
bank who was the correspondent here Of the
Lewisburg bank, and it has been sent on for
payment. The check is a curious object. 1t
is covered with Endorsements and stamps
and having completed only half OF Its jour
ney when the back was full, the paper
was turned over and the transfers continued
up the face. The check has made eight trips,
making remarkably good time, and the letter
writing and entries that it has caused are but
: nalf finished. II the check be paid now, the
bank at Lewisburg must notify the CiBeln-
natl bank, they the bank they receive it from,
and so back to the bank at Liberty, each
bank passing the entry throughout their
book again, and devoting time, ink, paper,
and postage stamps to this trivial check, so
that it will be fully three weeks until the de-
positOr of that check knows whether il is
paid. The bank here who forwarded the
check to Lewisburg has offered 81 for IL after
it is Cancelled, as a curiosity.
But, besides the trouble and expense to
the banks, there is a more important reason
why this way of business should be discOur-
aged. Checks and drafts should be collected
as quickly as possible. A bank may fail, or,
what more often happens, mans account
may be good one day and not the next day,
or, as in this case, after ten days. Banks
should not offer to collect free except where
they have correspon dents, as most well es-
tablished banks do, unless they expect to lose
the charge themselves. It would seem that
/ customers should prefer 10 pay a small fee
for prompt collection to the devious course
that some paper now takes 20 avoid its pay
ment.