St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-12

RR our enveloping large sums
N of money. -
| gestive of Arabian Nights, and are re-
| ferred to vaguely and reverently, some
what as people talk of the future state.
Every day, says the New YORK he-
| corder, thousands of busy people hurry
| down Nassau street and past Pine. They
| are unaware that every morning, IN
room over the Chase National bank,
between sl2O,O0OOOO and $l5O,OoO.-
| 600 changes hands in ten min
utes. The Chase National bank Is
! in the northwest corner of Nassau and
| Pine streets, and. over the DanK, the
rest of the building is occupied py Tue
| clearing house of the associated banks
| of New York.
| Every workday morning represent.
| atives of over sixty banks OF the city OF
| New York assemble in the clearing
| house with checks to be exchanged.
| Precisely at 10 o'clock the represent
ativeS exchange checks, receiving Vouch-
ers and receipts i'll RETURN.
This takes exactly ten minutes.
The results of the interchange are
| then reported by each financial emlsSary
| to William Sherer. manager or the
clearing house, and his assistant, Will
lam l.. Gilpln.
| These two gentlemen mount into
| gallery at the end of the room, ana
| balance the results upon huge PROOF
| sheet.
On the floor below each bank repre-
| sentative has high desk, belonging 10
| his bank. After making their returns;
| they loll around for half an hour until
the result OF the days clearances are
| read bV Mr.. Gilpin from the gallery.
|
| the floor fbelow upon similar sheets
| and taken to their banks, where they
furnish accurate daily statements or the
| financial standing and daily business or
| kindred houses.
The average sum which changes
| daily is about S135,000,00O. but upon
| Thursday last the enormous sum or
| $3.50, 100000 was involved.
| Upon receiving their credit or debit
| papers the men return to their lnstltu-
| lions. If one bank sent down $780,
worth of checks and received back
| only 100000 in their own checks,
they are entitled to the 100000 diff
terence; and, on the other hand, If they
| pay over $500, 900 worth of other banks
| checks. they are required to make 1t
| good. This is done at 1870 p. IN. each
| day. Then the clerks or messengers
repair to the clearing house and pay in
what is charged against them, and vice
versa. This difference is paid in $1,000,
1900, $1,000 and $4,000 gold or silver
| certificate notes and payment is made
back by the institution in clearing house
| certificates, which are valueless, except
when signed by the clearing house.
AS the interchange of so much
money is of considerable Importance,
the clerks or bank messengers, who
carry hundreds of thousands of dollars
to or from Nassau and Pine streets,
never travel alone, and generally come
and go in cabs. The banks detective,
and sometimes two of them, follow the
| man with the money. All 90 heavily
armed and there is no instance upon
record where one of these messengers
has been robbed.
By the middle of the afternoon, after
| the debts and credits have been made
good, the clearing house has not one
cent in its Golfers. 1t is all received and
dispensed III the settling room.
OF necessity, the accounts upon the
proof sheets have to balance. Ii there
are any mistakes they are easily cor
rected by referring to the system OF
mutual vouchers and receipts, which
each banks representative takes and
receives from every other bank. Aside
from this there is a system OF fines,
averaging So for each error made. This
acts as stimulus to accuracy and pre-
vents errors, which in reality are rare.
Through the medium of the clearing
house each Individual bank is saved
thousands of dollars and valuable time.
1t would keep five or six bank clerks
busy from morning till night to visit
other banks, return checks, exchange
the same and collect or pay the differ
ences, beside retarding the business
and bookkeeping.
The clearing house of the associated
banks of New York has been in exist
ence since 1858. During that time it has
been able to avert serious financial
panics by the intimate knowledge
which it furnished to each bank con-
cerning the exact condition OF the 9TH
ers. The affairs of the institution are
controlled by al executive committee OF
| five, appointed at the annual meetings.
Each bank is based according to the
amount of business which 1t transactS
through this medium. Banks outside of
the city are not admitted, but they can
clear through the city banks by keep
ing, permanently. large deposit in the
banks which they select, and sending
their checks to them as agents.
In the clearing house, i'll the upper
IOOIui every IHluR IuHo jlhO SlOSh WI n'
Each man knows his place, and the sys-
TEN has been SO simplified as to be ALSO
lutely accurate. 1t runs in such smooth
grooves. SO we'll oiled. that the lnstitu-
ton can clear or exchange with the
same facility $500, 100000 or 100000 in
side Of the prescribed ten minutes.
There can be no mistakes involving
mixture of the banks. Each concern
has number of its own, which is never
given to another. If the bank fails that
number is never used again. There is
no opportunity to ''hoodoo," as it were,
any other financial house. This is
eyinced in the proof sheet, which pos
sesses eighty-nine numbers, while only
sixty-odd banks are doing business
The others have failed or gone out OF
existence since the clearing house was
founded
No estimate has yet been made of the
aggregate sum which has changed
hands, since the organization of this
medium. An idea can, however, be OBJ
tanned from the fact that never since its
inception has less than $4,000 been in
volved daily.