The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-16
CONFIDENCE AND CASH
GREAT FACTORS IN TRANSACT
ING THE WORLDS BUSINESS.

ments Prevsil-In City Bank on the
PEOPLES Pay Dsy-Money for the
Saturday Pay Roll-Lsrge Sums
Handled in a Few Hours.
From the Ne1 York Press.
Senator Sherman is credited with saying
that one-third of the worlds business is
done with cash and two-thirds with conf
dence.
There is no need to look farther than Wall
street to find abundant proof of the wisdom
of the statement. Strange as it may seem
the daily business Of the greatest of all
money marts in done without the use of
money. Checks only are used, and the
scratch of the pen is a far more potent
sound than the chink Of gold.
The acceptance of this form Of transfer
in values and the RELOCATION of currency
from the counting rooms of to-day are but
the logical outgrowth of the development
of modern finance. Money IN large amounts
is bulky. aud its handling is attended with
care and risk; checks and drafts or paper
is safe, easily handled and insures unques-
tionable accuracy in accounts.
A check for 81 900 600 can be written in a
moment, and many such are written every
week in Wall street The transfer of a
81 ,000, 900 in currency from one bank or
office to another would entail more or less
risk and vast amount of labor, for that
amount of money could not be counted in
less than business day by ons man, as the
bills of the national currency run.
If money were used in Wall street the
force of clerks employed in the offices would
have to be doubled. The total amount of
currency in circulation Throughout the
country would hardly be sufficient to meet
The wants Of this one short street OF bust
ness, numbering less than 300 buildings
All the money in the country would soon
pile up in Wall street, and the entire indus
trial machinery of the land would be de-
moralized. The street would become the
prey of thieves and roguery would run ram
pant.
But how different in the actual condition
OF affairs under the present system of ex-
change. The money of the street-bills,
coin and bulllon-rests in the vaults of the
safe deposit companies and the sub-treasury,
while vast sums change hands through the
medium of check and draft without dol
lar being disturbed. Wall street is the
clearing house of the country. and the SUBJ
treasury does more business than the ma
tional treasury at Washington.
Considering the enormous business done
in Wall street, the ratio of dishonesty there
dishonesty that comes TO light through
exposures Oh DOlQ huu vulgar bu6LG---lb 1858
than in any other part of the world. This
may not be as much due to the inborn hon
esty Of the persons who are in places of
trust perhaps, as the safeguards that are
established by the system in vogue.
All checks are payable ito order" and
can be cashed only by the person In whose
name they are made out. Many banks and
private bankers make their checks payable
to the order of their cashiers, and they in
turn than naVahld the order oP no
| payee. so that every check thus drawn must
bear three names before it is good. The
payment of such check to any but the
| right person is therefore almost an impossi-
| bility and if the check is lost it is only
worth the paper it is written upon. Checks
intended for deposit must also come to the
hands of the cashier with certain form of
Endorsement. They are stamped on the
back thus: "For deposit in - Bank to
the credit of -" They can only be re-
| ceived at the bank named. and credited to
| the firm indorsing them.
At the close of each day the brokers of
| the street bundle up the bonds and securi-
ties on hand aud the collateral for loans or
stocks carried ION margins" for customers
| and send them to the safe deposit vaults for
safe keeping.
The clerks that carry these valuable pa
pers to a place of safety may be seen any
day in numbers at the close Of the business
hours in the street.
The papers are in a stout leather bag.
This is carried between two clerks, while a
man walks behind, In step with them and at
| their very heels, his eyes on the bag and his
hand in the right pocket Of his coat. where
| reclines loaded revolver.
The amounts carried in this manner run
into the millions. But only coupon bonds
would be of value il stolen. The stocks and
registered bonds stand in the names OF the
persons to whom they belong and are value
| less to others.
The regular banks do not pay over money
in their transactions between each other,
| and paper is king with them, too. All
| their balances are struck by the Clearing
| House Association, TO which eightysnine
banks belong, and all amounts are paid by
| cashiers checks. The banks settle between
| themselves daily. AS the New York banks
| carry accounts for nearly all the large
banks in the country their business is
| enormous in its bulk, and the transactions
OF the New York Clearing House would
| supply sufficient material for a loug news
| paper article.
In all the transactions Of Wall street and
its great banking tributaries, the actua
money used is hut per cent. Of the total
amount Of values exchanged. This state
ment is based on careful calculations and
may be accepted as authentic.
| But the question arises, how does the
| money in circulation ever reach the pockets
| of the people? The use of checks and drafts
ceases when the wage Garner is reached. He
wants hard cash.
Step into any uptown bank-that is, any
bank not in the immediate vicinity of Wall
street-on any Saturday morning, and you
| will see the coin of the realm on the second
stage of its journey from the vaults of the
| sub-treasury of the government to the
pockets of the people. The first stage was
| when the shining dollars and crisp bill:
were hauled in a strong box to the bank.
The paying teller and his assistants
| fianked by stacks of bills and bags of coin
begin to deal out money in exchange for
| checks from the moment the wicket of their
cagelike compartments behind the counter
are opened in the morning, and keep at il
until they are closed at noon.
All the business of Saturday is COM
pressed into the two hours between 10 and
| II o'clock.
The customers come in dozens and scores,
each with his bank book and checks fol
| deposit, or on which to draw cash.
On Saturday 80 per cent. come to draw
money out. They are the big store keeper,
| with long pay rolls, wholesale merchants
factory owners. contractors; in fact, the
| employing class. They come in cabs and
atoot, each with a stout sachel, in which &C
take away the money that is to 60 to theil
employers. Thousands Of dollars are han
died in this manner, and, as with the
paper" Of Wall street. it is seldom that any
| ~