The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-10-30
THE CLEARING HOUSE
In New York 1t Has Handled q
Quintillion of Dollars.
RECORD OF THiRTY-TWo YEARS.
The Business of This Country Il Done
Not by Gold. silver and Bills,
but by Bank Checks.

so large that it seemed as though no neck
would be strong enough to support 1t, and
SO nature set it directly upon the Shout
ders. apparently, with countenance that
suggested Daniel Webster's face had he
been bearded, has just retired to private
life, after having conducted the most colos-
sal banking enterprise perhaps in all his
tory, certainly in America. He is Mana
ger Camp, who has directed the New York
clearing house tor more than a quarter of
a century, and he speaks of billions and
triilions as most men talk of dollars and
cents.
sMr. Camp" said the writer to him,
show many dollars have passed through
the clearing house under your direction In
the form of checks?"
AS swiftly as though he was repeating
some such familiar thing as the eighth
commandment, Mr.. Camp began, Zone
quintillion. and then he ratified off tril-
lions, billions, millions and thousands as
quickly as bank clerk would report an
ordinary days balance. The sum which
he mentioned it is impossible for
the Imagination to conceive Moth
ing but the science of astronomy,
with its prodigious figures and incaicui-
able distances, suggests the enormity OF
this amount. 1t looks colossal even when
set down in figures. The sum is si,0S0,-
So. S43, 009 SO, and this inconceivable sum
actually represents transactions which
have taken place in the New York
clearing house since the day OF its
establishment. thirty-twO years ago,
until the LIST of July OF this year. These
figures represent, to considerable extent,
the amount of exchanges effected by this
- oIu
to what an enormous extent the business
of this country is done, not by gold Or
silver dollars or by bank notes, but by that
informal. in one sense irresponsible, cur
rency which We call bank checks. And
this also indicates TO what an enormous
extent the business of this country rests
upon honor and confidence, since bank
check is nothing more than an order to
somebody to pay somebody else some
money.
The operations of this institution in a
single year are colossal enough. Last year
they reached the enormous total of $780,
279 800, 2235 80. and this sum OF more than
$50, 600. 000. 600 represents liquidations that
were effected in plain English by swapping
checks and then cancelling them, 80 that
by this operation it was necessary TO pay
III actual cash little less than 81, 000 000,-
600. The enormity of the daily business is
suggested by the figures of one days trans
actions, which reached the sum of $500
461, $40 y, and OF this magnificent sum all
but about $1,000, 900. represented liqui-
dation brought about by the exchange of
bank checks.
The New York clearing house by these
operations is the great banking nerve, in
one sense, of the country. 1t cannot thrill
without producing corresponding effect
upon every bank in the United States. Yet
it is not banking institution in the eve
of the law. 1t is not even a corporation
1t is voluntary association of some sixty
banks of New York city. These banks
pay so much year to support it, and out
of an original purpose merely to make ex-
change easier, it has developed into an in
stitution whose power is simply stupen-
dous, and which has been twice exerted
within the past ten years with success to
prevent what threatened to be as frightful
panic as that of 1873.
Prior to 1850 the banks of New York, as
in the case with banks in small cities, sent
around to other banks TO collect checks
drawn against them. Ii was suggested
that this was proceeding which wa.
costly In time, and that it would be a good
thing to send the checks to one place and
there sort them. 90 tNey Iorfneu an as
ISOLATION, hired a room and every morn
ing each bank sent its clerk with checks
and drafts to the place, and then the ex-
change was effected and balances paid. AS
the volume of business increased, this
work became greater and greater, until
now exchanges which in single week ex-
coed the national debt are effected there.
Yet the operation is simple. 1t Is prac-
tically the same transaction as would
| occur if grocer and baker, owing each
other, snapped bills and the debtor paid
the balance, if there was any. But a
more detailed description of the oper-
ations OF the day, for instance when Mr..
Camp retired may be of interest. In an
upper room in a banking building near
Wall street there are arranged a number
OF booths or stalls. like the ticket office
of a tfeater. Each bank in the associa-
ton has one of these booths. At 10
O'Clock every morning an emploYe who Is