Evening star., 1894-02-17
THEY WANT SMALL CHECKS.
Country Merchants Trying TO Increas
the Amount of Currency.

Sounsrs "crcnants Trying to Increase
the Amount Of Currency
THAT is the third time today that have
had that request made Of me-" said n
Louisiana avenue merchant this morning
as he pushed his eyeglasses down more
firmly on his big red nose and reread q let.
ter he had just opened.
What's that" said his partner
why, that check business, you know" re-
turned merchant No. l.
You don't say,' cried No. . Are they
all catching onto it?'
Here The Star man. who happened TO BE-
present. at this point stepped forward ana
inquired what was up.
We'll, i have been knocking around IN
business now for forty years" said the
merchant. as he took the eve glasses on his
big red nose and folded them up and slowly
placed them in their case Il have been in
trade pretty nearly forty years and never
before had my customers ask me to make
money for them before"
Make money, How's that? We always
expect you marketmen TO make all the
money You can for yourselves ana none FOE
other people"
lit isn't that. but here's a man up I'm
Frederick county who ships us eggs and
butter. He gets his returns regularly every
TWO weeks, according TO his special arrange
ment with us. The last shipment he made
TO US he asked that his resistance be made
In three checks. Ii would save his going
ten miles to his nearest bank. he said, and
he had been having trouble in getting
checks cashed by local merchants We
complied with his request and sent the
| three checks. Today we have another let.
ter from him, and he asks that our remit
tarce TO him this time be cut UP into ten
and five dollar checks. His account is
S's.S. j suppose he would be satisfied to
have us send him three checks for $40 fyS
| for IS each and one for S.S2
But that isn't the funniest of # Here
are two otner letters form two other
correspondents Of ours. one in Clarke
county, Virginia, and one in Fauouier
county, in which both ask the same favor.
J They want 50 checks and would be better
pleased to have 81 ones. They say they
have trouble in getting checks cashed. for
there is almost no money in circulation, and
/ country storekeepe-s are very reluctant to
take in checks for large- amounts ano pass
out bills OF smaller denominations. The
fact is that checks from Washington mer-
chants, when sent into the country, do duty
for quite "A while as currency. They 20
often to men who travel through country
remote from railroads and banks. and they
| like TO cash them wherever they happen to
be. Some OF ou- correspondents have asked
us TO send them certified checks in order to
make # still more convenient 10 get money
on their remittances wherever they might
chance TO be. Now. the scarcity of money
has suggested that we could help them out
by sending batch of small checks instead
| OF one large one, and they can pay out the
little checks I'm trade for butter and eggs.
Some of our checks have come back fairly
covered with Endorsements. and so dirty
with constant handling that you could
hardly recognize them. one i remember
had names of storekeepe-s. whom happen
ed to know personally, and they Were in
four different towns in different counties.
and from the map j calculated that the
check had Travelled zigzag from hand to
hand over 400 miles. and IL was three
months old when IL finally got TO our hank
here in Washington. IL had been out so
long that we might have been dead or bust
ed a dozen times over. and the checks OF no
account. But in the country a check 10
about as sacred in the eyes OF the farmers
as a bank bill"