The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-05-25
Prodigious Labors of Car
Peter Of Russia
BARBARIANS REGENERATE
Manners and Customs of a PEOPLE
Transformed
Ancient Usages Struck Down and Rebuilt
The Barbarian Spirit Occasionally
Cropped Out


be more careful in keeping my account
straight, I'll have to withdraw it. Here
Two been waiting for three days for you
to balance my book properly simply be.
cause you couldn't find out until now
how you made my balance larger than 1
made it. You would be served right If
had drawn out my money according to
your balance"
The irascible old gentleman tucked his
handbook in an inside pocket, buttoned
his coat tightly and shuffled along toward
the doorway Of the bank.
"If the old gentleman had cultivated
his patience as much as he has his honesty,
he wouldn't have said that" the book
keeper remarked to the next depositor in
line. "He doesn't realize perhaps that we
have to keep track of thousands of ac-
counts, or he doesn' t know that other peo-
pie are not SO particular as he Is. The
trouble with his account was that two
checks that he had drawn some time ago
had not been presented for payment, and,
of course, our account here didn't have
any record of them when he asked me a
few days ago to give him the amount of
his balance. He thought something was
wrong because his figures were less than
those gave, 30 he left his book to be bal
anced. In the meantime the checks came
In and today my balance agrees with his.
II he had bee& in better humor, would
have explained the whole thing, but
what's the use now? We are all likely to
make mistakes here, but II we do we can
get things straight after awhile. Some
day may have a chance to talk to him.
every few can understand why our &C
counts do not always balance the same as
theirs until we explain how some checks
are held back or lost. We have accounts
that have never been closed, although the
depositors drew their last checks years
ago believing that they were closing &C.
counts. The balances that are carried
along are small generally, and they cause
a good deal Of trouble. Perhaps ought
not to say that they are never closed, be-
cause after awhile we transfer the balances
to the profit and loss account to save the
trouble Of carrying them along sep
arately from quarter to quarter, but the
unpaid balances can be traced whenever
the occasion requires an examination.
"Here's an account that explains one Of
the troubles Of bookkeepers. About three
years ago corporations affairs were
wound up by mutual consent Of the stock
holders for the purpose Of transferring the
business to another concern. 1t had hore
balance Of about $25, 900 when the man
ager began to close all of Its accounts and
pay Its debts. At the end Of two months
the manager had drawn checks against
the full amount of the account here, trans
ferred some of the debts to the new con-
Germ by consent and arranged for the clos
ing Of the books. He left the handbook
to be balanced, and as the number of checks
was quite large he did not call for it for
several weeks. When he got the book, he
found that my account gave him a balance
of $1s, and he persisted in saying that
was wrong in my figures because he had
drawn checks against the full amount here
and that all of the checks ought to have
been presented for payment. All interest
ed persons had been informed that the at
fairs were to be wbund up, and plenty of
time had elapsed for the presentation of
all checks for payment He left the book
again and went over the figures when
found time My account was right, and
when the manager called again told him
that, and said also that when he checked
of the Cancelled checks with the stubs in
his check book he would find that two
checks had not been presented for payment
"You may not believe it, but he chased
Uu0 CIl6UhS 1UT uWO luuuUllS uuu SlOC0duSu
in finding only one, and that was for $12,
leaving 81 unpaid. He wrote to the per-
sons to whom the checks had been sent
and asked them to present them for pay
ment or deposit them somewhere for COL
lection. Both replied that they had depos-
tied the checks in country banks. Then
the manager wrote to the banks and asked
the cashiers to put the checks through the
f,fC WI Tho CHI
replied that they had never received the
checks. That made matters worse, and
the manager wrote again to the creditors
One of the creditors happened to look
through some papers that belonged to his
sister and there he found the check for
SIP. Then he remembered that when he
received the check from the corporation
months before, he cashed it from some
money that he was carrying for his sister
and never thought Of it afterward. He de-
posted the check for collection and we
paid it.
''That left 81 undrawn, and we carried
that balance along for six months. Again
the manager wrote to the other creditor
and asked him, as favor, to find the
check for 81 because it was annoying him
and troubling us. The countryman re-
piled that he had received the check, had
got cash for 1t somewhere-he thought at
the bank, but he might be mistaken-and
had spent the money, but he would try to
find the person who had that check. Sew
eral weeks afterward he wrote to the man.
ager that he had not succeeded in finding
the check, and as he could not make an
affidavit that he had lost the check the
manager could not draw duplicate check
and have it presented for payment. Final
ly the manager abandoned the chase and
came to ME again. He wanted to have the
handbook show that the corporation S
account had been closed without any bal
ance, and got the consent Of the cashier
to transfer the balance to profit and loss
and mako an entry to that effect in the
corporations book. We have that dollar,
and II the check Is presented we will pay It,,
but I'd like to bet that 1t never will come
in. New York Times.
Pretty Little Screen.
A pretty little screen for filing an odd
corner in winter and for standing before
tho CRATE in summer is made of scrolly
iroIfe,ork as far as the stand is concerned,