The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-13
What the Institution
Means to the Wor-
cester Banks.
WELL ADJUSTED MACHINE.
The Average Daily Clear
ing Is About
100000.


Promptly at 119O o'clock every morn
ing, except Sundays, a long line of we'll
groomed young men, carrying spacious
wallets and well-flled satchels, winds
its way into the Citizens national bank
of Worcester. 1t is the daily visit of
bank clerks to the clearing house.
To the ordinary layman the term
clearing house" means about as much
as a philosophical discussion of the
TRANSPORTATION of the soul, in Greek,
would have meant to the aborigines of
Honolulu The average depositor in a
bank writes his check and hands or
mails it to his creditor 1t is as good
as money. The receiver of the check
which may be drawn on the City bank
places it on deposit in the lQuinsiga-
mond bank. Who cares2 The creditor
has his money, the bank has slip of
paper worth something If presented
somewhere else, and after a lapse Of
time the drawer receives his check
back
1t is just as easy as breaking sticks
There is never a slip nor a mistake
Everything moves as smooth as glass
man who draws hundreds Of checks
monthly never stops to wonder how it
all happens so nicely.
Behind the ease with which modern
banking pursues its merry way, there
is a complicated and delicately adjust
ed system of machinery that is CON
cealed like the works of a watch, but
that operates with accuracy as unfail-
ing.
Al
is the clearing house. Here is figured
out to daily balance fSw and against
each bank member of the clearing
house, the balance is paid, accounts are
squared and unto every bank comes
that WHICH is due.
To the layman the clearing house is a
sort of mysterious affair that does
things ard does then in proper fashion
1t accon1plishes all for which it is in
tended, does it easily and asks no ques-
tons. Its necessity never occurs to the
average depcsitor and he has never
taken trouble to find out what it is and
what 1t does. He writes check on the
Central National Bank, and mails it to
Jones. Jones deposits it to his credit in
the Worcester National Bank The Cen
trail bank owes the Worcester bank the
amount of the check, by the transac-
ton. The clearing house is where ac-
counts are settled.
Since the beginning in Worcester the
clearing house bank has been the Cit
liens National Bank Here daily come
together clerks from the Central Ma
tional Bank, Citizens National Bank,
City National Bank, First National
Bank, Mechanics National Bank, Quin-
sigamond National Bank and Worcester
National Bank with nicely prepared
statements and with checks belonging
to other members Of the house, which
are returned to the bank on which they
are drawn.
If when the balances are struck, one
bank is on the debit side of the ac-
count, a check is drawn to balance and
the creditor banks receive their due
proportion of the money paid by the
bank or banks that are on the wrong
side at the end of a days doings with
the other banks.
The average daily clearing of the
Worcester clearing house is about 5000. :
900. For the payment of this amount
and the exchange of checks only a ball
ance is paid and a few small checks
settle the bills. The clearing house is
the great collector Of lost, strayed and
stolen children, in the form of checks
on the various banks. The daily meet
ing of clerks does away with the for
Tner necessity of making a tour of all
the banks in order that each bank may
receive its checks back and make pay
ment.s
Recent innovations of Boston and
New York clearing houses In exchang-
ing many kinds of paper that they
never before handled have considerably
reduced the amount that passes through
{ the Worcester clearing house daily, as
it has affected every country" clearing
house Qs atfr.,tl.s-