The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-23
A BANKERS CARNIVAL.
Things Seen and Heard at Queer
London Exhibition.
From the Pail Mall Gazette,

From the Pail Mall Gazette,
Come and see the silver counting COM
petitioni Come and see the bank mems
cycle racer The fiaring red posters amid
the arraw of invitations to visit the Ameri-
can Hercules, the coming canary show and
other delights was obtrusive enough. AS
L walked to the side door of the Royal
Aquarium, writes a representative of the
Pail Mall Gazette, l stumbled against a
bankers desk and narrowly escaped &C
cident owing TO the bankers safe, which
seemed to be wandering casually across
the pavement However. / went boldly
into the glare of the arc lights. (By the
way, the courteous manager tells me
that they go after this week, when the
aquarium reverts to the Gas Light and
Coke Companys gas at IS Id per 600 or
thereabouts.) / did not wait for my name
to be blown on to a tumbler, nor to press
my nose against the glass case where bats
hang by the legs, nor TO indulge in any of
the other little eccentricities favored by
visitors to the aquarium. did not lin
ger over the electroplating trough. l
neither got weighed in the balances, nor
had my bumps felt, nor bought scent. l
aVerted my eyes from the early Varie-
ties" l found that the safes were already
astonishing the public. could you open
that with yer penkhife, Bin?"-the door
was about foot thick. Other safes stood
around in the conventional Stonehenge
manner and daring men had climbed to
the top of an unattached strongroom door.
My desk was near and with 1t other desks
and tables and improved pigeolholes and
letter files. | was told that there would
ultimately be pens and other objects of
interest to bankers for this was the long
But what l liked best were the adding
up machines. These stood on a table
apart. Here it was that l encountered my
first bank clerks on inspection bent. I'm
it's and tens of pounds wrong" one was
saying to another. They Were trying the
machines; they spoke but few words, and
those in low tone of voice; they shifted
uneasily from one machine TO another:
their air was one of settled gloom; they
seemed to be looking upon something
which had once caused them pain. you
must work the lever twice after you have
got all your figures down if1yof want TO
get a total" said the man in charge, OPP
Grating the lever several times with con-
siderable violence Then he tore off the
slip of paper containing the figures which
the machine had printed, ram his eye over
it, and triumphantly passed it to the bank
clerks, who also ran their eyes over it;
the more demonstra tive of them uttered
dcQulenScence. Inc man IN charge eX-
planned further that you did nothing but
press down the keys; it is the lever that
prints the figures. Helsaid the machines
cost EGO, that many banks usedrthem, and
that the company does not stipulate fol
a percentage of the salaries saved
Then we went upstairs into st. Stephens
Hail. and passed resolutions; firstly fol-
an autumn bank holiday (say the second
Monday in October ITO break the long
spell of labor, nearly five months in dura-
tion between the first Monday in August
and Dec. 26, and that such holiday might
fttingly mark the close of the nineteenth
century," secondly, for the establishment
of an autumn bank holiday association for
securing the same. The chief objection
is that of the Retail jewelers. Association
that the young bank clerks, going oftener
to Margate, viii have less to spend on
rings. 1 voted and came away. ! shall
not forget the excitement of that Bank
ers' EXhi btion."