The times., 1901-04-28

The man in the street does not know
it. but it is the fact all the same that
banks are the heart and soul of the
whole vast living machinery of TINS
great world-social, commercial, and
administrative.
Yet it has long been sort OF fashlon
to speak humorously of the bank clerk
as if he were the worm of finance. But
the truth is that if his grievances were
removed (and they could be removed
with easel a bank clerkship would be
far and away the best form of clerk
shin known to the commerce of TINS
great country. Given this amount of
reform. it would rank next to the clerk
| ships of Government. But the reform
must come first.
Conditions naturally differ little IN
different banks but the bank clerk usu-
| ally begins his sober career at the age
of seventeen on the magnificent salary
| of $40 per annum. From this amount
he has to deduct the G5 premium he is
| compelled to pay for his guarantee to
| the bank of $500. and in most banks
there is the 10 per cent deduction he
is obliged to contribute to the ProVldent
Fund. Thus his commencing salary OF
! $40 is Whitfield down to 9Sl per an
mum.
The salary is low, but then it goes up
at fairly steady rate until, say, he IS
twenty-five years of age and in receipt
of $50 to e1OO year Moreover, dur
ing this time he is a Junior clerk,
with small responsibility and duties
which are almost entirely routine. So
if the pay is low, the work is not diff
| cult
Fly the age of twenty-five our young
friend is probably promoted to be a
| ledger clerk with somewhat more re-
sponsibility. and, with luck, by twenty
five or twenty-six he may become a
second cashier in a small branch BY
this time, if he has made no mistakes
and has proved of average capacity, his
salary will have risen to G120 and his
serious responsibility begins. He may
fairly expect in the average run of
| branches. To become a chief cashier
with G150 per annum at thirty years
of age. and here he may remain, with
a salary slowly increasing to 92O0, for
the next fifteen or twenty years.
Now. this question of promotion needs
a word OF two The modern tendency
of the banking system is to multiply
exceedingly the number of branches, and
consequently, in the case Of an eX-
panding bank, the opportunities OF pro-
motion are numerous. But there is an
other factor which determines promo
ton. and it centres round personal re-
sponsibility.
This is the secret of the thoToughness
of banking practice. From the youngest
clerk in the smallest branch TO that
great parsonage, the general manager al
head office. you will find the principal
responsibility strictly applied.
Now, how does this work? An order
comes in 10 stop check for, say, & 20
The manager fills out stop order,
,, and shows 1t to the cashiers. Nor Is
he content with that; he further re-
/ uuires each cashier to attach his initial:
To the stop order form, SO as to pre-
clude all possibility Of doubt. Now, Il
in the press and rush of business one
Of those cashiers pays that check, h'
will be held personally accountable fol
} it and have TO pay the amount back L
} the bank to the uttermost farthing, a
} the rate. perhaps, Of SO a month! Sim
} iIarly, if he should have paid away 81
too much by some accident-and III
may be shoveling thousands Of pounds
, in notes and gold over the counter il
= the course of a few hours-his persona
4 responsibility comes in, and that go h
0 has to make good.
D And personal responsibility takes an
3 other and even more unpleasant form
. Mistakes, however accidental, are neve
y passed over, but are faithfully recorded
4 and remembered; and cashier ha
0 only to make enough mistakes TO fint
o himself perhaps at the age of thirty
0 five, reduced to the ledger clerkship n
may have left ten years before, AM
there he may remain, with but tn
. smallest Increase Of salary, until he i
grey Even managers are not eX
= empt They are often reduced to cash
4 iers-and second cashiers at that-fo
an unhappy mistake in negotiating
+ loan or being too lenient with the over
3 ! drafts.
And this brings up to the bank clerk
: temptations For when he rises to be
cashier his real temptations begin.
There he stands behind the counter,
\ man with. say, ESQ a year, on whic
To keep himself and his family-an
; money. money. money is ringing roun
8 him all the time. Nay, more, he ma
4 have under his own charge, lying in hi
/, own till. $4,000 or e6,000-all solid. har
3 cash. And. further customers" ar
. | constantly paying in credits tens
! hundreds. and thousands Of pound
: pouring into his hands and for th
time into his sole charge. There's tn
rub; for if he should himself be in dit
ficulties, how temptation thickens an
= deepens and cOnsolidates about him,
The greatest temptation. perhaps.
90 that which comes when customers
y paw in. A hundred pounds in notes an
l. gold is pushed. with a credit slip, acrOs
- the counter This particular custome
may not use a "paying-in' book.
which the amount would be entered an
il which the cashier would initial Ho'
3. easy in one fatal moment, not TO cred
that amount For the customer has II
= receipt or acknowledgment from tn
-, bank. and so there is nothing TO il
Is ! criminate the cashier. The custome
3 | would not find il out until he saw HI
= pass book. and many men only ask fC
1I their pass books at long interval
- Then. when the murder is out, il simpl
Y becomes a question Of one mans WOr
against anothers-and it would be
- bold man who would accuse another {
~ theft when no evidence exists.
= So the suppression Of credits is
g. standing temptation to the cashier.
3 And there are others-the altera tio
- Of checks, the forging of signatures, ii
m stealing from another cashiers till, al
"a. among the most obvious. And all I'll
3 time. if a cashier means to steal ou
- right and then make a bolt for it, thei
is really nothing to prevent him takin
~ Ga 600 or $4,000 in notes and gold OF
"a or I,;s own tiu and walking off for h