The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-28
WHEEL HORSES OF FINANCE
LabOrs and Low Salaries of Clerks
in English Banks.
Long Hours and Few Holidays Their
Portion - Temptations Constantly
in the Path But Honesty Among
Them the RuIc-Butt of Humorists-

| great wOrld-Social, cOmmercist ant
administrative.
Yet it has long been a sort Of fashion
to speak humorously Of the bank clerk
as if he were the worm of finance. Blu
the truth is that if his grievances were
| removed (and they could be removed
with ease) a bank clerkship would bt
far and away the best form of clerk
ship known to the commerce of this
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 a little il
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 G. premium he is
compelled to pay for his guarantee tc
the bank of G5O0, and in most banks
there is the 10 per cent deduction he
is obliged to contribute TO the Provident
! Fund Thus his commencing salary OF
$40 is Whitfield down to e3l per an
num-
The salary is low, but then it goes NJ
a, fairly steady rate until. say, he is
twenty-five years of age and in receipt
of $50 to e100 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
Ry the age of twenty-five our young
friend is probably promoted to be a
ledger clerk with somewhat more re-
sponsibiity. and. with luck, by twenty
five or twenty-six he may become a
second cashier in 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 TIE average run of
branches. TO become a chief cashier
| with ESQ per annum at thirty years
of age, and here he may remain, with
salary slowly increasing to goo, for
the next fifteen or twenty years.
Now. this question Of promotion needs
a word or 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 thoroughness
I of banking practice. From the youngest
| clerk in the smallest branch TO that
great parsonage, the general manager at
/ head office, you will find the principal
responsibility strictly applied.
Now, how does this work? An order
/ comes in to stop check for, say, go.
: The manager fills out a stop order, "
and shows 1t to the cashiers. Nor is
/ he content with that; he further re-
/ quires each cashier to attach his initials
| to the stop order form, so as to pre-
| clude all possibility OF doubt. Now, If
| in the press and rush of business one
| Of those cashiers pays that check, he
! will be held personally accountable for
| it and have to pay the amount back TO
! the bank to the uttermost farthing at
the rate, perhaps, of 60 a month! Sim
| ilarly, if he should have paid away e5
! too much by some accident-and he
may be shoveling thousands of pounds
/ in notes and gold over the counter in
| the course of a few hours-his personal
! has to make good.
! And personal responsibility takes an
| other and even more unpleasant form.
| Mistakes, however accidental are never
| passed over, but are faithfully recorded
and remembered; and a cashier has
! only to make enough mistakes to find
| himself. perhaps at the age Of thirty
| five, reduced to the ledger clerkship he
may have left ten years before. and
there he may remain, with but the
smallest Increase of salary, until he is
grey. Even managers are not ex-
empt They are often reduced to cash
iers-and second cashiers at that-for
an unhappy mistake in negotiating a
loan or being too leuient with the over
drafts.
And this brings up to the bank clerk S
temptations. For when he rises to be a
cashier his real temptations begin.
There he stands behind the counter. a
man with. say. ESQ a year, on which
10 keep himself and his family-and
money. money money is ringing round
him all the time. Nay, more, he may
have under his own charge. lying in his
own till, e. 900 or e6,0O0-all solid. hard
cash And, further. customers" are
constantly paying in "credits''-tens.
hundreds, and thousands Of pounds
pouring into his hands and for the
| time into his sole charge. There's the
rub; for if he should himself be in diff
fculties. how temptation thickens and
deepens and consolidates about him.
The greatest temptation, perhaps. is
| that which comes when customers"
pay in A hundred pounds in notes and
gold is pushed, with a credit slip. across
the counter. This particular customer
may not use a paying in book, in
which the amount would be entered and
which the cashier would initial How
easy, in one fatal moment. not to credit
that amount, For the customer has no
receipt or acknowledgment from the
| bank, and so there is nothing to in
eliminate the cashier. The customer
would not find il out until he saw his
pass book and many men only ask for
their pass books at long intervals
| Then, when the murder is out. il simply
becomes a question of one mans word
against another's-and it would be "a
bold man who would accuse another of
theft when no evidence exists.
So the suppression of credits is
standing temptation to the cashier.
And there are others-the alteration
of checks. the forging of signatures, the
stealing from another cashiers till are
among the most obvious. And all the
time. If cashier means to steal out
right and then make bolt for it, there
is really nothing to prevent hiU. taking
ca 600 or $4,000 in notes and gold out
Of his own till and walking off for his
dinner hour-and many other hours to
come.
And the first grievance is the small
ness Of the salary. 1t is argued that in
fixing the salaries small consideration is