The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-28

yenience. / say among them because it
has cost considerable to deposit in the
North. 1t is not my intention to appeal
TO sectional feeling or to sentiment but
i to argue from a standpoint of dollars
and cents, and to show that in this case
home patronage is profitable.
The express on cash money shipped to
the South for the removal of the 1902 crop
as closely as | can approximate was $780,
0eO00. The cost Of kilograms sent in or
dering this money was 100000. The in
terest on this money in transit, and the
interest on the return remittances in
| transit also amounted to several thousand
dollars. Now if we had a depository in
our midst the distance of shipment would
have been shortened 2-3, the rate of ex-
press and cost of kilograms cut down,
and the loss in interest on cash and cash
items In transit reduced proportionately
Again, the only inducement of value
which any New York bank can offer under
the rules of the Clearing House is the diff
ference OF minimum average deposits re-
quired in order to allow interest on daily
balances carried. All New York banks
allow only per cent. interest while
Southern banks are anxious for the same
deposits at 3 per cent. The average re-
serve carried in New York by our banks
Is one hundred million dollars And we
have probably about the same amount in
other Northern cities bearing the same
rate OF interest. 2 per cent. The differ
ence IN interest offered on this reserve
makes an argument of two million dol
lars profit per year in favor of a South
ern Depository.
| Our ways of collecting are slow, costly
and unsatisfactory From answers to let
tiers of inquiry sent to every bank in the
! State | find that seventy per cent OF our
banks are forced to pay charges ON South
ern exchange and collections, and most
/ OF the other thirty per cent handle no
Southern collections on which to.pay. In
/ many instances the collections are sent
direct, at a cost Of IA OF one percent
Southern banks can collect Northern
Eastern and Western exchange at par
! and the only reason why they cannot col
! lect Southern items without expense is
| because Southern bankers have not given
the matter proper consideration and have
not agreed upon any one particular clear
! ing house for themselves In no other
| section of our nation is such the case
/ Other bankers are alive to every question,
while moss grows upon our backs and
useless profit gnaws upon our profits
Express kilograms, interest on cash
and cash items in transit, the difference
of interest allowed on daily balances car
ried and the cost of collecting are some
of the losses which may be reduced to
minimum through the establishment Of
home depository. You may think these
| items are trifles you may say they are
expenses too small TO mention. but they
seriously impede our progress and in COM
parison are large For instance, many
of our banks could pay one book keepers
salary merely out of the profits made by
watching the number of days in each cal
cndar month and by making each loan
| to run so many days or so many months,
as the advantage may be. for in so doing
they would save one weeks time out OF
/ every ifty-two. How much more closely
! should we watch such items as exchange
| and the rate Of interest received on re-
serve balances carried in other banks.
have been banking and studying banking
for eight years, serving State banks.
private bank, and savings bank and trust
| company, filing every position from 1an-
tor to cashier inclusively, and it has been
my observation and experience that close
attention to such small mattres will ma
terially effect each years earning. These
losses above cited during the past year
amounted to $4,000 in the bank in which
] am employed They affected the profits
OF every bank here represented. The cost
this State $75,0OOO0. and the South con-
Continued on Third Page.)