Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-18
BAKER KELLY'S IDEA
Would Be a Help to Those Who
 Want 10 Pay Bills.

certificates of deposit to those who : have money in such institutions, from dollar up, to be used in making pur- chases and in payment of debts of any kind, the same to be redeemaple Dy the banks issuing them after ninety days, appears to meet with almost general approval, although, to be sure. the savings banks might not like it because it would entail some little bookkeeping that can be avoid ed by letting things remain as they are. -... ..
 { MT Kelly puts it in this way: A man goes to a merchant and gives him in exchange for what he buys, one or two or more of these certl- ficates. In turn the merchant may indorse them to others, his Wholesa!e house will accept them as cash, or II the merchant doesn't want to do tnis he may deposit them in the bank where he does business and get credit for them on his account. II ne doesn't want to do any of these things he is at liberty to hold them and they will be interest bearing. If the bank thinks well of it it may cash them as soon as merchant presents them and then the account is closed be- tween the bank and the merchant and when the owner of the book gets 1t made up it will show just so much less, and that is all there is to It, so : that really it doesn't involve any complications, and would be won- derful help to merchants and every body else. It would't take long to put 1. It into general use, either; in fact Ii The banks cared to try it it could De } put into operation tomorrow.
 r In talking with A. E. Lord, teller ,f the Manufacturers National bank :o-day, MT Lord aid that he heartily .ndorsed the proposition and that ne knew of no better way to inspire con- idence in holders of bank books whc ire needlessly alarmed and are oler- .ng to sell their books at big dls, count. MT Lords idea of it was tha' In case the banks should issue certl- Hcates of deposit, say to the amount of S10O, the person to whom they were issued would lose ninety days interest on $1O0, which would be 6 very small sum compared with Wha1 they are now willing to sacrifice. He knew, he said, of several people Whe are disposing of bank books at dls count of ten per cent and thought Il ] too bad that this should be so ant ' hoped something will be done yer! | soon to put stop to it. All the loca
 banks, he added, are perfectly sol | vent and anybody who is disposlng o II his account at a sacrifice is very fool Il ish. He knew the certificates would II inspire confidence because if persol could go into store and buy what n' M wanted and the clerk would accept E certificate as payment the puDll' would quickly see that if there wal
 the slightest danger merchants would not take them and in this way every body who has a dollar in the bank would feel much easier than he eve will until something like this is done A merchant who would present one o a number of such certificates of de posit at one of the National bank would get credit for their face value less ninety days interest, and ther would be no hesitancy in acceptlni them unless they came in such larg numbers that the bank could not af ford to handle them and this is some thing which would not be likely t happen, for as soon as folks learne
 that they were as good as gold o silver they would be very carefu about passing them out.
 The plan would be great bench to merchants, some of whom alread
 feel the result of the stringency i the money market. For example
 |l dealer sold $150 worth of furniture t customer, but when they got t talking about payment it develope that the customer didn't have tn ready cash, but he had good ban
 account. It was finally decided t see what could be done towards get ting enough to meet the price of tn
 purchase and the customer and deale called at the bank and explained tn situation, but the bank refused to le
 the money out, notwithstanding tha
 the dealer was willing to put it bac
 then and there in his own name. Thi Is only one instance but others migh be cited to show that the issuing
 certificates would be greatly apprec
 ated and that such course is almo:
 necessary unless merchants and priv
 ate individuals are to be subjected
 great hardship during the preser
 winter. It is all right to refuse to pa
 out money in large sums to peopI
 who want to carry it around in the
 pockets or tuck it away some place
 the attic and it is all right. too,
 hold onto sufficient cash to enable en
 ployers to pay their help, but 1t do'
 seem rather hard that a man who hi
 money on deposit in a bank which !
 knows is solvent cannot get even
 certificate which will be accepted ;
 q medium of exchange among tf
 merchants of the city until after tn
 little trouble is over. Probably tf
 banks would be willing to do this
 merchants and others should call III
 on them and explain the need of sue
 action. Many who are all right ha'
 not done enough business in any pa
 ticular store to warrant them in asl
 ing trust and besides most peep
 have acquired the habit of payiT
 cash. In any case it isn't fair to e
 pect a merchant to carry custome
 through the winter without son
 tangible assurance that he will g
 his money after a certain time.
 person with a bank book may tell v
 that he will settle when he can dra
 on his account. but that is not suf
 cient in this age He might forget a
 about the merchant and in order
 make himself secure the merehal
 should have some better security ths
 word of mouth. It wouldn't do. eft