The farmer and mechanic., 1911-07-18

over more than three million square
miles.
business without cent Of additional
expense for clerical hire. And more
over, the prospect Is that it will be
carried on without any material
change in our Government machinery
when the deposits are hundreds OF
millions, and that al an expense
which, in the light Of its cost to othe
nations, will be ridiculousiy small
An Idea WORTH Millions.
For the invention which has done
way wit hthis enormous bookk eeping.
Uncle Sam is indebted to Mr.. Frank
Hitchcock, his Postmaster General. 1t
is an invention worth millions, for
it is estimated that it VIII save at
least a million dollars a year to the
Government. 1t will certainly do away
with the possible employment of e.
600 bookkeeperS, which even at as
low salary as $1,000 year would
make an annual draft on the Treas
ury of $2,00O.00O, and that in ad-
dition to other machinery which would
greatly add to the total. Mr.. Hitch
cock conceived the idea during his
trip to Europe Last summer. He there
saw the complicated machinery Of
other nations. the most of it based
on the system devised by Gladstone,
which has been adopted by forty other
countries. This was the use of the
the posting Of the deposit books Of
600 offices, and Of keeping sets Of
books for them It involved the en-
ployment of 5000 clerks in London,
and Of a great bookkeeping establish
ment there. In our own country the
offices would surely be three times
as many as in Great Britain and they
III = n
more. To handle them on the Euro
pean system was evidently very ex-
pensive. and Mr.. Hitchcock. in work
ing over the matter. originated a plan
whereby the accounts would to a great
extent keep themselves, and that
without mistakes.
Certificates VS.. Bank Books.
This plan was the wiping out Of
the passbook. and the issuance of
drafts or certificates of deposit. This
has been installed, and it is the present
system. The depositor hands in his
money, but in place of having
credit made on bank book he is
given a certificate of deposit for the
amount he puts in.
The certificates are in the denomi-
nations Of 81, 81, IS, $40, $40, $50
and s1oO, and they bear interest
at tn crate Of per cent per annum
negotiable. and are not worth anything
except in the hands Of the person
buying them. They are issued in
duplicate, and the original and dupli-
cate must each bear the signature Of
the depositOr. The duplicate is re-
tained by the postmaster and if the
man would withdraw his deposit he
must bring back the original, and
sign his name in the presence Of the
postmaster, who compares it with the
signature on the duplicate. / is af-
ter just the same method that the
travellers checks issued by banks and
express companies are cashed all over
the world today, and the same as
that used in letters of credit One
might forge another mans signature,
but it takes great skill to make such
a forgery offhand in the presence Of
the man you are trying to defraud
If a certificate of deposit should be
lost or destroyed it can be duplicated
by applying to the postmaster, the
signature, made in this way. being evil
dence of the claim The postmaster
keeps a record of these duplicates,
not in a book. but in a set Of manila
ackets or envelopes after the card
index system, each manila jacket bear
ing the name of a depositor and hav-
ing IN 1T that depositor's duplicate
1t is as simple as rolling off a log
1t Is F'OOlprOOf.
Again the need of bookkeeping IS
avoided by the fact that deposits are
made only in multiples of one dollar;
and that the money has to be left
in one year TO draw interest, the in
terest beginning only on the first day
OF the month. The depositor knows
that if he takes out any money in less
than year he loses his interest If
he leaves 1t in for one year. he gets
two per cent: and he must leave It in
TWO years to get four per cent. In
other words. there are no fractions to
be considered. The system seems to
be foolproof. The depositor knows
Just what is coming to him He
can draw as much or as little as
he pleases provided the denominations
are right: and when his money is all
drawn the tearing up Of the manila
Jacket closes the account and wipes
his name from the Government rolls.
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