The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-05-23

Minnie Hester is modestly called
asst. Cashier" But that does not
tell the whole story, says the New
York Evening Post. Actually, she
is paying teller, receiving teller,
cashier, general ledger bookkeeper,
and customers financial adviser.
The president of the Lee County Bank
is active, in that ''he passes on all
loans made" but Miss Hester as
sumes all Office detail, with the help
of bookkeeper, also woman, ana
no man works behind the counters
in any capacity whatever.
Banking hours begin between 3
and 8 a. m. in Lexington and close
during the dull season at 8 p. M,
but during the busy season, which is
in the fall of the year in that agricul-
tural region, she just locks the safe
at closing time each day and keeps
on Working until dark.
Not having a man chief, Miss He's
ter has the responsibility of keeping
I'D the banks reserve, and her wealth
er eye is always out to see that lO
per cent. of her deposit account is
in cash in her vault, and that 20
per cent. is with her reserve agents.
AS general ledger bookkeeper she
handles the accounts with city CORE
spondents, the profit and loss &C
count, the daily cash account, the
amount of notes outstanding, total
of deposits, etc. AS acting chief she
must keep watch, too, on the col
lections, which come in by every mail.
These she enters in the collection
register and mails out notices to the
persons on whom drafts are made.
Then she must watch her bills re-
ceivable and see that no note runs
past due.
"In fact" to quote Miss Hester
herself, II must be on the alert every
moment to see that the inside work
ings of the bank are in good order
and kept we'll oiled; otherwise a CYL
inder might blow out, an explosion
would occur, and great harm would
be done-in other words, bank ex-
aminer would be sent out by the
banking department to close our
our DOORS
Problems She Must Meet.
She has found that woman can't
be a bank in countrE town With
out ha-lls to meet a:,1 solve the
country Hanker's prob ems. Chief
among these she names overdrafts
and past due paper and collections.
To the farmer she awards the palm
as being the satisfactory customer
from the Jerks point of view. AS
she has found him, he understands
banking requirements fully, expects
to give security three to one when ne
borrows, and Gays promptly when his
paper falls due.
Her troubles lie chiefly with cattle
men and small merchants. So far as
the cattleman is concerned, the ex-
planation is that when he has cor
rallied the animals he has bought, ne
UNEXPECTEDLY finds other punches that
he is no more able to resist than a
woman can resist a bargain counter
And then when Miss Hester posts
him up that evening, his account
goes red by a hundred or two, and
she goes home somewhat solemn
Past-due paper is point on which
she has to be careful. State and ma
tional banking laws are rigid on this
matter, and, besides, she has hel
own convictions that a surety should
be protected. Her collection depart
ment, she thinks, gives her more
trouble than all the rest of the bank
together, being expensive and annoy,
ing. She has had some close calls
in the matter of demand or sight
drafts, and it makes me shiver to
think of them,' she says.
Besides her work as executive OF
the bank, she is called upon to be
the bookkeeper of every business
man in the county, to a certain eX-
tent. To illustrate, the hog and cat
tie buyers who ship carloads to mar
ket keep no record of their transac,
tions except the account she has OF
their deposits and checks, and theil
profit and losses are figured out by
taking the difference between the
two.
Concerning the personal relations
that are established, she says: "l1
is right pathetic how perfectly de-
pendent some people become, who
learn to depend upon me to attend
to all their business, figure up ths
interest due them, and see that theil