Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-02-16
BANK CHECK OF RECENT ORIGIN
Has Been In General Use Only About
$50 Years-Started by GoIdsmiths.

CHdnSe uTdWh oi d Jain, pdS duic on
demand"
In Europe checks may be drawn up
on merchant If he Is prepared to hon.
or them. 1t is probable that the Amer
lean courts would admit the same prin-
ciple II the merchant made 1t his busi-
ness, and it was known to the public
that he did 80, to honor such instru-
ments.
Checks in America, Great Britain,
France and most other countries must
be paid by the drawee on presentation,
any contract for delay notwithstand-
ing. In English and American law
they must be presented within a "rea-
sonable time" from date, and in France
within five days from date in the case
Of a local check and eight days in the
case of one drawn in another place.
Post dated checks, however, are
payable only on or after the date they
bear. There is nothing to prevent the
payment Of an old check II there are
funds in the hands Of the banker for
the purpose, but the delay releases the
endorsers.
Bills of exchange were used many
years before Christ, and references
here and there in Greek and Latin au-
thors show that transfer orders for
money were not unknown. These
transfer orders, however, lacked some
Of the negotiability Of the modern
check in not being transferable to or
der.
The check as known to the modern
world had its origin among the Lon
don goldsmiths, who received money
for safe keeping and permitted its
transfer by means Of written orders.
But 1t wasn't until the middle Of the
nineteenth century that the use Of
checks became general. Their use in
Europe Is constantly increasing, but
it's extension has been hampered by
certain conditions. One Of these Is
that in Europe bank paying check
Is not responsible for Identification Of
the holder.
When checks came into general use
in England they were almost invaria-
bly, made payable to bearer. When
drawers began to make them payable
to order the bankers got a section into
the stamp act Of 1853 which specifi-
cally relieved them from liability for
wrongful payment except as regards
the signature Of the drawer.
From the standpoint Of the banker
this system has much advantage over
the American system, since 1t relieves
him Of responsibility. 1t results In
giving to checks, however, a greater
degree of negotiability that when lost
or stolen they have practically the
character Of currency and can be CASH
ed without difficulty by the finder.
There is strong opposition among
the European banks to adopting the
American system Of requiring personal
Identification of each holder Of check
presenting 1t for payment. But a So
luton Of the difficulty was found at
an early date in England by the adop-
ton of what Is called the cross check.
This means that two parallel lines,
about three-eighths Of an inch apart,
are drawn across the face Of q check
to indicate that it differs from the or
dinary check. The original purpose
of this so-called crossing was to per-
NIT the insertion between the lines Of
the name Of a bank. Where such a
crossing appeared 1t meant that the
check was payable only by deposit
in bank account and not In cash over
a banks counter. In other words, on
ly a man who had an account could
collect such a check, and he could on
ly have it put to his credit and not
paid In cash directly.
So we'll established had the system
become in England that where the
transverse lines appear with only the
words "and company" between them It
Is taken to mean that the check may
come back through any bank to the
institution on which 1t is drawn, but
that it cannot be paid by any bank In
currency to the holder except at its
own risk. Where the name Of the in
stitution through which the check Is
to be paid Is inserted in the crossing,
it Is called specially crossed; where
no name is inserted 1t is defined as
generally crossed"
The result of this system is that a
l.. AI4 ha, 80
honest holder cannot be collected ex-
cept with great difficulty. A dishon-
est holder might conceivably forge an
Endorsement to himself, but II he de-
posted 1t in his account he could
readily be traced as the forger, and
few forgers can afford to maintain
bank accounts in their own names for
the purpose of executing forgeries.
Forgery was one Of the great perils
of early banking. Less than a century
ago the Bank of England prosecuted
142 persons in a single year for COM
plicity in forgeries. The crime was
then punishable with hanging. A dis
tinctive paper was adopted by the bank
in 1855 and was carefully marked.
Some counterfeiters who stole some
of the paper In 1862 were sentenced to
penal servitude for life. Forgery by
professionals has declined of late years
but amateurs still yield to the tempta-
ton of doctoring checks. The great
est encouragement to these gentry has
been the adoption of safety papers.
Safety tints also, as manufactured
by the ordinary photographer, although
they have been on the market for for
ty years, have not proved complete
protection. II such tints are really
sensitive they are also sensitive to
moisture and on this account cannot
be easily handled in the ordinary
course of business. The moisture OF
the hand frequently removes por-
tion of the tint, thus giving to a gen.
90 10