Evening star., 1926-09-12
BY /. A. FLEMING.

- "Go-backs''-badc checks-are social
led by reason of their great number and
for the further reason that there is
no good excuse for half of them and
none at all for half of the other half
An authority is responsible for the
statement that there were 100 900 dis
honest checks last year. the word
covering a vast array of the sins of
men and women. AS a matter OF
fact. the local Clearing House Asso-
citation is compelled to hold an extra
afternoon session to clear the go
backs.
After each bank gets its quota of
checks drawn on it and deposited il
other city banks, or elsewhere, at the
morning clearings. in exchange for
checks TO other banks, the checks
are passed on to the bOokkeepers
where they are charged against the
account of the drawer and filed away
for balancing the account and the
pasSbook when they are returned tt
the maker. Some banks hold them
to the end of the month and return
them with balance sheet complete.
Sheep and Goats.
Go-backs, dishonored checks. checks
upon which payment has been stop
ped, or in which there is some pal
pable error or wrong, are passed up
to the head bookkeeper, and are then
generally offered to the cashier or
some other official for inspection. II
the check Is drawn by one of the
good clients of the bank and the fault
is a technical one, his reputation is
not allowed to suffer, for a go-bacll
must hurt good business mans
standing. If there are other checks
in the group that should be con
sidered goats" they are recalled and
cared for, while the real, genuine
goats are herded to the second clear
ings and returned to the different
banks whose customers were unfor-
tunate enough to have received them.
When a depositor Is under espionage
he Is not treated with the same
courtesy accorded to clients whose
records are beyond suspicion.
When the former make deposits of
checks, drafts, etc, they are usually
informed that they will not be allowed
to draw against these documents
until after they have been collected,
but they keep the bank officials busy
heading off their attempts TO get the
cash and their checks are returned
tabled as indicated.
The men and women whose bank
accounts are rarely worth the open
ing and the subsequent closing, with
not long intervals between, know all
the little tricks of the trade. They
know just about the usual time that
elapses between the paying Of a
check to a merchant or in settlement
of some account. or the Cashing of
check by friend and the presenta-
tion of the same for. payment.
They know, too. that the banks do
not hold a go-back clearingS on Sat
urdays and that they may risk an
extra day then and over Sunday.
Not Sufficient Funds.
This is the most general reason for
the go-back and there are many of
them every day. OF the others mo
such account" comes up much oftener
than it should. Also account closed. =
Bankers exercise great care in deal
ing with corporation accounts to ar
range specifically for authentic au-
thorization of official signatures. 1t
is not enough to say that the presi-
dent and secretary will sign. but the
bank officials must be satisfied by the
minutes of the meetings of directors
that authorized this.
When some other official signs a
check, back it goes. 1t is the head
bookkeepers Job to watch this.
Here is the little list that accom-.
panies each go-baCk on the return to
it's sponsor. fastened to the check
At the same time the bank returning
the check through the afternoon