FOR COUNTER USE ONLY. Chicago: July 24 1901 $25.00 Merchants Loan Lust Company Twenty-firs Dollars David & Brown FIG. 115.-COUNTER CHECK, RECEIPT FORM. more signatures on the document, the official who signs last should be responsible for the previous signatures, the responsibility of the bank ceasing with the final or at most with the last two signatures. Other objections to many voucher checks are the stating of conditions of payment which put in doubt the negotiability of the instrument, and the requirement of both a receipt and endorsement from the payee. Whether the receipt adds anything to the endorsement of the check is, to say the least, a matter of doubt; and it certainly adds much to the labor of handling the check. Another thing to be noted about voucher checks is that the folded check, which is a great nuisance to the banks, is often used when a single piece of paper of the size of an ordinary check, or a little larger, would answer the purpose fully as well. It is possible to provide room on the face or back of the check for such detailed statement of account as is usually considered desirable on a voucher check, as is proved by several good forms of such instruments that are in daily use. Figure 117 shows an excellent form. Its size is 85% by 834 inches-only a little larger than the ordinary check—and yet statement space is provided of ample width and with seven lines for items. The back of this check is plain except for the words, "Endorsement by the payee is acknowledgment of full payment and satisfaction of the within account." Another form, giving less space for the statement, is shown in Figure 118. Figure 119 shows a form having provision for a statement at the end of the check. These forms show three possible places on the face of a check for the statement. It is also possible to provide for the statement on the back of the check, as shown in Figure 120, which represents the back of the check whose face is shown in Figure 121. It is certain that by the use of forms similar to these the necessity of folded voucher checks could often be avoided. There are concerns, however, the nature of whose accounts seems to require the folded form of Vice-President. ...DOLLARS. New Jersey and Hudson River Railway and Ferry Company. FIG. 121.-FACE OF VOUCHER CHECK. Treasurer. voucher check. In such cases the convenience of the banks which must handle the checks would be greatly conserved if all information needed by the bank were to be found on the outside of the check when folded. It ought not to be necessary for the bank clerk to unfold a voucher check as he handles it with other checks in the regular course of business. The desired result can be accomplished by making the front of the folded voucher a regular check form, and having all endorsements appear on the back of the folded voucher. Figure 122 shows the face of one of the best forms of folded voucher checks in use. It will be noticed that this has the appearance of an ordinary draft-form check. The other side of the folded voucher is blank save for the words at the top, "Make all endorsements here." The information needed by the bank is all on the outside of the folded voucher, so that the bank clerk is not put to the necessity of unfolding this document. Although a receipt in addition to an endorsement is required, such receipt appears on the face of the check, at the end, where it is easily seen. Some voucher checks of the same general form as this one do not call for a receipt, the endorsement being considered all that is necessary. In such cases the check usually reads, "When properly endorsed, pay to the order of etc., "In full payment of the within account.' From the standpoint of the bank this is of course an improvement over the form which requires both a receipt and an endorsement; while, as already suggested, it is doubtful whether the drawer of the check gains anything by having the receipt in addition to the endorsement. Figure 123 shows the inside of this voucher check when unfolded. " TELLER'S RECORDS. The different tellers keep records of their daily work and prove its correctness on books or sheets of paper variously known as "scratchers," "settlement books," or "proofs." In its original form this record was merely a rough memorandum used by the teller to balance his cash, containing simply lists of items on which cash was received or paid, and the cash count. This is all that is needed in a small bank having only one teller and one bookkeeper, for in such case the keeping of a complete proof such as is described below is merely a duplication of the work of the bookkeeper. But in a large institution having a number of tellers and bookkeepers the system of proofs should be such as to test the accuracy of each man's work in its relations to the work of every other man in the institution. Such systems are now in use in the most progressive companies, and have put an end to the continual "checking back" to locate errors and strike a balance of general cash, which was and is a burdensome feature of the work in banks where a general system of proofs is not in use. The particular form of the proof for each teller or bookkeeper will of course depend upon the number of such workers and upon the general arrangement of the details of the work of the company; but the principle upon which the system of proofs here described is based will apply to any institution, no matter what the number of workers or the arrangement of the work. This principle is, that the proof of each worker should contain a separate list of the items received from or delivered to each of the other workers. This is illustrated in figures 124 to 127, from a study of which the system will be made clear.73 On the Receiving 73 See also Figure 146. |