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.

Tellers' Proof, figure 124, left-hand page, the first columns provide for the listing of "Commercial Credits," i. e., deposits received for checking accounts. Space is provided for the separate listing of each deposit; but instead of this the teller has here made use of the adding-machine, his assistant having taken the deposit slips received, at frequent intervals,

FIG. 124. RECEIVING TELLER'S PROOF, LEFT-HAND PAGE.

listed them on the adding-machine and entered the totals on the proof. By reference to Figure 127, under the heading "Deposits" at the right lower corner, it will be seen that the Individual Bookkeepers' Proof debits the receiving teller with the same total as here shown credited to "Com'l Credits," $1,230,068.77. Under "General Book Credits" is given

a list of all credits for the general books passing through the hands of the receiving teller. The total of these items agrees with the total of debits to the receiving teller on the proof of the general bookkeeper. On the right-hand page of Figure 124, the total of "Commercial Debits," $173,586.52, will be seen to agree with the total listed to receiving teller

FIG. 124. RECEIVING TELLER'S PROOF, RIGHT-HAND PAGE.

under “Items on Us" in the Individual Bookkeepers' Proof (Figure 127). Here again the teller has entered on his proof adding-machine totals of the items, instead of listing each item. Referring again to the righthand page of Figure 124, it will be seen that the items and the totals listed under the heading "C Paying Teller, Dr." agree with the items