SAVINGS BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1857–1897.
(Statement of condition for each period of ten years.)
| 1857 | 1867 | 1877 | 1887 | 1897 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of banks | 231 | 371 | 675 | 684 | 980 |
| Number of depositors | 490,428 | 1,188,202 | 2,395,314 | 3,418,013 | 5,201,132 |
| Amount of deposits | $98,512,968 | $337,009,452 | $866,218,306 | $1,235,247,371 | $1,939,376,035 |
| Average to each depositor | 200 | 283 | 361 | 361 | 372 |
In addition to the mutual and stock savings banks in the United States, a system of school savings banks, introduced into the schools of the United States by J. H. Thiry, of Long Island City, N. Y., is worthy of mention. Such banks have been very successful in inculcating habits of thrift and economy among the children of the country.
X. THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
A clearing-house may be defined as an institution for saving time, money, and labor. Its underlying principle is that of setting off one claim against another.
A bank in a large city receives every day in its mail a great number of checks or drafts drawn on banks in the same place. It does not present these checks directly to the banks on which they are drawn for payment, but sends them by messenger to the clearing-house. Let us say, for illustration, that the First National Bank presents to the clearing-house checks on other banks amounting to $100,000. At the same time the other banks send to the clearing-house checks they have received drawn on the First National Bank, aggregating $75,000. A payment of $25,000 in money to the First National Bank will be all the cash required to pay checks representing $175,000. The economy in the use of money is still better illustrated by the following statement of an actual transaction. On a day in the latter part of 1898 the Bank of the State of New York took to the New York Clearing-House checks on other banks amounting to $15,647,583.82, and other banks brought checks against it amounting to $15,647,401.85. The sum of these items was $31,294,985.67, and they were paid with $181.97 in money, which represents the credit balance due to the Bank of the State of New York. This instance shows what large transactions may be effected with small sums of money by employing proper banking machinery. Banks multiply the usefulness of money many fold.
The New York Clearing-House Association was organized September 13, 1853, and the first clearing made by the Association took place on October 11, 1853. The banks belonging to the New York Clearing-House Association reported on April 1, 1899, loans and discounts, $779,951,100; deposits, $898,917,000; specie, $187,114,300; circulation, $13,870,600.
NEW YORK CLEARING-HOUSE.
Clearing-House Loan Certificates.—These are simply devices that the banks have invented for use in times of panic. They are issued by a committee of the Clearing-House Association on the deposit of approved securities by the bank desiring them, and are used only to settle balances between the banks. They are not money, but serve a useful purpose in diminishing the demand for money; for when the banks agree to accept these certificates among themselves, it makes that much money available to be loaned or paid to depositors. In 1893, and in other years of financial stringency, the issue of these certificates afforded great relief to business interests and saved the country from some of the most disastrous results consequent upon such panics.