101. Note Teller's Records

The note teller's cash book is a little more complicated than the receiving teller's, owing to the number of sources of items and the many kinds. The book should be ruled so that he may charge himself with items received from all departments and sources, and credit himself with all cash turned over to the paying teller, with the exchanges sent to the clearing house, items held over and unpaid items returned.

A very careful record of unpaid or return items should be kept by the note teller. A book should be ruled with sundry columns, to record the names of the drawer, drawee, payee, date, time, amount, endorsers, memorandum of documents attached and reasons for dishonor or refusal. A column should be provided for the signature of the notary.

102. Mail Teller's Department

It will not be necessary to have a separate mail teller except in very large banks in clearing house cities. Banks in large cities, especially New York, have accounts with other banks. Some of these are reciprocal accounts, but they are usually reserve deposit accounts of the country banks. New York exchange is always in demand, and the New York account is no small source of revenue to the country banks, because of their ability to sell drafts at varying rates of exchange. These drafts are deposited in other banks and sent to New York, with all other papers collectible through or from New York. A large percentage of the deposits of the downtown or Wall Street banks is composed of this class of remittance letters from out of town banks and customers. The heavy mail trains arriving during the night from cities within three or four hundred miles bring to the New York bank a great many checks and other items deposited during the day. The mail may be obtained from the post office quite early in the morning. The clearing hour in New York is at 10 o'clock, and therefore if a bank has an efficient force of clerks, it may open these letters and collect most of the checks through the exchanges on the same day, thus saving a day's interest. The mail teller is the clerk charged with this duty.

Trusted messengers are selected to report earlier than the general staff. Two of them stop at the post office and get the mail. On arriving at the bank they open the mail and stack the letters in piles to be checked off by the other clerks when they arrive. Many customers send money in remittance letters in spite of the protestations of the post office department. Coupons are often enclosed in large quantities though they are also payable to bearer. It will save time if the large letters are placed on the desks of the older or more efficient clerks.

103. Remittance Letters

There are many styles of remittance letters. The gist of the whole matter is included in the following legends, used as headings to the letters: "We enclose herewith for credit to our account the following items," and, "We enclose for collection and credit." These phrases are followed by a list of items with more or less detail. The description of the items is usually very meagre and much annoyance would be saved if the country banks would state in their letters, on whom the items are drawn. Figure 69 on page 150 shows a remittance letter containing all the items likely to be sent to New York for credit or collection. The part of the letter on the left shows the information which is useful to the New York bank. The part on the right shows the letter minus this information. Both sides are checked. The mail teller should compile a set of check marks to indicate the different kinds of items and instruct the clerks in their use. A set of such check marks is shown in the figure.

The Utah National Bank

Boise City, Tenn.

May 11,1909. The Blank National Bank,

New York City. Dear Sirs:

We enclose herewith for credit to our account, the following items.

Yours truly,

J. J. Hammond,

Cashier.

P. A. D.

Figure 69. Remittance Letter - Checked 150.