82. Arrangement Of Silver

The arrangement of the teller's silver will depend largely on the demands made upon him. Silver is received from the Treasury Department in bags of one thousand dollars for halves, quarters and dimes. Nickels are put up in bags of two hundred dollars and cents in bags of ten dollars. The teller will find it convenient to have the coin rolled in the following packages: Halves in rolls of ten dollars; quarters in rolls of ten dollars; dimes in rolls of five dollars; nickels in two dollar rolls; and cents in fifty cent rolls. If much of this class of work is to be done, a coin wrapping machine, infallible in its workings, will be a great labor saving addition. After the coin is rolled, the reserve supply should be kept in strong wooden or light iron boxes and never in bags. If stored in bags, the wrappers soon become broken and the package is worse than useless as far as convenience in handling is concerned. There are many kinds of small change trays. The most ingenious is one made by the Brandt Cashier Company of Chicago, Illinois. This tray will deliver in the hand of the operator any sum from one cent to one dollar by pressing one key.

While on the question of silver, every bank teller should know that it is possible to keep his supply of small change as complete as he desires without any expense whatsoever. If the bank is in New York City, the teller may obtain as much as he wishes from the Sub-Treasury; and he may use his mutilated bills to obtain it. If the bank is situated elsewhere it will have a New York correspondent, who will be glad to get rid of its mutilated bills by making the deposit for its correspondent bank. The Treasury Department will pay the express charges if the amount is large enough. A smaller amount will be sent at the expense of the consignee. The consignee must pay expressage on new coin. Treasury Department circular No. 58, dated 1908, contains the following information:

Issue Op Standard Silver Dollars And Subsidiary Silver Coin

5. Standard silver dollars are issued by the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer in redemption of silver certificates and Treasury notes of 1890, and are sent by express, at the expense of the consignee, in any amount for silver certificates or Treasury notes of 1890, deposited with the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer.

6. Upon the deposit of an equivalent sum in United States currency or national bank notes with the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer or national bank depositary, subsidiary silver coin will be paid in any amount by the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurers in the cities where their several offices are, or will be sent in any amount, in packages of $50, by registered mail, at the expense of the Government but at the risk of the consignee, from the most convenient Treasury office. For this purpose, drafts may be sent to the Treasurer of the United States in Washington or the Assistant Treasurer in New York, payable in their respective cities to the order of the officer to whom sent. Drafts on New York City must be collectible through the clearing house, and should be drawn to the order of the Assistant Treasurer of the United States, New York, and mailed to him direct.

Note: After one-half of the appropriation for the transportation of subsidiary silver coin for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, shall have been used in the transportation of such coin by registered mail, it will then be shipped by express in sums of $200 or more, at the expense of the Government, or by registered mail, in sums of $50, also at the expense of the Government but at the risk of the consignee, as the depositors may request.

7. While paragraph 6 is in force, if desired, subsidiary silver coin will be shipped by express, instead of by registered mail, in any amount, by the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer of the United States, at the expense of the consignee for transportation.

Issue Of Minor Coin

8. Upon the deposit of an equivalent sum in United States currency or national bank notes with the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer or national bank depositary, 1-cent bronze and 5-cent nickel pieces will be paid in any amount by the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer in the cities where their several offices are, or will be sent by express in sums of $20 or more, at the expense of the Government, or by registered mail, in like sums, at the risk of the consignee, registration free, as the depositors may request, from the most convenient Treasury office. For this purpose, drafts may be sent to the Treasurer of the United States in Washington or the Assistant Treasurer in New York, payable in their respective cities to the order of the officer to whom sent. Drafts on New York City must be collectible through the clearing house, and should be drawn to the order of the Assistant Treasurer of the United States, New York, and mailed to him direct.

The express charges on new silver or minor coin from mints of the United States must be paid by the consignee on delivery.

9. The offices of the Assistant Treasurers are located in the following cities, viz, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco.

15. Subsidiary silver coin (halves, quarters, and dimes) and minor coin (1-cent bronze and 5-cent nickel pieces), assorted by denomination, in separate packages, may be presented in sums or multiples of $20 to the Treasurer or an Assistant Treasurer for redemption or exchange into lawful money. The words "sums or multiples of $20" apply to subsidiary silver and minor coin separately. Standard silver dollars may be presented for exchange into silver certificates only. When forwarded by express, the charges should be prepaid.

16. Coins should be shipped loose in cloth bags. Shipments put up in wrappers, envelopes or rolls of paper will not be received.

Not more than $1,000 in silver coin, $100 in cents, or $300 in nickel 5-cent pieces should be shipped in one bag or package.

17. No foreign or multilated silver coins, or coins to which paper or any other substance is attached, or upon which any name or advertising is stamped or impressed, will be received. Coin is mutilated when punched, chipped, clipped, or otherwise appreciably reduced in weight by any means except natural abrasion. Coins so multilated or reduced will be stamped by the receiving officer with a distinguishing mark before returning them to the depositor. Silver coin not mutilated but defaced otherwise than as above described, where it can be clearly and readily identified as to denomination and genuineness, will be received.

18. Minor coin that is so defaced as not to be readily identified, or that is punched or clipped, will not be redeemed or exchanged. Pieces that are stamped, bent, or twisted out of shape or otherwise imperfect, but showing no material loss of metal, will be redeemed.

Transmission Of Paper Currency To The Treasurer

19. Paper currency for redemption should be assorted by kinds and denominations, and each one hundred notes or less in-closed in a paper strap marked with the amount. Each one thousand notes, as nearly as convenient, in straps, should be in-closed in a paper band, likewise marked. In large consignments, two such parcels laid flat, face to back, with two others directly upon them, never more than 4,000 notes in all, should be firmly tied with two cords, forming a compact package about 6 1/4 by 7 1/2 by 12 inches. With each package should be inclosed a memorandum giving an inventory of the contents, the sender's name and address, and the disposition to be made of the proceeds, 20. Packages sent by express should be sealed up in stout paper, addressed to the "Treasurer of the United States, Washington, D. C," and marked with the owner's name and address, the amount and kind of currency, and, if sent under the Government contract, with the words "Under Government contract with the United States Express Company from nearest point of transfer."

Packages sent either by express or mail should be addressed to the "Treasurer of the United States" only. If sent otherwise it involves delay and risk.

21. United States notes, treasury notes, gold certificates, and silver certificates may be sent in the same package marked "mutilated United States currency for redemption," provided the total number of notes in the package does not exceed 4,000. National bank notes should be sent in separate packages marked "national bank notes for redemption." A letter of advice should be mailed for each day's consignment of United States currency, and a separate one for National bank notes.

22. Remittances and returns by mail are invariably at the owner's risk. Communications to the treasurer in regard to packages lost in the mail are referred to the Chief Post Office Inspector Post Office Department, Washington, D. C, to whom any inquiry on the subject should be addressed.

23. Postmasters will register, free of charge, all letters to the Treasurer containing United States currency for redemption on which the postage has been fully prepaid. Registration of such letters is recommended as a protection against loss.

24. When gold, silver, or minor coin is shipped for credit of the 5 per cent redemption fund, or as a transfer of funds, it should be so stated on the shipping tag attached to the bag.

The paying teller is also charged with the responsibility of certifying checks, and he should ever keep in mind Section 170 of the National Bank Act in this connection. It reads as follows;

Sec. 170. Illegal Certification of Check: That any officer, clerk or agent of any National Banking Association who shall willfully violate the provisions of an act entitled "An Act in reference to certifying checks by National Banks," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, being section fifty-two hundred and eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or who shall resort to any device, or receive any fictitious obligation, direct or collateral, in order to evade the provisions thereof, or who shall certify checks before the amount thereof shall have been regularly entered to the credit of the dealer upon the books of the banking association, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof in any circuit or district court of the United States, be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or shall be imprisoned not more than five years, or both, at the discretion of the court. (Act July 12, 1882, Ch. 290, sec, 13; Stat. U. S., 162.)