OCR Text |
Show Billions in Checks. The great bulk of all payments inj this country involve a debit on thq books of a bank. Mostly they are niadej by means of a check, which is charged! to the drawer's account. Recorded clearings of bank checks last yean amounted to a hundred and eighty-odd billion dollars. But, as we mentioned) a little while ago, clearings involve! only those checks that are deposited iii some bank other than the one upon jwhich they are drawn, and In cltiosj ilarge enough to maintain clearing . jhouse associations. An investigation by Bradstreet's U 3-7 cities indicates that total bankj debits are two and a half times the jimount of clearings. Tills would iinplyj that payments made lust year through banks in cities lurge enough to nmin-i tain clearing house associations wurei nearly $500,000,000,000, the Saturday Evening Post observes. Add to tluitj jpaynients in lesser cities and towns, pud you will have an approximately)' correct notion of the amount of money which passes from one hand to another in the course of a year the amount; Unit In one way or another we pny our-j selves for all exchange of goods, scrv Ices and so on. It makes a prodigious pile. |