CHECK 



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CHECK 



time premier of Quebec but now remembered 

 chiefly for numerous graceful poems from his 

 pen. He was a barrister by profession, but as 

 a young man was best known for the poems 

 and clever letters on political and social topics 

 which he contributed to newspapers. From 

 1844 to 1855 he was a member of the assembly, 

 and during the last three and a half years of 

 this period was a member of the Hincks-Morin 

 ministry, first as solicitor-general for Lower 

 Canada" and later as provincial secretary. Then 

 for twelve years he was chief superintendent of 

 education for Lower Canada, a position in 

 which he wielded great influence. In August, 

 1867, a month after Confederation, he was 

 called on to form a ministry, and until 1873 

 was premier of Quebec. For a year he was 

 then Speaker of the Dominion Senate, but he 

 resigned from that body in January, 1874. In 

 spite of this varied activity, he found consid- 

 erable time for writing. Besides his occasional 

 poems his most noteworthy book is a novel 

 entitled Charles Guerin, a clever tale which was 

 very popular in its day. 



CHECK, or CHEQUE, a simple order written 

 by anyone who has money deposited in a 

 bank, instructing the bank to pay a specified 

 sum to a person named or to the bearer. Once 

 a California lumberman was buying a section 

 of timber land; in order not to lose his option 

 he was obliged to make a hurried payment, 

 and, picking up a shingle, he wrote on it, 

 Blank National Bank, San Francisco, pay J. H. 

 Sullivan ten thousand dollars, then added his 

 name and he date. This order was just as 

 much a check as though it had been given on 

 the printed forms of his bank, and as such the 

 bank treated it. 



Very nearly all the business of the United 

 States and Canada is carried on by means of 

 checks, though in other countries they are less 

 popular. The checking system, with its assist- 

 ant, the clearing house, makes it possible for 

 a community to transact many times as much 

 business with a given amount of currency as 

 it otherwise could carry on. Thus in New York 

 City checks to the value of several hundred 

 million dollars are drawn daily, yet only a 

 score of millions in actual cash changes hands. 



A Checking Account. When you deposit 

 money in a checking account you are required 

 to sign your name on a card, which the bank 

 preserves so that if any other person attempts 

 to get money by writing your name the forgery 

 may be detected. The teller gives you a bank 

 book and a check book. The first shows the 



amount of your deposit, and every time you 

 add money to your account you take the book 

 with you so the teller may enter the figures; 

 in small banks once a month you give it to 

 the bookkeeper to record the money the bank 

 has paid out for you, but this system is being 

 superseded by a monthly "statement" from the 

 bank. The check book contains blank checks; 

 when you wish to pay out money you fill one 

 of them as shown in the illustration. 



For each check there is a stub on which is 

 space for a memorandum of the particulars of 

 the check and for addition and subtraction of 

 amounts deposited and withdrawn. It is a wise 

 plan to number your checks and their stubs, 

 so that at the end of the month, when the bank 

 returns to you your paid checks, you can 

 quickly discover which ones are still unpaid. 

 The balance shown in your bank book should 

 be greater than that shown in your check book 

 by the sum of the checks outstanding; if it is 

 not, either you or the bookkeeper has made 

 an error. If you wish to give a check when 

 you do not have your check book with you, it 

 is permissible to take another bank's blank, 

 cross out the name and substitute that of your 

 own bank, but this is poor policy because you 

 may forget to record the amount in your check 

 book. 



Your signature on a check must always be 

 like the copy given the bank; for instance, if 

 the latter is John A. Low you must not sign 

 J. A. Low. 



Checks in the United States generally carry 



the words Pay to the order of ; 



in Canada the form is Pay to 



or Bearer. In the latter case it is customary 

 to run the pen through the word Bearer and 

 substitute Order, for otherwise if the check is 

 lost anyone who finds it may cash it. This 

 word order means that by endorsing (see 

 below) the check the owner may order the 

 money paid to another. If you yourself wish 

 to draw cash from your account, you may write 

 a check payable to Self or to Cash. 



An advisable step is to write the purpose of 

 each check on its face. Thus if you are pay- 

 ing a bill you may write In full of account to 

 date, and when your creditor endorses and 

 cashes the check it becomes a receipt. A check 

 does not, however, constitute a payment until 

 the bank honors it, that is, pays out the money 

 for which it calls; so it is never wise to give 

 a receipt for an account paid by check unless 

 the manner of its payment is stated on the 

 receipt. 



