Business Hints for Men and Women

A >> Alfred Rochefort Calhoun >> Business Hints for Men and Women

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When the holder of an interest note receives interest payment he
must record the date and sum on the back of the note.

PROTESTS

If a note comes due on Sunday or on a legal holiday, payment must
be made on the following day.

Holidays are appointed by the separate states.

The United States recognizes no day as a holiday, except Sunday,
and that is acknowledged through custom.

It is customary for banks to notify makers of notes held by them a
few days before time set for payment; but this is not required by
law.

If a note lies unpaid in bank the day set for payment, as soon as
the office closes for regular business the note is protested.

The protest is made before a notary public; he is usually an
employee of the bank.

In the protest formal objection is made against the breaking of
the promise, and demanding that the matter be set right by the
maker, or on his failure, by the indorser.

The indorser, who has to pay, has a claim for the amount on the
maker of the note, as he would have for money loaned or goods
sold, and he can sue to collect.

A note that is not paid within a fixed time is said to be
"outlawed."

Remember the indorser of a note must be notified within twenty-
four hours of the failure of the drawer to make good.

NOTICES

The object in protesting a note is to fix the liability on the
endorser.

If there be more than one endorser notice of protest must be sent
to all at the same time.

It is better, where possible, to serve the notices on the
indorsers in person.

The payee must also be notified.

ACCOMMODATIONS

There is a form of note sometimes used in business which is given
without any consideration on the part of the maker. This is known
as an "accommodation note."

The maker of such a note does not expect to pay it, nor does the
man in whose favor it is drawn expect to do so.

An accommodation note is an instrument by the sale of which, or
through a bank, money may be raised for immediate use.

The maker in this case is a friend who loans his name.

As there was no value received such a note could not be collected
by the payee.

But if it passes into the hands of a third party, who endorses it,
then the maker of the note can be compelled to pay.

A LOST NOTE

A note may be lost or stolen.

The losing of a note does not release the maker from payment of
the full amount on the date and at the place named.

The loser should at once notify the maker of his loss.

A man who buys, before its maturity, a lost or stolen note, may
collect the full amount from the maker, provided the note is
payable to "bearer" and no notice of the loss has been published.

When the maker of a lost note pays the amount to the original
owner, he should receive from him what is known as a "bond of
indemnity."

This bond is to secure him against paying a second time.

NOTES ABOUT NOTES

There are some things worth remembering about promissory notes.

1. Never give one if you can pay cash.
2. A note made on Sunday is worthless in some states.
3. A note given under compulsion is worthless.
4. Notes made by a drunken person, or obtained by any form of
fraud cannot be collected under law.
5. Notes bear interest only when so stated in body of note.
6. The holder of a note has a legal claim against every indorser.
7. Each indorser is responsible to every indorser who follows him.
8. Notes are valid without reference to the kind of paper, or
whether they are written with pen or pencil.
9. Losing a note does not release the maker from payment.
10. If no time is set in a note for payment, it becomes due as
soon as it is made.
11. Where a note is made in one state and is payable in another,
it is governed by the laws of the state in which it is to be paid.
12. Notes payable on demand draw no interest until after they have
been presented for payment.
13. If a note reads "with interest" and no rate is specified then
it draws the legal interest in the state in which it was made.
14. Demand notes are not entitled to days of grace.
15. If no place of payment is named in a note, it should be
presented to the maker personally in business hours.
16. The misspelling of a word or words in no way invalidates a
note.
17. If a person who cannot write makes a note his mark should be
properly witnessed.
18. The makers of a joint note must be sued jointly.
19. If the words and the figures in a note disagree, the words
take precedence.
20. A note signed by a firm may be collected from either of the
partners.
21. When a payment is made on a note secured by a mortgage, the
amount is endorsed on the note, never on the mortgage.
22. A note given by a minor is void, unless given for actual
necessities, like food and clothing.
23. If a note made by a minor is acknowledged when he comes of age
it is binding and collectible.

CHAPTER XI

A DRAFT

A draft is a written order from the first party to the second
party to pay to the third party a certain sum of money at a
certain time.

The first party is called the "drawer."

The second party is the "drawee."

The third party is the "payee."

There are two kinds of draft.

The first is usually where the cashier of one bank, through his
own check, draws on another bank for the cash difference in their
accounts with each other.

The second form of draft is the most usual and is the one we shall
here consider.

The cashier's draft is always for cash and the demand is always
honored. The ordinary business draft may be for cash or for goods.

The business draft is usually honored, but there are circumstances
under which it may be ignored.

TO MAKE A DRAFT

But let us suppose that the draft is all right and that a
merchant, let us call him Henry Thomas, and suppose him a resident
of Philadelphia, has a bill against James Taylor, of Cleveland,
and he wants to collect it, without recourse to law. How will he
go about it?

The bill is for $100.

Mr. Thomas writes this draft:

Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 5, 1910.
At sight pay to the order of
Johnson National Bank of Philadelphia
One hundred................... dollars.
With exchange
and charge same to
Henry Thomas.
To James Taylor,
Cleveland, Ohio.

Having drawn his draft, Mr. Thomas takes it to the Johnson
National Bank for collection. The collection is actually made by
some bank in Cleveland to which the Johnson has endorsed it over.

If Mr. Thomas wished he might have sent his draft direct to the
Cleveland bank, but he no doubt thought it better to transact such
matters through his own bank.

Or if Mr. Thomas lived where he was not in touch with a bank, he
might have drawn through any person whom he knew in Cleveland.

On receiving the draft for collection, the Cleveland bank would at
once give it to a clerk who would without delay present it to Mr.
Taylor.

Mr. Taylor, having written his acceptance of the draft, is given
three days grace in which to make payment.

In states where days of grace are not allowed, he would have to
pay at once.

Mr. Taylor writes the word "accepted," with the date and his name
across the face of the draft, and if he does not pay cash, he
states in the writing where payment will be made.

Of course, Mr. Taylor cannot be compelled to accept a draft. There
may be good and honest reasons for his not doing so, but having
accepted it, in business honor he is bound to pay it.

The term "Sight draft" explains itself, but the order to pay a
draft may indicate, and often does, the number of days allowed for
payment, after presentation.

FOR COLLECTION

What should be done by the man to whom a bill or a note is due,
when the debtor lives in a place where there is no bank?

In that case he must learn in some way the name of a promising
person to make the collection for him.

In this case he makes out the draft as before, and adds the words
"for collection." This acts as a bar to any transfer of the paper.

Most banks refuse to handle a draft marked "for collection."

DISHONOR

Drafts are not necessarily duns.

Some country merchants prefer to pay their bills to wholesalers in
that way, so that collecting drafts is no small part of the
business of the ordinary bank.

While men are not compelled to meet drafts when presented, if the
amount is due and he defaults or refuses to pay he injures his own
credit.

In refusing a just draft he is said to "dishonor" it.

So sure are wholesalers that their drafts will be met by their
distant debtors that they do not hesitate to draw against them
when deposited for collection, regarding them as cash to their
credit in bank.

PROTESTS

When a draft is not accepted or paid when due, if it be a time
draft, it is protested in the same way as a note.

The protest of a draft serves as a notice to the drawer of its
non-acceptance.

Like notes and checks, drafts may be transferred by a similar
endorsement.

BUYING DRAFTS

If I wanted to pay a bill for $150 to Albert Holt, living at
Wallace, Kansas, and did not wish to trouble him with a check, how
would I go about it?

1. I might express the cash, which would be expensive.
2. I might send it in postal order, not always certain.
3. I might send it by a trusted hand, but might have long to wait
before I found a friend going out to Wallace.

I am living in New York City, and am familiar enough with banking
to know that New York is a great financial center and is in
constant communication with nearly all the outside banks.

The outside banks keep money in deposit here, and the New York
banks, particularly in the spring and autumn, keep deposits with
their correspondents.

With my $150 and a small extra sum to pay my bank for drawing the
draft, I go thither and buy a draft for the sum I owe Mr. Holt.

I mail this draft to my creditor and he can cash it without loss
in his home bank. Here is the form:

No. 101.
Madison National Bank of New York.
Pay to the order of Albert Holt,
One hundred and fifty dollars ($150.)...
.......... L. N. Jones,
Cashier.
To Prairie National Bank,
Wallace, Kansas.

A GOOD PLAN

When you buy a draft which you mean to send off in payment of a
debt, a good plan is to have it made payable to yourself.

Let us suppose it is the case of Albert Holt. You transfer the
draft to him by writing across the back, "Pay to the order of
Albert Holt," and add your signature.

Now as all drafts are returned, as payment vouchers, to the banks
from which they were issued, and as Mr. Holt must have signed the
draft to get his money, it follows that there is a record of his
having received it, and this has all the force of a receipt.

Do not endorse a draft with just your name, for in that case,
anyone into whose hands it falls may collect. First write "Pay to
the order of" the person for whom it is intended.

GOOD AS CASH

A draft made payable to yourself is as good as cash, and far safer
to carry.

If you are identified at any bank between the Atlantic and
Pacific, you can have your draft cashed.

All banks furnish blank drafts.

Never endorse a draft made payable to yourself, and this applies
to a check, until you are about to use it.

It is a good plan never to sign your name until it is actually
necessary.

Some people have the foolish habit of signing their names on stray
bits of paper.

Do not get into this habit, even if there is no space to fill out
a note or order above the signature.

CHAPTER XII

JUST MONEY

As has been before stated, money in its broadest meaning is a
medium of exchange.

Anything that can pay a debt or purchase property, in any part of
a country, is the money of that country.

Every civilized country has its own minted or printed money.

The usual mediums of circulation are gold, silver, nickel and
copper, the latter alloyed more or less in the United States with
nickel.

Government and bank bills, while having all the purchasing power
of gold, are simply promises to pay in gold, or other coin of
"redemption", the amounts they represent.

The money of one country cannot legally be made to pay a debt in
another country, unless both parties to the payment agree to it.

When gold is exchanged to settle the balances of trade between two
countries, it is not reckoned, if coined, at its face value, but
at its bullion value.

The word "pecunia" meant in ancient Greece and Rome a flock or
herd.

In those days live stock were used as a medium of exchange, or
money.

We keep the word and often use it as in "pecuniary" affairs, and
when we call a moneyless man, "impecunious."

UNITED STATES MONEY

The United States Government reserves to itself the right under
the constitution, to coin and issue the money to be used by its
own people.

Formerly we had two standards of value, gold and silver, or
bimetalism.

If gold and silver were produced in relatively equal quantities,
the world would go on trading with money of both kinds, but the
proportions are not the same.

Among the Aztecs and Peruvians silver ranked with gold as two to
one, that is, two pounds of silver would purchase as much as one
pound of gold.

But when great silver mines were discovered and new methods were
discovered for extracting the metal, it became more and more
abundant, till it depreciated far below the former value it had in
its relation to gold.

Most of the commercial nations decided to have but one standard of
value, and that gold, long before the United States fell into
line.

Our money measure is known as the decimal, or metric. It would be
convenient, if we could follow the example of nearly all the other
commercial nations, and use the metric system for all our weights
and measures.

OUR METAL MONEY

In the United States Treasury at Washington, there are many
million dollars in silver coins and bullion.

The gold standard has not driven silver out of circulation, for it
is still found convenient to use it in settling immediately our
smaller business transactions.

When the silver dollar was first coined, and indeed up to the
present date, the intention was that it should contain about a
dollar's worth of silver, or 374 1/4 Troy grains of the pure
metal. This amount of silver was supposed to represent permanently
24 3/4 grains of pure gold, and it did so represent its value at
one time, and would have continued to do so, had the relative
output of both metals been the same.

Our chief mint is in Philadelphia, where is coined all the copper,
nickel, silver, and gold money in use.

To imitate these metals, even where the full value is given,
constitutes the criminal offence called "counterfeiting."

In former times, some of our older readers will remember them, the
Government meant to have the metal in each coin of about its
unstamped value in the market.

In those days the cent was as large as our present silver half
dollar, and the copper two-cent piece was a monster in the way of
coinage.

Now our copper and nickel coins are small and can be carried
without testing strength of pockets. They are regarded as money
"tokens."

Silver coins that are punched can be refused in the settlement of
a debt.

Punched gold coins should always be refused, for they are never of
their face value.

Silver coins may be used in the settlement of bills up to $5.00.

Gold coins are, of course, legal tender up to any amount.

PAPER MONEY

We usually class all paper money as "bills."

There are three classes of bills, all quite different in their
inception and meaning. These are--

1. National bank notes.
2. Treasury notes or "greenbacks."
3. Treasury certificates.

BANK NOTES

A national bank note is the guaranteed promise of some national
bank to pay coin or its equivalent to any one presenting the note
at the bank and asking to have the exchange made.

This exchange is called "redeeming."

If you examine a bank bill you will notice that it is drawn much
like an ordinary business "demand" note, made payable to "bearer,"
and signed by the bank president and cashier.

For every dollar of its own sent out in the form of a bill by a
national bank, the Government holds a dollar of the bank's
collateral to guarantee the redemption of the note if the bank
should fail.

National bank notes are received in all business transactions,
because they are secured by the Government, yet there are cases in
which even the Government will not receive them in payment of a
claim, nor pay them out itself.

1. All import duties must be paid in gold.
2. The Government pays the interest on its own bonds in gold.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing--a department of the United
States Treasury--makes and prints all the national bank notes.

On all these notes the names of the United States Treasurer and
the United States Register appear. The names look like signatures,
but they are facsimilies and are printed with the note.

The notes are printed on specially prepared paper, to imitate
which is regarded as a counterfeit.

Soiled and worn out bank notes may be exchanged for fresh ones at
the Treasury Department.

"GREENBACKS"

Greenbacks are treasury notes. The name comes from the color in
which they first appeared in the years of our Civil War.

The treasury note is really an engraved promissory note of the
United States Government made payable to the bearer, and bearing
the signatures of the Treasurer and Register of the Treasury.

These notes are issued in denominations of from five to ten
thousand dollars.

Formerly there were one and two-dollar treasury notes issued, and
we still find some of these "old-timers" in circulation.

There are so many treasury notes in circulation that the
Government, vast though its bullion and coin reserves are, could
not redeem them if presented at once.

The treasury note is a legal tender for any amount of
indebtedness.

The Government prints the following guarantee on every treasury
note:

"This note is, by law, to be considered as good as coin. Any one
to whom you pay it must reckon it as equivalent to a dollar (or
face value in dollars) in value."

TREASURY CERTIFICATES

The treasury certificate is, in form, very much like the treasury
note, and it bears the signatures of the same officers.

Treasury certificates are of two kinds, gold and silver.

The gold certificates are printed in yellow.

The silver certificates are light black and white.

These certificates are issued against the great reserves of gold
and silver that are kept to redeem them.

The use of the gold certificate saves the loss of the gold that
comes through abrasion when handled.

A five-dollar silver certificate is much more convenient to carry
than five silver dollars.

These certificates, as may be seen, are issued for the convenience
of the public.

Certificates of either character will be redeemed to any amount,
in the metals for which they call, if presented at the United
States Treasury at Washington, or at any of the sub-treasuries to
be found in our larger cities.

WORN-OUT NOTES

Only those familiar with the work can realize the great quantities
of bank bills, treasury notes, and certificates continually being
made and sent out from Washington.

While a stream of clean, fresh paper of enormous value is going
out to be spread all over the country, another stream of soiled,
torn and altogether disreputable-looking paper is flowing back to
the Treasury.

The filthy paper is quite as valuable as the clean, so it is
properly checked, recorded, and credited before new paper is sent
out in its place.

They are now trying to make old bills presentable by washing them
at the Department. Meanwhile, most of them are ground again into
pulp, made into new paper, and all the first processes gone
through with to make the paper into money.

CHAPTER XIII

OUR POSTAL BUSINESS

Up to a few years ago, it was the city, town and village dweller
who reaped the greatest benefit from the post office.

In dense communities carriers leave the mail at the place to which
it is addressed. Where this is not done the walk for the mail is
not far.

Now the purpose of our Government, which is of the people and by
the people, is to treat all the people alike.

However, up to a few years ago the farmer, our most essential
producer, had not a fair deal.

Fortunately things have changed and are still changing for the
better.

Rural Free Delivery was an idea as just as it was grand, and as
welcome as it was necessary.

The good work began October 1, 1896.

The purpose of rural free delivery is to accommodate dwellers in
the country, whether farmers or not.

Through this branch of the service mails are carried daily, on
fixed lines of travel, to people who otherwise would have to go
long distances to reach a post office.

The Government requires that the states or counties shall keep in
good condition the roads traversed by the mail carriers.

Gates must not obstruct, and it is required that every unfordable
stream shall be bridged.

It is further required, as a condition for establishing a line for
rural free delivery, that each route of twenty-four or more miles
in length shall have at least one hundred families resident on
either side.

CLASSIFIED MAIL MATTER

Mail matter is divided into four classes. For each class a
different rate is charged.

First Class:--All letters, and all other written matter, with a
few exceptions, pay two cents for each ounce, or fraction of an
ounce.

Second Class:--Newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, one
cent for each four ounces or fraction of four ounces. Publishers
of periodicals, sending direct from place of publication, get a
lower rate,--one cent a pound.

Third Class:--Books, circulars, and other printed matter, one cent
for two ounces or fraction of two ounces.

Fourth Class:--Merchandise and miscellaneous articles, weighing
not over four pounds, one cent for each ounce or fraction of an
ounce.

POSTAL RULES

1. On a tag, or the paper on which the address is written, the
sender of third class matter may write "from" and add his own name
and address.
2. On the blank leaf of a book, forwarded as third class matter,
the sender may write a dedication or inscription, but it must not
be in the form of a letter.
3. Fourth class matter must be so wrapped that the postal
authorities can examine the contents without much trouble.
4. Such articles as glass, nails, needles or other matter that
might work injury if it came loose, must be enclosed in two
separate wrappings, or a double case.
5. Poisons, explosives, inflammable substances, and live animals
are excluded from the mails.
6. Firearms may only be sent in detached parts.
7. All alcoholic liquors are regarded as explosive.

FOREIGN RATES

The rates to Canada are the same for all classes of matter as in
the United States, except that seeds, scions, bulbs, cuttings, and
roots are one cent per ounce.

To Cuba all the rates are the same as for domestic matter.

Rates with Mexico are the same as if mailed between our own
states. Packages are limited to 4 pounds 6 ounces, except that
single books may weigh more. Merchandise must be sent by parcel
post.

To all other countries, in what is known as the "Postal Union",
the rates for letters are five cents for each half ounce or
fraction thereof.

Postal cards two cents each, double four cents.

Registration fees or letters or other articles, four cents each.

Ordinary letters for foreign countries, except Canada, Cuba and
Mexico, must be forwarded, whether any postage is paid on them or
not.

All other mailable matter must be prepaid.

Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Tetuila, the Philippines and Porto Rico are
regarded as insular or territorial possessions of the United
States, and are entitled to the same postal rates.

STAMPS

Postage stamps may be purchased at any United States post office,
or at any place authorized to sell them.

Anyone may sell postage stamps as he would any other personal
asset.

If stamps are bought to be enclosed in a letter, they should never
be of a higher denomination than twos and ones, as they are easily
disposed of.

Letters should always be stamped on the upper right-hand corner of
the envelope.

Packages should be stamped in the same way and on the addressed
side.

The using of cancelled stamps is a felony.

Foreign stamps have no value on letters or parcels mailed in the
United States.

A domestic, unstamped letter will not be forwarded.

If a stamped letter is found to require more postage, the amount
lacking is stamped on the letter, and must be paid by the
receiver.

Stamped envelopes and stamped wrappers are sold by the post office
at the usual rates of postage, with the cost of the paper added.

If a stamped envelope or wrapper is spoiled, the stamp must not be
cut off and used by pasting on another envelope or wrapper, for it
will be treated as if no postage were paid.

Such spoiled wrappers or envelopes will be exchanged, without
charge, by the postmaster, for stamps of the same value.

POSTAL CARDS

Never use a postal card to dun a debtor.

Never send a confidential message on a postal card.

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