uld be in your usual style familiar to the paying teller.
The plain, freely written signature is the most difficult to forge.
Usually cheques are drawn "to order." The words "Pay to the order of
John Brown" mean that the money is to be paid to John Brown or to any
person he "orders" it paid to. By indorsing the cheque in blank (see
indorsements) he makes it payable to bearer. If a cheque is drawn "Pay
to bearer" any person--that is, the bearer--can collect it. The paying
teller may ask the person cashing the cheque to write his name on the
back, simply to have it for reference. Safety devices to prevent the
fraudulent alteration of cheques are of almost endless variety, but
there has not been a preventive against forgery and alterations yet
invented, which has not been successfully overcome by swindlers. A
machine for punching out the figures is in common use, but the
swindler has successfully filled in the holes with paper-pulp and
punched other figures to suit his purposes. The safest cheques are
those carefully written upon what is known as safety paper.

FOOTNOTE:

[11] A part of the matter of this lesson has already appeared in Part
I. of this book ("General Business Information"), but it is here
repeated to preserve the connection.

IDENTIFICATION WHEN CHEQUES ARE PAID

The banks of this country make it a rule not to cash a cheque that is
drawn payable to order unless the person presenting the cheque is
known at the bank--or unless he satisfies the paying teller that he is
really the person to whom the money is to be paid. It must be
remembered, however, that a cheque drawn to order and then indorsed in
blank by the payee is really payable to bearer, and if the paying
teller is satisfied that the payee's signature is genuine he probably
will not hesitate to cash the cheque. In England all cheques
apparently properly indorsed are paid without identification. In
drawing a cheque in favour of a person not likely to be well known in
banking circles, write his address or his business after his name on
the face of the cheque. For instance, if you should send a cheque to
John Smith, Boston, it may possibly fall into the hands of the wrong
John Smith; but if you write the cheque in favour of "John Smith, 849
Tremont Street, Boston," it is more than likely that the right person
will collect it. If you wish to get a cheque cashed where you are
unknown, and it is not convenient for a friend who has an account at
the ban